Sahara Force India was back in action today as Paul Di Resta completed a busy first day of testing in the VJM06 in Jerez, Spain. Paul completed 89 laps with a best time of 1:20.343 to finish fourth on the timesheets.
Day One Statistics:
Chassis: VJM06-02
Laps: 89 laps
Mileage: 394 km
Fastest lap: 1:20.343
Classification: P4 of 11
Paul Di Resta: “A positive first day and we managed to cover lots of laps – so that’s the most important thing. I felt very comfortable all day and we managed to get through the programme as we focussed on collecting aero data and understanding how well the car correlates with our simulation tools at the factory. We also started trying to learn as much about the tyres as possible so that we can carry that into tomorrow and optimise the set-up. The new compounds are quite different with the new construction and I’ve already felt a difference with the balance of the car in the low and high speed parts of the lap.”
Jakob Andreasen, Chief Race Engineer
“As first days go, we are pretty satisfied with how things went today. From the install lap onwards we managed to keep to the programme, even with the disruptions for the red flags. In the morning we focused on aero data collection before moving to baseline set-up work just before lunch. For the afternoon Paul completed some longer runs as we started to get an understanding for the 2013 tyres, especially the medium compound, and how they perform. All the while we made good progress with our system checks and we are in good shape ahead of tomorrow.”
