TEAM CONTINUES TO IMPROVE CAR AND LEARN NEW SLICK TYRES
Ideal Conditions At Second Day Of Official Test
Chevrolet and RML continued to improve their performance at the second day of the official FIA test session at the Autodromo of Monza in Italy, today. Unlike yesterday, the sun was out all day for the first time at any of the test venues this year, giving team and drivers plenty of opportunity to learn the new slick Yokohama control tyres.
“We continue to discover the car,” said Alain Menu. “We worked a lot on the inertia and went for a softer spring and harder roll bar on the front at the end of the session, but before we could see what it did there was a red flag situation. On the tyre-side we’re still learning our way around how they respond to different pressure settings. It seems this tyre is more pressure sensitive than last year’s tyre.”
“The car feels good and the brakes definitely improved between this morning’s session and this afternoon. We tried different things and played with the roll bars and the weight distribution in the car, but we’re obviously still learning in the dry,” said Rob Huff, who saw his yesterday’s second fastest time overall disallowed because he allegedly cut one of the chicanes. “The telemetry clearly shows that I didn’t cut the chicane, so we know the performance is there and that the result was genuine. What would be the point of cutting corners in a test session anyway?”
“We’re working in the right direction, but each time I went out on new tyres the session was aborted,” said Nicola Larini. “But all in all I’m happy to be racing “at home” again with Chevrolet. I feel quite positive and I think it should be good season this year.”“Yesterday there was this back-to-school feeling in the paddock, finding out what everybody had been up to over winter,” said Chevrolet Europe’s Motorsport Manager, Eric Nève.
“Today we could see that everybody worked hard, but we also did our homework, as the team showed. The first big exam is in less than two weeks, here at Monza. It’s maybe not the track best suited for us, but afterwards I think we should be going for point finishes at each of the races, while at the same time have the ambition to finish on the podium.”
