Busy 2nd testday for Robert at Barcelona!

BARCELONA, DECEMBER 01 2005 – At his second day of testing for Red Bull Racing, Robert Doornbos drove 112(!) laps at the 4,727 kilometer Circuito de Catalunya today. Under sunny but cold conditions, the 24-year old Dutchman succesfully completed his busy programme for this week at the Grand Prix circuit near Barcelona.

While his teammate David Coulthard mainly focussed himself on evaluating different compounds of Michelin tyres and set-up work for the RB1. It was Robert’s task to further develop the software today among others. Equiped with a restricted Cosworth V10 engine, Robert started his day with testing brakes before switching his attention to the software related subjects.

After the lunch, Robert practised quite some starts in order to finetune these settings and mainly focussed himself on engine braking and gearshifts. Over the course of the day Robert drove around nine long runs of 10-12 laps each in which he only used two sets of Michelin tyres. To supply the team with usefull information on all subjects it was more important to show a constant performance in stead of clocking fast laptimes today.

ROBERT DOORNBOS: “I’ve never driven so many laps at one day in my F1 carreer as I did today! It proved to be a positive day for the team as we were able to fully complete our programme. I ran a basic set-up the entire day in order to gather as much information as possible under similar circumstances. My tests in the upcoming months will also be aimed at development work rather than just setting fast laptimes. This ofcourse to reach the desired level of competitiveness before we travel to Bahrain!”

Already next week, Red Bull Racing will continue its testing activities in Spain. At Jerez de la Frontera RBR has scheduled a three-day test with one RB1 car. Whom of the drivers will come into action at which day(s) will be decided later this week. The new, Ferrari V8 powered, RB2 will have its circuit debut in the hands of David Coulthard at Silverstone half december.

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