Jordan Grand Prix carried out its first track outing with a Toyota engine today with Tiago Monteiro driving a Jordan for the first time, at the wheel of a Jordan Toyota EJ15 (chassis 01) on the National Circuit at Silverstone in Northamptonshire. Monteiro completed installation runs and systems checks in preparation for the car’s first test later this week.

Trevor Carlin, Sporting Director of Jordan Grand Prix, said "It was a foggy start to the day here in Northamptonshire so we had to wait all morning before we could get started. However once the weather cleared slightly, the afternoon went well and Tiago was able to complete almost 100km, making good progress with checking the various systems on the car. We’re looking forward to getting our teeth into the full test programme in two days time."

Tiago Monteiro said, "Today was really cool and from my point of view it went great. We started late because of fog in the morning so we didn’t achieve everything we wanted to. But we did 35 laps in the afternoon and had no major issues at all. We carried out some of the tests we wanted to do and I feel comfortable in the car. So far so good. I’m really happy and looking forward to continuing the work this week."

Monteiro will complete the shakedown programme tomorrow (Tuesday 8 February) and following routine post-shakedown checks at the factory, the first full test session of 2005 will take place at Silverstone from 9 to 11 February inclusive.

The plan for drivers is as follows:

Wednesday 9 February - Narain Karthikeyan
Thursday 10 February - Narain Karthikeyan (AM) Tiago Monteiro (PM)
Friday 11 February - Tiago Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan (two cars)

To check our picture gallery from today's track debut of the EJ15, click here