Renault continues its testing program

Renault was on track again today for its first winter tests of the off-season. At the wheel of the R28, Nelson Piquet continued his technical program started yesterday and was accompanied this morning by Giedo Van Der Garde, who was invited by the team to participate in this session as a reward for his title in the World Series by Renault this year.

Based on a program similar to yesterday’s, the team continued its tests to gather a maximum amount of information and data on the Bridgestone slick tires. The stated objective of these tests is to identify several setup solutions that can then be exploited on the 2009 car.

With 37 laps covered this morning, the Dutchman has made good progress again. He adapted quickly and was able to work with his engineers to provide relevant feedback on his technical program.

The Brazilian will be on track again tomorrow for the final practice session of this week at the Circuit de Catalunya, near Barcelona.

Still as satisfied, Nelson Piquet commented on his day’s work: The day went well, like yesterday we worked on the tires and on the car’s setup for the next season. It was a bit colder today but the track conditions weren’t too bad and we didn’t have any problems which allowed us to cover a lot of kilometers. So it’s a second encouraging day.

Giedo van der Garde, who had the chance to drive again this morning, declared: I really enjoyed my tests today and I’m happy to have helped the team in its preparation for next season. Towards the end of the morning, I was fortunate to do several runs on new tires which allowed me to gain confidence in the car and I improved my lap times each time. We have made good progress since yesterday and I am very satisfied, it has been a very positive experience. I want to thank Renault once again for offering me such an opportunity!

As for Christian Silk, Chief Test Engineer, he speaks of this Tuesday as a productive day: « We are concluding another workday which allowed us to continue our program started yesterday, including tire testing and the evaluation of new parts. We made good progress this morning with Giedo, he was very effective and gave us good feedback. He integrated very well into the team. Nelson had a busy day; he worked a lot on fine-tuning the car and made efforts to record as much data as possible on the tires. The day was productive! »

According to a statement from the Renault F1 Team