Today's Weather: Sunny and hot. Air 27-31°C, track 28-45°C
Take
Note: Timo Glock travelled across the Atlantic during the August break
to take part in the Toyota Race of Legends at Laguna Seca. Up against a
host of big names from the history of F1 including Johnny Herbert,
Patrick Tambay, John Watson and Alan Jones, Timo stormed from 10th on
the grid to beat Jean-Pierre Jarier and Eddie Cheever to the flag. He
gave his $25,000 prize to the Children's Hospital in Frankfurt.
Timo Glock (Car 12, Chassis TF108-06)
Summary: Two strong practice sessions, ending with the 7th quickest time of the afternoon
P1 14th Best Lap Time: 1m 42.036s (+1.540s) Laps: 27
P2 7th Best Lap Time: 1m 39.967s (+0.490s) Laps: 32
"It's
always enjoyable to come to a new venue and I'm impressed. It was
pretty hot out there but the track is good fun and the layout is
interesting. I like street circuits because I raced on so many of them
during my time racing Champ Car in America but apart from the harbour
and the buildings this doesn't really look like a street circuit
because it has long straights. We had a good day. The first practice
was a bit difficult and the track was very dusty but we expected that.
The afternoon was much better and the car got more and more into the
set-up window. I hope we can keep going in this direction because it
has been a productive
day."
Jarno Trulli (Car 11, Chassis TF108-05)
Summary: A busy day of practice, running without problems but struggling to find the best balance
P1 12th Best Lap Time: 1m 41.930s (+1.434s) Laps: 27
P2 15th Best Lap Time: 1m 40.877s (+1.400s) Laps: 32
"That
was not a particularly good day for me. We need to adjust the car
balance so we will have to look into it tonight. The track is good,
though, and I like it. In karting we used to race on a lot of street
circuits so learning it doesn't take long. But you need to find a
compromise on set-up because there is a mix of slow corners and
higher-speed sections with long straights. The most important thing is
how much the surface will change during the weekend. The asphalt is
quite smooth and while it was predictably slippery today, the grip
should improve so it will be hard to get the set-up right."
Dieter Gass, Chief Engineer Race and Test
"The
most important thing when you go to a new track is to make it through
your programme without any technical problems, which was the case
today. On the first day at a new track we amend our usual plan. Today
we carried out more long runs both at the start of P1 to learn the
circuit and at the end of P2 to help judge the tyre behaviour because
we have no reference here. Apart from that you aim to find the balance
and the right downforce levels. There doesn't seem to be a lot of grip
around and it didn't improve as massively as we would have expected.
Still, we're quite happy with where we are with Timo but Jarno is
struggling a bit with an inconsistent balance. So we will have to look
into that and fix it for tomorrow."
Panasonic Toyota Racing, featuring... City Limits: What to expect in Valencia
The
European Grand Prix has featured on the F1 calendar since 1983 but this
weekend's race has a fresh twist, with a completely new circuit around
the streets of Valencia. The vibrant Spanish city is already well known
to Panasonic Toyota Racing for its permanent track, often used for
winter testing, but this stunning 5.419km street circuit combines a
glamorous location and a technical challenge. With a glorious sandy
beach, the dramatic America's Cup port and one of Europe's liveliest
cities as a backdrop, Valencia is off to an impressive start.
Team
Manager Richard Cregan says: "Valencia is a new street circuit in the
middle of a city but the nice part is that it's in the harbour. It's
great when you've got boats and F1 cars together like that. Monaco
gives us that kind of magic feeling and now
it's good to see Valencia coming in."
The Toyota team has already
had a sneak preview of the track in racing conditions, with several
technical and logistical personnel on hand to witness the Spanish
Formula 3 Championship races there on July 26-27. Through studying
events that weekend, and simulating the lay-out back at the team's
headquarters in Cologne, Germany, Toyota is well prepared for this
weekend's challenge.
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