Doornbos fastest for Jordan at Indy

By Jordan Press Office
June 18 2005

After a four week break, Robert Doornbos showed immediate pace during yesterday's Free Practice sessions ahead of the United States Grand Prix.

The test- and reserve driver of Jordan Grand Prix drove the most laps (63) of all drivers at the 4.195 kilometer long Indianapolis Motor Speedway in which he was also again faster as his team mates Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro. Doornbos fastest laptime of 1:13.361 eventually handed him a deserving 18th position.

As the infield of this renowned circuit is hardly used during the season, most drivers used the opening Free Practice session to 'clean' the track and to increase the overall griplevel. Robert Doornbos, who is back behind the wheel of Jordan Grand Prix' third car after a four week break since the Monaco Grand Prix, also used this one-hour lasting session to get acquainted with the circuit and to find a good set-up for his EJ15. By lapping the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 36 times between 11:00 and 12:00 hours local time, the 22-year old Dutchman also gathered valuable information for both his team as the engineers of Bridgestone and Toyota.

As Indianapolis offers the longest straight of all venues among the 2005 Formula One calender, Doornbos started his afternoon session by testing some aerodynamic adjustments to the front wing of his car. Next to this, the 2004 FIA International F3000 Rookie of the Year also drove two long stints of 12 laps each on both the hard and the soft compound Bridgestone tyres, as all teams are prescribed to choose one of these by Friday afternoon to use exclusively for the remainder of the weekend. Doornbos' fastest laptime of 1:13.361, which he set halfway the session, appeared to be out of reach for his teammates Karthikeyan and Monteiro later on in Free Practise 02. Therefore the talented youngster could again finish the day as the fastest driver of the Russian/Canadian outfit!

"It feels good to be back in the car." said Robert.  "As it was already a month ago since I drove the car for the last time, I was somewhat cautious in Free Practise 01, but soon went 'flat out' in the afternoon session. Experience is everything. Not only did I learn much again today, also the team was able to get a better judgement on what tyres to use this weekend with my feedback. I'm satisfied about my results and I hope the team can continue the great job they have done today for the remainder of the weekend!"

“All three drivers got used to a new track here at Indianapolis without too much trouble,” said Adrian Burgess. “Besides, we are happy with the fuel load we have been carrying today. Now we have to sit down and make a careful decision about our tyre choice for the weekend and analyse the useful information we have been collecting to get more from the car and the rest of the package for tomorrow and Sunday. ”

They also made the usual Bridgestone tyre evaluation and comparison as the team collected a useful amount of data. Both regular race driers are now looking forward to making further progress tomorrow.

“The track is quite straightforward and not too hard to learn,” said Narain. “What is really crucial here is to position the car well for the fast corners. The emphasis is on traction so we will try to improve the car for tomorrow. Otherwise, I am relatively satisfied with these two practice sessions today and I am looking forward to tomorrow.”

“In these two sessions today, we have been working on the balance of the car which is important here and been purely concentrating on a race set-up as it is only time we can hopefully score points,” added Tiago. “The track was very slippery and not very challenging and I have to admit I was not very impressed with it. We have another hour and half tomorrow to improve the car and see where we are.”