Race simulations for Robert at Monza

MONZA, SEPTEMBER 08 2006 – Hardly a week after his spectacular F1 demo at Zandvoort, Robert Doornbos was back behind the wheel of his RB2 today. In the free practises ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing’s test- and reservedriver mainly focussed on finding a good set-up for Sunday’s 59 lap race and evaluated Michelin’s tyres throughout both sessions. At the historical track, located 16 kilometres to the north-east of Milan, the Dutchman drove 50 laps in total.

Doornbos enjoyed a good start of the day as he was continuously battling for a top position in the first free practise between 11 and 12 o’clock. At the famous Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, which was recently resurfaced for the most part, he mainly focused on finding a suitable basic set-up and selecting the right tyres for this demanding high-speed track. Divided over several stints, Doornbos lapped the 5,793 kilometre long track 19 times in this opening session. His best lap time of 1:25.578 put him on P7 as the chequered flag dropped at noon.

The afternoon session was entirely used by Doornbos to gather important information about the behaviour of his car and Michelin tyres in race conditions. Because a pitstop costs relatively more time here than anywhere else due to the high top speed of the cars at the start/finish straight, Red Bull Racing decided to run high fuel loads in order to simulate a possible one-stop-strategy. Therefore Doornbos saw no chance of improving this morning’s lap times and finished the day in 25th position.

1st FREE PRACTISE SESSION: P7, 1:25.578, 19 laps
2nd FREE PRACTISE SESSION: P25, 1:26.058, 31 laps

ROBERT DOORNBOS: “As I didn’t test here last week, it was a full year ago since I drove here for the last time. After finding my rhythm in the first few laps, we immediately started with our busy programme, which was completely focussed on Sunday’s race. Unfortunately the new tarmac between turn 4 and turn 9 still surprised us a bit in terms of finding the right set-up. Together with Michelin we will now try to find a proper solution for this and make sure that we will be more competitive tomorrow. My job for this weekend is over after the debriefs, but next week I’ve got an extensive testing programme at Jerez de la Frontera waiting for me.”

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