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Kovalainen blows 'em away at Silverstone |
Heikki Kovalainen led the way on the second day of pre-British Grand Prix testing at Silverstone today (Wednesday), as red flags, changeable conditions, light rain and blustery winds saw the young Finn quite literally blow his rivals into the weeds.
Kovalainen ultimately ended up just under four tenths of a second to the good after covering 72 laps of the track, though for much of the day he had been as much as six tenths clear, concentrating on set-up work, development of new mechanical parts and the evaluation of a new-spec front wing before McLaren-Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton takes over the wheel on the last day.
Toyota's Jarno Trulli – the hero of Magny-Cours by registering the Japanese squad's first podium finish in more than two years – continued his impressive form with the second-quickest time at Silverstone, before he hands over to team-mate Timo Glock for the final day. The experienced Italian – who claims he is driving 'better than ever' in this his twelfth season in the top flight in 2008 [see separate story –
click here] – enjoyed a trouble-free day, conducting 95 laps focussed on set-up work and aerodynamic development.
“Today's main focus was preparation for the British Grand Prix,” the 33-year-old explained afterwards, “and it was a good day. We managed to do a lot of laps and we learned several useful things. It all went smoothly and we ran without any real issues.
“There was a lot of gusting wind out there today, which can make direct comparisons difficult. Still, we made some progress with our set-up and aerodynamics programme. We are obviously looking to build on our result from last Sunday's French Grand Prix. Now I hope we will be in good shape for another strong race here next week.”
“The weather was kind to us today,” added the Cologne-based outfit's test team manager Gerd Pfeiffer, “despite looking ominous early on. We had a brief shower halfway through the morning, but apart from that we had a dry track to work on.
“That gave us plenty of time to make it through our programme of aerodynamics and set-up work for next week's British Grand Prix. There were a few interruptions for red flags, but Jarno had a solid day's work and we made some good progress. Now we will look to continue the momentum with Timo as we wrap up the test tomorrow.”
Nico Rosberg was third-fastest for similarly Toyota-powered Williams as the young German looked at set-up work, with test team manager Dickie Stanford later commenting: “Nico resumed testing at Silverstone today and completed his scheduled programme prior to the British Grand Prix here next weekend. During the course of the day, he covered general set-up work and experienced no problems with either the car or any of the systems. Kazuki [Nakajima] joins us tomorrow for the final day of the test.”
Nelsinho Piquet set an encouraging fourth-best time in the Renault, just over a second shy of Rosberg as he carried out 87 laps of set-up work and tyre evaluation for next weekend's race, before handing over the reins to team-mate Fernando Alonso on day three.
