28/05/2010
NEWS STORY
Following the announcement at the Chinese Grand Prix that Sakon Yamamoto would join Hispania Racing, the Japanese driver was in action for the first time today in free practice for the Turkish Grand Prix as the team's reserve race and test driver. As in Barcelona, Hispania is working with three drivers over both Friday practice sessions with Sakon Yamamoto joining race drivers Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna. Yamamoto had a trouble-free session covering 26 laps at the wheel of the car in the first practice session today. Karun Chandhok completed 13 laps.
In the second 90-minute afternoon free practice session, in preparation for Sunday's race, Bruno Senna took over from Yamamoto and covered 35 laps while Chandhok added a further 25 to the team's tally.
Dr. Colin Kolles, Team Principal: "Today we focused on our usual race preparation. Sakon had to get used to handling a Formula 1 car after three years of absence from the Formula 1 World Championship, but he put in an impressive performance and did a very good job, especially around the corners of the circuit. Unfortunately, Karun Chandhok had a problem with a car sensor which required a bit of work, so it was not possible for him to complete his full program during the morning's free practice session. However, we found the source of the issues and are currently working to fix this problem. I am sure the team will pull through as usual and correct the problems with the set-up."
Karun Chandhok: "It was a bit of a tough day for me. We had some mechanical issues in FP1 which cost track time and this afternoon we evaluated some modifications on the brake system on my car. I had some issues on the option tyre runs at the end which we have to look into overnight but thus far we seem to be at a similar level as Barcelona relative to Lotus. It was a bit abnormal to do my best time on the prime tyre but I just struggled for rear end grip on the options."
Bruno Senna: "Today was okay but it was a bit different to be a spectator like I was in the morning session as Sakon was driving my car. In the afternoon session, I came back to my duties. We are working hard and tried to improve car balance on the track to get the car a little bit better for tomorrow. I completed 35 laps wit no major issues. I was running high fuel during the session."
Sakon Yamamoto: "Today was a fantastic day! I am very happy to be back behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car and its great to be part of a team such as Hispania Racing, HRT F1 Team. Everything went quite well and I managed to complete a full 26 laps of the Istanbul Park circuit. We made some good progress and are already working to improve the performance so we can achieve even better lap times."