20.11.2008 BADOER WRAPS UP MARATHON THREE DAY FERRARI TEST IN BARCELONA

LUCA BADOER - FERRARI F2008
LUCA BADOER - FERRARI F2008
LUCA BADOER - FERRARI F2008

Scuderia Ferrari wrapped up three days of testing in Barcelona yesterday, the first track session since the Grand Prix season wrapped up in dramatic fashion at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil two-and-a-half weeks ago. A total of 14 cars went on the Circuit de Catalunya on Wednesday, with nine out of the ten Formula 1 teams participating in the World Championship this year took part in the tests; only the Toyota outfit was missing.

For Scuderia Ferrari Luca Badoer went on the track yesterday to continue the important reliability tests being conducted on the engine and gearbox. Badoer drove more than anyone else during these tests: a total of 1,400 kilometres, with 300 km of these being ran this morning. Also on Wednesday it was almost impossible to understand the performance levels on the track by just looking at the time sheet. The cars' configurations are too different to compare one to another. Therefore the fans of the Prancing Horse don't have to worry at all about the lap times of their two drivers.

This week was Badoer's first proper marathon test, behind the wheel of the laboratory F2008 with three full days on the Spanish race track. The main job for the Scuderia's official test driver during these test sessions was to simulate the mileage the V8 has to cover in the next season. "I don't remember, that we recently had such a hard test. Already in the [Wednesday] morning I had done 300 kilometres, after almost 600 yesterday [Tuesday]," Luca told the journalists during yesterday's lunch break. "It's important that we got to this point already in the first test session after the decision has been take to expand the mileage. Let's hope that everything goes well until the end of the day, so we can conclude our work on the track."

Badoer used a visibly modified F2008, which was not really pretty to look at. "The chassis is set up to take up the KERS and we're running with several components to simulate the weight and the dimensions. We're also testing some new solutions. In the afternoon we're running with a new system, which enables us to modify the angle of the front wing, while the car is out on the track."

The Scuderia's official test driver completed 120 laps on Wednesday, the quickest in a time of 1.22.866, thus bringing the total number of laps completed over the three days to 355. Spain will once again be the venue for the next test session, which takes place at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit from 9th to 11th December.

Test Details, 19/11; Circuit: Circuit de Catalunya - 4.655 km; Driver: Luca Badoer; Car: F2008; Weather: air temperature 7/18 °C, track temperature 8/23 °C. Sunny.
 

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