Paul Ricard 7/4/06 – Toyota 1st and 7th fastest


By Nick Sparkes
April 7 2006

Toyota’s week from hell seems too had ended with some happy news. For the first time this year a Toyota has headed the time sheets in testing, with Ricardo Zonta. The Brazilian was a few tenths slower than the fastest time set all week, but it was a sure sign that Toyota were on their way back.

Giancarlo Fisichella was second fastest behind the flying Toyota, albeit a few tenths behind. Pedro de la Rosa made it three different manufactures in the top three in third.

Gary Paffett was fourth in the second McLaren, with the double act from BMW-Sauber in fifth and sixth.

There was some bad news for Toyota, Olivier Panis was last of the seven runners, but even the Frenchman was positive about this weeks test; "Overall, it was a positive week; we were working quite hard with the set-up to gain confidence with the car. Today, we had planned to do some long runs in the afternoon to achieve further results for the tyre choice at Imola, but my front wing broke from hitting the kerbs, which is unfortunate but is something that can happen."

"We are positive that we have made the right choice of tyres, yet, it is difficult to definitely say how we are coming along for the next race. But for sure Ricardo and I have found some encouraging things this week and we hope to score some further points at the coming races."

Likewise Ricardo Zonta’s test was successful, completing over 1,646km; "We tried many different tyre specifications during the long runs in the afternoon, as well as working on different aerodynamic set-ups. We have made some improvement, which I hope proves well at Imola, because this is a circuit that is hard for graining, especially when the track is still dirty. Paul Ricard has a similar track surface and the tyre choice we've made this week seems to do well. Now we just need to keep concentrated and keep pushing."

Toyota head to Barcelona next week to improve their car further.

1 R. Zonta Toyota Bridgestone 01:04.160 156
2 G. Fisichella Renault Michelin 01:04.260 159
3 P. de la Rosa McLaren Michelin 01:04.590 119
4 G. Paffett McLaren Michelin 01:04.900 163
5 R. Kubica BMW Michelin 01:04.945 105
6 N. Heidfeld BMW Michelin 01:05.675 92
7 O. Panis Toyota Bridgestone 01:06.740 60