27 May: European Grand Prix - Friday Practice
Report - Jordan Grand
Prix
Jordan Grand Prix started its usual Friday technical programme for this weekend’s European Grand Prix at the
Nürburgring, which consisted of fine-tuning of the chassis and evaluation of different types of Bridgestone tyres. Franck Montagny
joined the two race drivers today and spent much of the allocated time of the opening day acclimatising himself to the levels of
performance and handling available as well as testing tyres. Both Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro spun in the afternoon, which
made them lose some track time but managed to finish in 20th and 24th position respectively. All three drivers, however, provided
useful feedback to their engineers at the end of the two sessions and the team now looks forward to making further useful progress
tomorrow.
TEAM QUOTES ON THE EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX FRIDAY FREE PRACTICE SESSIONS
NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN “I
did not have a very good afternoon session, as I hit a cone and slightly damaged my car and then I had a small spin. I have spent
most of the two sessions learning the layout, as again this is a circuit I have never been on. We have made some changes to the car
that we had not tried before and I am quite happy with the progress we are making.”
TIAGO MONTEIRO “It was two
good sessions today. This afternoon, we have tried different things from this morning and I am satisfied with what we have done and
the direction we are going in, as we are very close to a good set-up. Compared to other teams, we are better here so it looks quite
good. We will make our tyre choice tonight and prepare for tomorrow’s final practice session and qualifying.”
FRANCK
MONTAGNY “It was a good day even if I expected it to be a little bit easier. After the first session, I have realised we
had a lot of work to do on the car. The second session went much better. I have had a very good impression of the team. People are
listening to me and therefore we were able to make some changes to the car. I had a few problems adapting myself to the car as I
have never driven it before and this was quite different from what I know and what I am used to. However, I am very happy with this
experience today.”
TREVOR CARLIN, SPORTING DIRECTOR “We had a very productive day today. Franck Montagny gave us
another opinion on where we are with the chassis and the tyres and he did a very good job. Moreover, we have made some good progress
on the Bridgestone tyres. Narain Karthikeyan had a few moments: he damaged the car when he hit a cone, then he had a little spin.
His laps were therefore very limited. Tiago did a very professional job and we are very pleased so far.”
