Productive day for Kovalainen

ING Renault F1 Team today completed its second day of running at the Paul Ricard HTTT in southern France. The 3.593 km configuration used today was designed to simulate the demands of Monaco, to allow the teams to prepare for the next race on the calendar, which will be held in the famous Principality in one week’s time.

Heikki Kovalainen was back in action for the world champions today, and continued with the test programme begun by Nelson Piquet Jr. yesterday. The Finn concentrated on car set-up ahead of the race in Monaco, and conducted several aerodynamic tests during the day. The team once again collected interesting data that will give a good working platform for the next race.

At the end of the day, after completing 151 laps, Heikki Kovalainen finished up in P6 on the timesheets with a best lap of 1:06.302. He will be driving again tomorrow, when the circuit will be changed to a Canada-style configuration (long straights and tight corners) to prepare for the sixth round of the 2007 championship.

Heikki Kovalainen: “It was an interesting day of ahead of next week’s race. We worked on the car set-up and the tyres, and the car reacted well to the different changes. I think our testing yesterday and today will give us a good basis for the opening practice sessions on Thursday in Monaco.”

Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer: “We completed a trouble-free day without any difficulty, and ran through a wide range of set-up solutions that we wanted to test. I think the data from today looks good, and will be a good basis for our work in Monaco and at the next races. It was a busy day for Heikki, and the engineers now have to analyse the data to make the most of the work he completed today!”

Heikki Kovalainen, R27-06, 151 laps, 530 km, best lap: 1:06.302