Toyota kicks-off Valencia test with two TF108s
Panasonic Toyota Racing’s preparations for the 2008 season continued apace in Valencia today, with the start of the team’s first test with two TF108s in action. After a successful first test in Jerez last week, a second TF108 was brought to Valencia with race drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock doing the driving.
On a sunny morning, both drivers were immediately in action, with set-up comparisons the priority. Once again the TF108 proved to be reliable with no major problems on either car, giving the team the chance to change mechanical and aerodynamic settings, as well as looking at different suspension configurations. On a summer-like day, with air temperatures reaching 23°C, both Jarno and Timo completed their programmes and they will return to continue the good work tomorrow.
Jarno Trulli - Chassis TF108-01
Best Lap Time: 1min 13.820s
Position: 12th
Total laps: 69
Total distance: 276km
“It was a tricky day, as usual here in Valencia. It is always quite hard to reach a conclusion on a track where conditions change rapidly from run to run but it was important to get more data and more idea about the new car. I tried some set-up changes and development work testing aerodynamics. I am pretty happy with what we have achieved but we know there is still room for improvement so we will continue to work hard. We did quite a lot of laps today which was the plan and it was good to see the new car continues to be reliable.”
Timo Glock - Chassis TF108-02
Best Lap Time: 1min 14.096s
Position: 14th
Total laps: 80
Total distance: 320km
“Today went okay and we continued where we left off in Jerez last week by getting more data about how the new car reacts to various set-up changes. I believe we have made a step forward with the TF108 compared to last year’s car. We tried several different set-ups and we are pretty happy with the results, which show we are making progress. However, there is still plenty of work to do and we will push hard tomorrow and Thursday to get the most out of our time at Valencia.”
Dieter Gass, Chief Engineer Race and Test
“We had a productive day of testing and ran through a lot of different mechanical and aerodynamic set-up options, while also looking at the suspension. The new car was again very reliable and this helped us to gain a lot of useful information which we will study to further improve performance. Even though the weather was mostly fine during the day, the wind picked up a bit in the afternoon which made the evaluation of our aero work a little tricky. As usual in testing, it is very difficult to assess comparative speed because we do not know what fuel levels the other teams were running but we are comfortable with our performance.”
