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Yesterday the
Jerez de la Frontera circuit was the venue for a new team to
run its new car for the first time. Scuderia Toro Rosso's
2006 challenger, the STR-01 has finally broken cover.
The task of shaking down the new beast fell to Tonio
Liuzzi. "Finally, the new baby is out," declared the
Italian. "Now I feel that we are really on course for the
2006 season. Everything went well and the car ran pretty
reliably. Of course, with a new car there is still quite a
lot to do with set- up and the engine definitely felt
different. It makes a strange noise, has less power and the
power band is in a different place to what I had been used
to." The new car broke down on the circuit just once. The
fault was traced to an electrical problem, which was soon
fixed once the car was back in the pits.
Today it was the turn of his team-mate Scott Speed to get
behind the wheel. Southern Spain just isn't playing by the
rules this winter and once again today, testing got off to a
very damp start after overnight rain. However, the sun came
out and the track dried enough for dry weather tyres for
most of the day. The team concentrated on set-up work
throughout the day as this was the American driver's first
time in STR-01. "The car tended to oversteer but we worked
on the problem and by the end of the day, we had it
improved," said Scott. "We also did a long run at the end
and that went smoothly. It was our best run of the day which
shows we are making progress." This is not the first time
Speed has experienced the modified V10 engine. "It
definitely has less horsepower and has a different power
band," he explained. "It's going to require a different
driving style, carrying more speed through the corners as
you feel the difference when you drive out of them."
The team resumes testing this coming Monday, 13th February,
at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain almost a month to the day
before the desert track hosts the opening round of the
season.
GERHARD BERGER AQUIRES HALF OF SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO
Scuderia
Toro Rosso has a new 50 percent partner, effective
immediately: half the shares of the Italian Formula One team
have been taken over by Gerhard Berger’s motorsport company.
The 46-year-old
Tyrolean is contributing his entire personal knowledge and
experience of Formula One, accumulated over two decades, to
the fledgling racing team: between 1984 and 1997 he competed
in 210 Formula One races, finishing among the top three in
48 races and winning ten times.
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