20/07/2009
NEWS STORY
Panasonic Toyota Racing travels east across Europe this weekend for the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring on the outskirts of Budapest. In keeping with its philosophy of continuous improvement, the team has a further package of upgrades available, including a rear wing evolution, while two consecutive compounds of Bridgestone Potenza tyre will be used. The soft and super soft compounds have been chosen due to the specific requirements of the low-speed, 14-turn Hungaroring. The track has been a happy hunting ground in recent years, with the team having a presence in the top six in qualifying and the race on all its last four visits. Timo already has a prized souvenir of the Hungaroring after achieving his first Formula 1 podium there last year, when he finished a well-deserved second place. That was Toyota's second podium in Hungary, following Ralf Schumacher's third place in 2005, and the team is focused on achieving another positive result this time around.
Jarno Trulli: "I enjoy visiting Budapest, and the Hungarian Grand Prix is an enjoyable one for me. The Hungaroring is a challenging track from a driver's perspective because it is very narrow with a lot of corners, even though it is quite a short lap. It might not be one of the fastest tracks on the calendar but it is actually good fun to drive, although you have to keep your concentration because you get punished badly by going off line. It is very close among several teams at the moment so it is difficult to predict what will happen in Hungary but if we can do a smooth weekend with no problems then we will be competitive. The last race weekend was very frustrating for me because we had a lot more performance than the result showed but we are all determined to make up for that with a good points finish in Hungary."
Timo Glock: "Obviously Hungary is a special race in my career after the podium there last season. That was the first of several strong points finishes for me and I hope another competitive weekend there can get the ball rolling again this year. I am in a positive mood and optimistic I can score again. It was disappointing to just miss the points at the last race, especially in front of my home fans, but I made up 11 places after starting from the pit lane so we have the potential to finish much higher. One of my targets this weekend will be to get a perfect lap in qualifying because that has been an issue in the last couple of races for various reasons. Lap times are really close this year so if you are a tenth or two off your maximum pace in qualifying you can drop a few positions and that makes life harder in the race. We'll be pushing as hard as possible and I am sure we will bounce back."
Pascal Vasselon, Senior General Manager Chassis: "We are looking forward with optimism to the Hungarian Grand Prix. Even though the Hungaroring is a low average speed circuit it consists mainly of medium-speed corners with very few really slow corners, but still you need plenty of downforce. The track is quite hard on brakes, which is demanding in terms of braking stability and cooling. Also, tyre grip and consistency management can be a challenge because the track surface and lay-out are very specific; it is low grip with high cornering severity. That created a risk that the hard specifications would struggle for grip while the soft specs could suffer severe graining but Bridgestone has reacted so we will use the soft and super soft tyre to avoid that situation. We are likely to face high ambient temperatures this weekend but the cooling efficiency of our car is very good so we can cope with these conditions without degrading the aerodynamic performance."