Setup tests for Toyota at Barcelona

More confident
By Site Staff
January 14 2003

Toyota had a productive day today on the first day of a three day test at Barcelona. Between them, Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta completed 72 laps without any major problems encountered.

Olivier Panis had the honour of piloting the new TF103 on it's first test outing and completed 34 laps. Panis's positive feelings after the Paul Ricard test last week transformed into confidence today as he became more familiar with the new machine. "This is our first test with the new TF103 car at Barcelona, and although we did not complete many laps, what we did was very positive," Pans said to the official Toyota website. "The most encouraging aspect is that we have found ourselves in a good position with respectable lap times. I already feel confident enough to push the car to the limit. Last week’s test at Paul Ricard gave us a good baseline, and today’s session gave me a confirmation that the team have done a good job on this car – I can really feel the difference."

Cristiano da Matta continued his familiarisation with the Toyota team in the interim TF102B chassis. Despite not being able to use the new car yet, da Matta talked positively about his days work. "It is good to be back in Barcelona, but it has been a day of mixed fortunes for us," he added on Toyota-F1.com . "We set a very packed schedule today with many laps planned. In the end, I managed just 38 laps, even though we had no major problems. Coming back to this track for the first time since my debut test with the team back in November, I already more confident and positive about my work with the car and the team."

Toyota continue their test schedule tomorrow with the same driver/chassis combinations.