The first of the two GP2 testing days in Barcelona was conditioned by several red flags, due to a long series of spins. The morning session begun in wet conditions, forcing drivers and teams to start their work on rain tires. The task schedule of Target Racing was slowed down by a too short sixth gear during the morning session, but in the afternoon both Kohei Hirate and Pastor Maldonado were able to complete their daily duties.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi – Team Principal
“We decided to conduct different types of tests on the cars of Maldonado and Hirate. In the morning turn Kohei worked on various mechanical configurations, while Pastor made comparisons between race and qualifying setups. In the afternoon, Hirate started a race simulation test, suddenly interrupted by a spin and several red flags. Maldonado successfully completed his aero-balancing runs, but he never had the chance to make a serious qualifying-type attempt, as a red flag came out while he was on new tires. We`re satisfied with the results we obtained, but only from the technical race configuration point of view. We still have to optimize the car`s return in qualifying conditionsâ€.
Kohei Hirate – Pos. 22
“Unfortunately, we lost a lot of time in the first session to replace the sixth gear, but in the afternoon the feedback I had in the race simulation were really positive. Our program, of course, did not allow us to go for a hot lap, but tomorrow three sets of new tires will be available, and we`ll try to find the car`s limit in qualifying conditionsâ€.
Pastor Maldonado – Pos. 8
“My position in the final chart was conditioned by the impossibility of exploiting the performance of our new tires. However, I`m really confident, because each time we go out with a setup variation, the car actually handles better. Our feedback when we`re on old tires is positive, we still have to test the car in some hypothetical qualifying runsâ€.
