Spanish GP2 outfit Racing Engineering have completed the final day of the final test at Barcelona on top after a show of authority from both drivers.
The team's German rookie, Christian Vietoris has impressed during all three days and has climbed the times each day – day one saw him set the third fastest time, day two saw him climb to second and the final day saw a day topping time set. For team mate Clos, he finished the final day in third, having backed up Vietoris for the majority of the morning session.
The morning saw the young German driver working on qualifying simulations, which meant that Vietoris was consistently quick and gaining more and more confidence in the cars. During the morning, 31 laps were completed by Vietoris, and set the benchmark time with a 1:27.284s.
The afternoon session saw Vietoris and the team worked on race simulations and completed forty-eight laps, which completed his testing programme before the opening rounds of the 2010 campaign.
Speaking about his final test performance, rookie Vietoris said: “This was a good test day, but generally all those last three days were positive for me and the team. It was good today to take advantage of the new set of tyres, which allowed me to improve quite a bit, and do a satisfying qualifying as well as race simulation. I am happy the testing program is over now and we are really looking forward to the races to come.”
For the returning Clos, he completed a testing program similar to that of his rookie team mate. The morning session saw the Spaniard complete thirty laps en route to finishing third, three and a half tenths of the pace of Vietoris.
The afternoon saw Clos also focus on race simulations, and completed a total of forty-four laps. As all the drivers were completing race simulations during the final afternoon, the morning's times weren't bettered.
Reflecting on the final day's work, Clos commented: “We had three good test days, which were positive in many different aspects. We were able to verify some points, which are affecting the car in a positive way. We also did some qualifying and race runs today and the car is good. We still need to improve it a bit, but I think we can expect good things to happen.”
The Racing Engineering drivers have been able to build on their performances at Paul Ricard as their drivers finished P1 and P3; German Vietoris enjoyed an astonishing rise of form during the three days, something which had delighted the team president, Alfonso de Orleans-Borbon: “I am very happy with the work done this week. I think everyone knew what they had to do and did it at the best of their abilities – and the results show. I would like to congratulate not only our drivers, but also our engineers and mechanics for having done a great job. However, there still is a lot of work to be done before the season starts and we will be busy analyzing the data obtained during these three test days in Barcelona.”
The team will next take to the track during the first European race for the FIA Formula One World Championship, at Barcelona on the 8/9 May. The Spanish Grand Prix will be the opening round of the 2010 GP2 Series.
Photo credit: Malcolm Griffiths/GP2 Media Service
