28/04/2006
NEWS STORY
Ferrari and Toyota wrapped up a three-day test at Paul Ricard today, where, once again, the 2.0219 mile 3E-SC Short circuit was used.
Although Thursday's testing saw a short rainfall in the afternoon and the clouds threatened to rain down on the circuit all day today, both team managed to finish their programmes
Ralf Schumacher, who contests his 150th Grand Prix next weekend (Nurburgring), tested the B-car for the first time, putting in just over 100 laps. Meanwhile, Ricardo Zonta covered a distance, as he assisted in race preparations.
"Today we tried different tyre specifications and set-ups for the coming races," said the German. "I worked with the new car and everything is going as expected, but we had some delays while work was being done on the car and therefore I cannot say a whole lot about it yet.
"In general, we have improved on the tyre warm-up issue and tried various different compounds from Bridgestone. Although the coming races will be challenging because we are still developing the car and our strategy, I think the team is doing a good job and moving in the right direction."
"We spent the last three days on a version of the circuit that was new for us," said the Brazilian. "We did a lot of Bridgestone tyre work as well as set-up testing for Nürburging. It went pretty well and I put in over 300 laps over the three days. Today we finished the programme early getting through the test after pushing hard the whole day. I think the team can be satisfied with the work we got through during this test."
"This test has been quite productive for us," declared test team manager, Gerd Pfeiffer. "With both cars we worked on general set-up and tyre testing, as well as smaller items like damper set-ups. We also analyzed some issues from the last race and it looks like we've found some good solutions.
"The B-car covered a lot of mileage and we will continue to work on this specification at the next test after the Spanish Grand Prix.
"We will return to Paul Ricard, where the circuit will be set up to simulate the conditions at the Monaco Grand Prix. The new specification is showing a good potential and we expect to use the B-car in Monte Carlo for the first time."
Michael Schumacher continued for Ferrari, as the German completed a Bridgestone tyre development programme.
The shakedown of the cars that will be used in the European Grand Prix, at the Nurburgring, will be carried out by Luca Badoer on Wednesday at Fiorano.