14/01/2005
NEWS STORY
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Sauber successfully completed the roll-out of the new C24 at the Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo in Valencia. Felipe Massa did 64 laps.
"The fact that the team gave me the chance to do the baptism of our new car shows me that they put a lot of confidence and trust in me, which fills me with pride and makes me very happy," Felipe Massa said. "I concentrated on giving as many comments on the car as possible to allow us to improve on the set-up, which we did quite a bit over the day. I think the C24 is really reliable, which will be an even more important issue this season. Running nearly 70 laps without major problems gives me an optimistic and positive feeling about the car. I believe we had a good start, although we will only see in Melbourne where we are."
"The scheduled functionality and system tests such as cooling and electronics checks went well and we were able to get initial impressions of the car balance after the first set-up changes", Technical Director Willy Rampf said. "The only problem we experienced was an overheating of the bodywork around the exhausts, but this was solved pretty quickly and we could continue to work according to plan. Overall things went well and I'm quite happy with the roll-out of the C24."
Felipe Massa will continue tomorrow before Jacques Villeneuve takes over to complete the test on Sunday.
To check out pictures of the new C24, and that radical wing click here
Today's Times
| Name | Team | T | Laps | Time | Gap |
| Massa | Sauber | M | 64 | 1:12.080 | 124.318 mph |
Best Times To Date
| Date | Driver | Team | T | Time | Gap |
| 14-Jan | Massa | Sauber | M | 1:12.080 | 124.318 mph |