Electrical glitch for Trulli
Panasonic Toyota Racing started its Hungarian Grand Prix weekend with three hours of practice at the Hungaroring for Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock today. The twisty circuit on the outskirts of Budapest is generally dusty for the start of practice and that proved to be the case again today, with track conditions improving steadily throughout.
After chilly weather during the previous two Grands Prix, Hungary lived up to its reputation as one of the hottest race weekends on the calendar, with air temperatures reaching 29°C and track temperatures 47°C. The team used first practice to compare various set-up changes and establish a solid baseline for the rest of the weekend, while also evaluating several upgrades. Tyres were the main focus of second practice, with the team trying out the super soft and soft Bridgestone Potenza tyres, as last used together in Monaco. Unfortunately, Jarno's session was interrupted by an electrical glitch caused by temperature problems which forced him to stop on track midway through. But fast work by the team solved the problem and enabled him to resume the session after only half an hour's delay, immediately joining Timo in the top 10.
Jarno Trulli: "It was a difficult day for me and I had a bit of trouble. It was disappointing we couldn't do all the work we had planned in second practice due to the problem but the team did a great job to get the car ready again so quickly. It's not easy to say where we are in terms of competitiveness or set-up because it didn't run as smoothly as normal. The track conditions evolved quite a lot during the day, as expected, and by the end of the second session there was a lot more grip than in the morning. Now it is important to make the best possible use of tomorrow's practice session so we are well prepared for qualifying."
Timo Glock: "Today was quite positive for me and overall I am definitely happier than at this stage of the weekend at the Nürburgring. The car felt quite good, especially later in second practice when the track had rubbered in more. There wasn't a lot of grip this morning or for the first few laps of the afternoon session so it was a little tricky but it improved after that. So I am happy with how things have gone for me, but of course we still have work to do to improve the set-up even more. We have taken a step in the right direction and I hope for a strong qualifying tomorrow."
Dieter Gass, Chief Engineer Race and Test: "As usual here in Hungary, the track initially had quite poor grip but this improved significantly during the sessions. We had some temperature problems on Jarno's car in the afternoon which caused him to stop on track at one stage. Also, his morning session was also not entirely trouble-free and we needed to change some components, which cost a little time. So he lost a bit of running and is therefore a little behind in his programme. Timo had a smooth day without any problems so we will transfer some of the information we learned from his work to Jarno's car. It is interesting to see how close the field is today, with almost the whole field covered by one second, so it will be really important tomorrow to get everything spot on in qualifying and get the cars as far up the grid as we can."
Jarno Trulli (Car 9, Chassis TF109-06)
1st Practice: 6th, 1m 22.705s (+0.427s), 17 laps
2nd Practice: 8th, 1m 22.663s (+0.584s), 28 laps
Timo Glock (Car 10, Chassis TF109-05)
1st Practice: 14th, 1m 23.234s (+0.956s), 30 laps
2nd Practice: 10th, 1m 22.751s (+0.672s), 45 laps
