Fisi fast for Force India

Force India`s Giancarlo Fisichella has finished the team`s second day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya, Spain, with the second fastest time of the nine-man field.

The Italian recorded a 1:19.721 lap, which placed him fastest for the majority of the day, however he was bettered in the final part of the test session by Rubens Barrichello.

Fisichella`s time was set on the 2009 `slick` Bridgestone tyre option with the 2008 aerodynamic configuration, however a more representative time of 1:20.7 set on the grooved 2008 tyres with this year`s aero package demonstrated the clear step forward the team has made since the start of the season.

The team`s previous fastest lap round Barcelona this year, a 1:22.233, was set by Fisichella in February. Adrian Sutil will take over testing duties for the third and final day of testing tomorrow.

Giancarlo Fisichella
“The car went much better this time out than the last time we tested in Barcelona, which you can see in the considerable improvement in our lap times. This is largely due to the new parts we have introduced since the start of the season and the last time we were here. I tested the new 2009 slick tyres here today - which was the reason for my fastest lap - but we were also much quicker on the 2008 grooved rubber too. The best lap we did here in February was a 1:22.3 and now we are at 1:20.7, so we`re really moving forward.

“

Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer
“A positive day of testing with Giancarlo today. Apart from a few minor mechanical issues we had no real problems and were able to complete our whole test programme for today.”

“In the morning we ran, as per yesterday, in the 2008 aero configuration to look at set-up work for next weekend`s Spanish Grand Prix. Giancarlo also ran a set of 2009 tyres and put in a very good lap that put us at the top of the times for most of the day. In the afternoon we then switched to the 2009 configuration and tried out the different options of tyres available to us next year and got a lot of useful information.”

“Most positive from the day however is that with full 2008 settings and tyres, Giancarlo put in strong times that bettered our previous fastest times round here by more than two seconds. We`re obviously very pleased with this progress going into next week`s race.”

E.A.

15.4.2008   ▪ Formula One    ▪ Force India    ▪ en.f1-live.com