18 March: Malaysian Grand Prix - Friday Practice
Report - Jordan Grand
Prix
Jordan Grand Prix enjoyed a positive start to the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend, running three cars in today’s two
one-hour official practice sessions. Team personnel spent their time adjusting the Jordan EJ15 chassis for the requirements of the
demanding Sepang International Circuit and were pleased at the end of the afternoon session with the lap times made by the drivers,
especially with track temperatures rising as high as 55°C and by the fact that it was the drivers’ first experience on this
circuit. Friday’s technical programme ran smoothly and the team looks forward to making further useful progress tomorrow.
Free
Practice 1 Tiago Monteiro (EJ15/03) 17th 1:39.571 18 laps Robert Doornbos (EJ15/01) 18th 1:40.289 20laps Narain Karthikeyan
(EJ15/02) 19th 1:40.375 14 laps
Free Practice 2 Robert Doornbos (EJ15/01) 17th 1:37.878 23 laps Narain Karthikeyan
(EJ15/02) 19th 1:38.855 21 laps Tiago Monteiro (EJ15/03) 21st 1:39.755 21 laps
Tiago Monteiro “It was an
interesting day. I had to learn the track as quickly as possible and get a feel for it with such high temperatures. We know now
which Bridgestone tyres we will use for the rest of the weekend and we will adapt our strategy according to our choice.”
Narain
Karthikeyan “Sepang International Circuit is quite difficult to learn because it is very flowing and dusty and for a rookie
it is quite tricky to find the correct line, but I have to go with what I have and try to improve my times tomorrow.”
Robert
Doornbos “I love this great circuit, which I have practised a lot on the Playstation. The morning session went very well; I
had to do a lot of work for the team, especially in these conditions where it is very important to make the right choice of tyres.”
Trevor
Carlin Sporting Director “Today was another productive day with the three cars running very well. Robert Doornbos did an
excellent job for us in evaluating tyres. We have learnt a lot about the car and we are looking forward to a good weekend.”