24/06/2005
NEWS STORY
Jarno, what were you concentrating on?
Jarno Trulli: I was running just the single day and so I had a big programme of performance evaluation on the Magny Cours tyres to do. It was very intensive and I completed more than 100 laps. We had no technical problems, I finished the work and I am quite optimistic for the French Grand Prix.
Olivier, was it a successful test for you as well?
Olivier Panis: Yes. On Wednesday we had a very good day and chose the prime tyres for the the French GP. That was all very satisfactory although the car set-up was not perfect. We changed it overnight and the car was much more to my liking on Thursday.
Did you continue with the same programme?
OP: It was basically tyres again, yes, but we did more work with the option tyre than the prime. We had a small gearbox glitch but didn't lose any of the programme because I was scheduled to stop early in any case. I had a promotional commitment in Dublin to attend and then three days at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England.
Ricardo, what was the main thrust of your programme?
Ricardo Zonta: It was basically a very intensive tyre programme with some damper testing on the final day. It went very well. We did three long runs on Thursday to do race distance evaluation on the Magny Cours tyres. It was a productive day with no mechanical problems, although the weather was very hot, which is even harder on tyres.
Are you happy to stand down for Olivier to drive on Friday at his home race?
RZ: Absolutely. Especially after flying straight back across the Atlantic and doing almost 1300kms of testing in three days. I think I deserve a rest!
How would you sum up the test overall?
Gerd Pfeiffer (chief test engineer): It was a very good test and we got through an excellent work load. We had one more damper configuration we would like to have tried with Ricardo on Friday but we had to stop to change an oil cooler and he ended up just one lap short of the magic 100 laps on that day. But with almost 1300kms to his name over the three days, I don't think we can complain!