Sakhir - Toyota - Testing Toyota returned to action today in Bahrain for the first day of the final multi-team test before the season gets under way in Australia.
Ralf Schumacher and
Jarno Trulli were at the wheel as the team tried out aerodynamic updates and worked
on set-up after the endurance runs of last week. Both drivers had a mixed morning, with Trulli’s car needing repairs for a minor clutch issue while Schumacher spun.
Unfortunately, Schumacher slightly hurt his back when his car bounced over the kerb and, after a massage, the decision was taken to allow him to rest in order to ensure he is fully fit for tomorrow.
Franck Montagny stepped in at short notice and he took over Schumacher’s car for the afternoon session.
Both Trulli and Montagny worked on set-up in the afternoon and brought back useful information which will help the team get the best out of the
TF107. Schumacher is expected to return alongside Trulli tomorrow for day two.
Montagny, Trulli and Schumacher were eighth, ninth and 16th fastest respectively.
Ralf Schumacher“The morning was going okay until the car spun and bounced over the kerbs. Sadly, I hurt my back a bit and had to stop driving for the day. It’s not bad but I will rest my back now and I expect to resume tomorrow.”
Jarno Trulli“I had an issue in the morning which cost me some time but in the afternoon we did some runs and worked on car set-up and tyres. We got some more experience of the car in different set-ups and just in general which is positive. It was hard at times to make a good comparison of the set-ups because of the wind but it was not such a bad day.”
Franck Montagny
“It was a surprise to be in the car this afternoon because I was not planned to be running but it was good. I prefer to be running with the car and trying to get some good results than doing some sports elsewhere. It was a positive afternoon. We did a couple of tests with different tyres and we evaluated the aero package. We could have gone a bit faster but I was not ready to do a qualifying run. That’s not really important, the main thing is we finished the work they started to do with Ralf. We are improving a little bit, day by day, step by step.”
Gerd Pfeiffer, Test Team Manager
“Obviously, today’s programme was disrupted by Ralf’s problem in the morning. He is okay but we decided it was best to rest his back this afternoon so he can make the most of the final two days testing here. Luckily we had Franck available to replace him so we did not lose much time with our programme. Jarno had a couple of minor issues in the morning relating to the gearbox and he also lost time due to the red flags but that was the same for everybody. We are expecting Ralf back in the car tomorrow when we will resume our programme of set-up work.”
Source Toyota
