Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda were back on track at the Paul Ricard circuit in Southern France this week preparing for their return to racing at the European Grand Prix.

All four B.A.R Honda drivers joined the programme, with Anthony and Enrique in action on Wednesday, followed by Jenson and Takuma on Friday. With the circuit configured for a Monaco layout for the first two days of the test, the team decided not to run on Thursday in order to save a day of testing.

The focus for this week’s test was the evaluation of further aerodynamic updates for the Nürburgring and tyres for the European and Canadian Grands Prix, along with a tyre casing programme for Michelin and brake development work. The team completed 2218 kms of running, covering 532 laps of the Paul Ricard circuit.

Anthony concentrated on the evaluation of new aerodynamic developments on Wednesday, completing a total of 117 laps over the course of the day. His afternoon was brought to an early conclusion when an electrical fault caused damage to the engine. Enrique ran through a tyre casing programme over longer runs, which enabled brake evaluations to be completed simultaneously. His final tally for the day was 171 laps.

With the adaptable circuit initially configured to a Montreal layout, Jenson continued the aerodynamic test programme re-evaluating some solutions from Wednesday, as well as further new configurations. He completed a total of 113 laps, despite losing running time with some gearbox issues and numerous circuit red lights. Takuma ran through tyre evaluations for the forthcoming races. His B.A.R Honda 007 suffered an hydraulic leak during the morning session, which cost him some running time, however he completed a total of 131 laps over the course of the day. Due to an incident involving another car causing damage to the safety barrier, the track configuration reverted to a shorter circuit for the afternoon session.

Jenson Button
"We've tested most of the items that we wanted to but it hasn't been the best day as we have suffered with some gearbox issues. It’s nothing that we can't sort out though. Most of the tyre work was done on the other car, and we mainly concentrated on aero work. Everything we tested seemed to work well so we know which direction we're going in."

Takuma Sato
"This was a very important test for us as it has been our only opportunity to run for three weeks and before the race at the Nürburgring. Everyone in the test team has worked hard this week and so it is very rewarding to have topped the time sheet today. It has been a challenging day as we experienced two circuit layouts. I completed a lot of kilometres during the tyre programme this morning and we made very good progress with the car set-up for the shorter circuit layout this afternoon, so it has been a successful day and the car has performed well. After everyone's hard work, we are really looking forward to the European Grand Prix and to coming back to the race even stronger and faster."

Anthony Davidson
"I mostly did aero evaluations on Wednesday, along with some set-up work towards the end of the day. The car felt good with the new parts and I'm pleased that we are continuing to show a strong pace of development."

Enrique Bernoldi
"My priority for this test was a tyre casing programme to evaluate the performance over long runs. We also tested some new brake ducts which seemed to improve the balance of the car. We had some consistent and fast lap times and gathered some valuable information, so for me the test was quite positive."

Mark Ellis, Chief Test Engineer
“Despite less than ideal circuit configurations this week, we have completed all of our planned programme with promising results. Development solutions for both the European and Canadian Grands Prix have proved successful and we expect to return to racing competing at the front for wins. The relentless pace of development is continuing unabated and is a testament to the strength of the whole team.”

Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director, Honda Racing Development
"We had another productive test on the engine and we can't wait to get back in to racing action."

Testing Report - 13 May

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