The Spyker Formula One Team today pushed on with its test programme in the first day of a further three-day test. This time out, the team moved to southern Spain to the 4.05km Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo close to the Mediterranean city of Valencia. The team completed 551km to build on the momentum of last week’s three-day test in Barcelona and gather more valuable tyre and systems data and continue work on set-up.
The day also provided two of Spyker’s new test and development drivers with the opportunity to drive the F8-VII for the first time. Adrian Valles was first of the test drivers to get in the car and completed 42 laps. Adrian commented, “It’s fantastic to drive here at home and lots of people, including the regional sports minister David Serra, came to watch. Unfortunately the track was a little wet this morning, but once the surface dried out later, we managed to get a few more runs and also improve our time. The car is easier to drive than last year, much more constant. I really enjoyed it and look forward to getting more mileage.”
Dutchman Giedo van der Garde took over the car from Valles after lunch and completed 86 laps, 343km and a best time of 1m13.7secs, “The Formula 1 car is very different to the Formula 3 car I’ve driven, you have to be straight on the throttle when you go out of the corner, but l enjoyed it and I think we made some progress in the afternoon and hopefully helped the team. It’s good to get to know the team and the engineers and so far it’s working pretty well.”
Adrian Sutil completed a shakedown for a second F8-VII chassis in preparation for a full test programme tomorrow and Wednesday.
Chief technical officer, Mike Gascoyne, commented, “It was another productive day of testing and, again, we had exemplary reliability. Today the aim was to do as much mileage as possible for the two test drivers and to continue to work through all our control systems. Both Adrian and Giedo did a good job, both putting in enough miles to qualify for their Superlicences. They also helped the team gather some valuable data on the electrical systems. Unfortunately Adrian’s early morning running was limited due to a damp and slippery track, but I think both drivers did a very good job. We also collected more information on the tyres, which will help us refine set-ups later in this test.”
The team remains in Valencia for day two of the three-day test. Malaysian Fairuz Fauzy will get his first taste of a Formula 1 car in the morning before handing the car over to Christijan Albers in the afternoon. Adrian Sutil will continue in the second chassis for the remainder of the test.
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