Hot weather greeted the teams in Barcelona on the final day of pre-season testing and Heikki Kovalainen was at the wheel of the Lotus Cosworth T127.
The team completed 65 laps in the five-month old car, and after some developmental mechanical and weight balance changes, they saw further improvements in the T127’s reliability and pace.
Lotus believe they have a reliable car, which is ready for its race debut in a fortnights time. Further aero developments will have to wait until the race in Barcelona, when the team expect they will really be able to show some performance.
Mike Gascoyne, speaking at the end of the days testing, said that the team were now ready for Bahrain. “It was a game of two halves as they say; we had a good morning where we were able to complete all our plans but a problem with the programme change on the gearbox delayed us in the afternoon, which meant we weren’t able to do as much running as we wanted. Overall, however, the test has been extremely productive – in general we’ve had very good reliability, and the team is in very good shape going to the first race.
“Considering the length of time we’ve had to work on the project it’s a fantastic effort from the whole team. Everyone has worked exceptionally hard over the two tests and we now have to work on the pace of the car and improve that, but it’s been a tremendous effort from the whole team and I’m very proud of them.”
The next time Trulli or Kovalainen will take the car out on track will be first practice in Bahrain, in less than two weeks.
