Paul di Resta had a productive second day at the Valencia test, completing 111 laps of the Ricardo Tormo circuit and finishing the day third quickest behind Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel.
The Scot spent the day gathering more information on the performance of the three Pirelli tyre compounds for Force India, who are using last years’ car at this week’s test session.
“[It was] another good day of testing for the team, gathering lots of information for the guys to work on as we prepare for the debut of the VJM04 next week,” said di Resta. “We’re now understanding a lot more about the performance of the Pirellis and the differences between the compounds, particularly with regards to long and shorter runs and different fuel loads.
“At this stage we’re not going for times, just trying to get representative data to work on. I’m feeling good and well integrated into the team and my new role, there’s a really positive atmosphere, which will set us up extremely well for next week when the new car testing programme starts.”
Dominic Harlow, circuit engineering director for the team, said that the data collected today was particularly valuable. “Today’s programme was intended to compare the various tyre compounds’ performance with yesterday’s as the track improved,” he explained. “During the course of the session the circuit should have reached something approaching race conditions in terms of the laps run on it, so it’s interesting data. It was a productive day and we also worked on some systems development for the VJM04.”
Adrian Sutil will be in the car tomorrow for the final day of the test.
