Racing Engineering came away from the three days of testing at Jerez very pleased with the results achieved as they completed all their planned workload.
The Tuesday morning session was held under sunny skies although the temperatures were not high. Both of the Racing Engineering drivers used the session to concentrate on working on the set-up of their cars and to get used to racing their Dallara chassis after the winter lay-off. The GP2 tyre supplier Pirelli had provided P Zero slick Hard (Prime) and Medium (Option) compounds for the three days of testing.
At the end of the opening session Fabio Leimer had completed 18 laps with a fastest time of 1:27.124 which placed him 14th whilst Nathanaël Berthon was a little slower with a lap time of 1:27.917 after 14 laps which was the 20th fastest time.
Temperatures were higher for the afternoon session although lap times were generally .2 to .3 of a second slower. With the Racing Engineering drivers happy with the work they had carried out in the morning both men were able to run more laps and look for some faster laps. Fabio Leimer was immediately amongst the fastest runners and by the end of the session his 32 laps gave him a fastest lap of 1:26.776 which was the 4th fastest time. Nathanaël Berthon was also setting some fast times and his 28 laps saw him set the 8th fastest time with a lap of 1:27.205, less than half a second behind his team-mate.
Wednesday saw the weather remain sunny and in a morning session that was red-flagged twice due to incidents Fabio Leimer continued to be amongst the quicker runners finishing the session in 10th place with a time of 1:25.845. Nathanaël Berthon was just 0.8 seconds slower with a time of 1:26.648.
Most teams opted to run race simulations during the afternoon so times were much slower and once again two red flags made the session difficult for both the teams and their drivers. At the end of the session Leimer had set a fastest lap of 1:29.449 whilst his team-mate Berthon set a 1:30.547 but his track time was curtailed by on off into a gravel trap.
The final day of testing proved to be eventful when the morning session had to be stopped after thirty minutes due to a piece of curb on the track coming away. The session was stopped for forty five minutes for repairs to be made and it was decided to amalgamate the remainder of the session together with the afternoon session. Three further red flags caused further interruptions to the schedule.
Once again the Racing Engineering team decided to concentrate on their race setup and no attempt to set fast laps were made by either driver and, at the end of the session, Leimer had set a fastest time of 1:26.342 after 56 laps and Berthon’s best time was just four tenths slower at 1:26.747 after 40 laps.
The Racing Engineering team are now heading back to their nearby base at Sanlúcar de Barrameda to prepare for the final pre-season testing at Barcelona which commences on Tuesday March 6th for three days.
