06/02/2012
NEWS STORY
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Lotus F1's 2012 contender, the E20, has taken to the track for the first time ahead of this week's four-day test at Jerez.
Kimi Raikkonen took the wheel for 22 laps of the circuit for filming purposes, allowing the Finn to gain his first impressions of the car under and give the gave the team an opportunity to validate that the E20 was fully operational and all systems were working.
The track time followed a presentation of the E20 to press and partners in an event at the circuit with drivers Raikkonen, Romain Grosjean and Jérôme D'Ambrosio joined by Team Chairman Gerard Lopez, Team Principal Eric Boullier and Technical Director James Allison.
"It's great to see the E20 at a race circuit and even better to get behind the wheel," said Raikkonen. "It's always frustrating to be in a new car and not be able to drive it at maximum attack, but thankfully I will have that opportunity for the next two days. My initial impressions are good, I fit comfortably in the car and it feels great in first and second gear; now let's see what it can do tomorrow."
Testing gets underway tomorrow, Raikkonen will drive for the first two days before handing over to Grosjean for the latter two days. The team will conduct systems checks and validate the work done at Enstone.
"The main purpose of the first test is to complete as many laps as possible with the E20," said Alan Permane, the team's Trackside Operations Director. "This allows us to assess if all systems are working as they should and highlights if there are any areas requiring our attention.
"We monitor all systems to ensure that everything is operating within the correct temperature range, and functioning as designed. Although we have a very early version of the aerodynamic package here, we are able to validate the track data against our CFD and wind tunnel information.
"Assessing Pirelli's latest compound and construction tyres is another objective in Jerez. Although it is quite cold here in the morning, we expect representative track and ambient temperatures during the day, so we should get a good initial impression of their performance with the E20.
"Jerez is not a circuit we race on, but it is a good test venue with a range of high-speed and low-speed corners as well as a mixture of kerbs." Today's filming runs allowed us to perform initial systems checks; now the hard work begins."
Picture: Lotus F1 Team