Promising signs for Toyota ahead of Monaco

Friday 16th May 2008

Jarno Trulli was happy with the feel of his TF108 in high downforce configuration, a promising sign for Toyota ahead of next weekend's Monaco GP.

Trulli was in action at the Paul Ricard circuit on Thursday, which saw the drivers present running on a shortened version of the track at just 3.593km in order to optimise set-up ahead of next weekend's Monte Carlo race.

Trulli completed 120 laps as he set about preparing for the grand prix using a high downforce configuration. His best time for the day, a 1:06.205, put him seventh on the timesheets.

"I went through the programme but I can't honestly say that I detected too much difference with the various set-ups that we tried," the Italian said.

"It was the first time that I have driven the TF108 in high downforce configuration but there was not that much difference in feel. I'm not sure whether that is just a characteristic of this circuit."

Gerd Pfeiffer, Toyota's test team manager, added: "We ran a similar programme today as we did yesterday, except adapted to Jarno's set-up. We experimented with some different brakes and a range of different wings and aerodynamic settings.

"We had no mechanical problems and thankfully the rain that arrived around lunchtime did not affect our running in the afternoon.

"We completed the schedule and tomorrow (Friday) we will turn our attention to preparations for Montreal on a different circuit layout."

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