19 August: Turkish Grand Prix - Friday Practice
Report - Jordan Grand
Prix
Formula One made its long-awaited debut in Turkey today at the stunning new Istanbul Park circuit, on which Tiago
Monteiro, Narain Karthikeyan and Nicolas Kiesa thoroughly enjoyed their first outing. Despite a predictably dusty surface, which
affected grip levels in the opening session but improved significantly during the afternoon, Jordan Grand Prix drivers began their
preparations without a bank of previous track data. However, they managed to familiarise themselves quickly with the challenging
5.340-km circuit, although a gearbox issue for Karthikeyan limited his track time in the afternoon session. The Jordan drivers
worked through their full Friday programme, focussing particularly on setting-up chassis balance and assessing the Bridgestone tyres
available for this weekend’s Grand Prix.
TEAM QUOTES ON THE TURKISH GRAND PRIX FRIDAY FREE PRACTICE SESSIONS NARAIN
KARTHIKEYAN “I like the circuit a lot here at Istanbul, apart from the last three corners, which are less flowing. The
organisers have done an excellent job. In some corners, for instance corner nº8, you have to be really committed. The track was a
bit dusty in the first session but it got much better in the second one. It is a pity I had a gearbox problem in the afternoon, as I
was quite quick in the morning. The circuit is quite technical to learn but I have really enjoyed driving here.”
TIAGO
MONTEIRO “It was a good first day. It is always exciting to go to a new track. I was really looking forward to driving
here. As I expected I really enjoyed it. The layout in general is great and there are some really fast corners. The car had the
right balance from the start so we just had to fine-tune the set-up. The tyre decision is not easy but I am sure we will make the
right choice.”
NICOLAS KIESA “I had a good day today. This morning was a bit challenging, as the circuit is
quite difficult to learn and there are many blind corners, but I have learnt the layout faster than I expected. After five or six
laps I could start to push. We have had two good practice sessions. I had a small problem in the afternoon so I lost some 20
minutes. However, to be honest, I could not have done much with the time as I was struggling again with my neck. This is an
anti-clockwise circuit and even the race drivers, who have done more than 20 000km this year, were having a hard time too. Since I
started with Jordan in Hockenheim, I have done only 350km so I expected it to be really tough.”
ADRIAN BURGESS,
SPORTING DIRECTOR “It was an interesting day for the whole team, engineers and drivers included on a new circuit. Narain, Tiago
and Nicolas have done a very good job. Narain unfortunately did not get to run new tyres this afternoon as he had a small gearbox
problem, which restricted his run. Nicolas and Tiago did some Bridgestone tyre comparison, which will give us a lot of information.
Now we are going to analyse this data in order to improve the car and make the right choice of tyres.”
