Dry weather for Toyota on last day at Paul Ricard

Cleared today
By Site Staff (22/01/03)
January 22 2003

Toyota wrapped up another three day test today at Paul Ricard, with Cristiano da Matta finally getting his taste in the new 2003 challenger. Newly signed test driver, Ricardo Zonta, also got in some mileage using the interim car.

As was reported yesterday, the team's programme suffered greatly from the inclement weather in the south of France. Heavy rain and fog restricted the track time on Monday and Tuesday, but today the weather cleared allowing the team to crack on.

Cristiano da Matta completed a total of 98 laps over the three days, getting used to the new TF103 chassis. Despite his track time being interrupted by the weather, da Matta already feels that the new car is an improvement over the old. "I cannot say too much about the test on Monday to be honest," he said to Toyota-F1.com today. "I only did around 20 laps in the new TF103 and in the wet, so the conditions were not optimum to get a full feeling for the car. Having said that from the limited laps I had, I can already feel a big improvement from the last car and I hope to get some proper running in Valencia next week."

Ricardo Zonta would have preferred his first outing for Toyota to be in drier conditions, but despite this he is enthused by the Toyota experience this week and is looking forward to more. "It's a great opportunity for me to be back in a Formula 1 car with Panasonic Toyota Racing," Zonta has been quoted as saying after the session today. "My first impressions of driving the TF102B car showed me that there is a lot of potential in this package and a lot of power. We have done a lot of work with variable weather this week, in dry, wet and mixed track conditions. I am looking forward to my next test, hopefully in completely dry conditions."

The team are now busily preparing two TF103 chassis in readiness for next weeks three day test in Valencia, with Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta on duty.