Gearbox and electronic development for Force India

Giancarlo Fisichella brought the Force India Formula One Team's penultimate 2008 winter test to a close today in Jerez, southern Spain. Once more the Italian showed the continuing progress of the team as he put in a string of competitive times to finish the day 11th quickest of the 16 runners.

In much better calmer conditions than yesterday, Giancarlo recorded a best of 1min 20.669 as he worked through a programme of gearbox and electronic development and set-up in preparation for the start of the season. Again the day ran smoothly and the team was able to complete just under 400km, bringing the overall test mileage to over 1,200km.

The team's next test will be in Barcelona from 25 - 27 February, where the VJM01 that will race in Melbourne will take to the track for the first time.

Dominic Harlow, chief race and test engineer: "A good day to complete the test here in Jerez. Again very nice conditions this morning allowed some progress on set-up to be made. On top of this a range of other test items were covered and the team will return to Silverstone having completed the major objectives for this test to begin preparation for the final 'Race Team' test prior to the first Grand-Prix of 2008 in 30 days time."

Giancarlo Fisichella: "Today was a good day. We were able to put in a lot of laps without any major problems and I felt more comfortable in the car. We worked through a programme of set-up and some development items and even with a reasonable fuel load we were still able to put in some competitive times. I'm looking forward to the next test when we will have some more new items on the VJM01 and we'll have a more representative indication of where we are."

Testing data
Driver: Giancarlo Fisichella
Track: Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
Best lap time: 1min 20.669
Laps completed: 86
Kilometres completed: 386km