Panasonic Toyota Racing began preparations for the Chinese Grand Prix with a day of practice at the Shanghai International Circuit. The teams normally come to the city later in the season so conditions are cooler than usual here. Despite a sunny day, the air temperature ranged from 16-20°C and the track temperature from 26-34°C. Toyota drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock both had full days of practice as they work towards Saturday and Sunday. The TF109s feature aerodynamic updates here and they collected useful data throughout both sessions. During the morning session, Jarno had a slow in-lap due to an electrical problem but it did not hamper his programme. In the afternoon both drivers sampled the softer of the two Bridgestone tyre compounds in preparation for qualifying and the race.
Jarno Trulli
“That was a busy Friday for me. This morning we had an electrical problem which cost us a bit of track time but we recovered to complete our programme of work on set-up and tyres. The track surface wasn’t in fantastic condition this morning but it improved during the day. In general I’m still not happy with the car’s balance and pace so I hope we can analyse the data tonight and aim for better tomorrow. Then we can target another strong result on Sunday.”
Timo Glock
“So far things are going okay for us. The track was quite tricky this morning because there wasn’t much grip. I was sliding around on the green track and had to find a way to get the car together. But over the course of the day we sorted out a lot in terms of the set-up. The second free practice session was better and the car felt more together. So we have more work to do to get the car in the right direction for tomorrow. But overall this has not been a bad start to the weekend.”
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