Paul Ricard Day 2 – Toyota 5th and 6th fastest


By Nick Sparkes
March 23 2006

Toyota returned to the testing scene this week to look into the tyre issue which has dogged the start to the teams 2006 campaign. But Ralf Schumacher and Ricardo Zonta caused a number of red flags during the day, leaving the well funded Japanese team at the bottom of the time sheet.

Renault test driver Heikki Kovalainen lead the field, finishing a couple of tenths ahead of the McLaren test driver of Pedro de la Rosa.

BMW test driver Robert Kubica finished the day third, ahead of Gary Paffett who was running a V10 limited McLaren.

For Toyota, the day was a struggled. Ralf Schumacher who was faster than Ricardo Zonta, draw up the red flags in the afternoon after having electrical problems with his TF106.

"In general it was very cold” said Ralf, “So we were suffering with the warm-up of the tyre temperatures. In the afternoon, I put in some running but had some electronic issues and therefore stopped the car to prevent any further problems. Although the day does not seem as successful, the team will carry on with Jarno and Ricardo tomorrow and I am sure that we will gain some insight for the next race."

Similarly, Ricardo Zonta shared the same view; “We had a slow start in morning and had to therefore wait for warmer temperatures. At lunchtime, we really began working on our tyre programme, achieving everything we had planned. I was driving the old car trying different compounds, different temperature settings on the tyres, and balance set-ups. We will continue to work on some different items and tomorrow should be better as the temperatures are supposed to rise.”

Testing continues tomorrow.

1 H. Kovalainen Renault Michelin 01:04.466 161
2 P. de la Rosa McLaren Michelin 01:04.866 169
3 R. Kubica BMW Michelin 01:04.970 144
4 G. Paffett McLaren Michelin 01:05.874 71
5 R. Schumacher Toyota Bridgestone 01:06.311 79
6 R. Zonta Toyota Bridgestone 01:07.060 40