Honda-powered debuts at Silverstone and Valencia

Honda-powered debuts at Silverstone and Valencia

The Jordan Honda EJ12 successfully completed its first shakedown test at
Silverstone on Monday with Takuma Sato at the wheel, prior to a three-day
private test at the Northamptonshire track. The 2002-spec car is an
entirely new design based on its predecessor, the Jordan Honda EJ11. A new
carbon fibre monocoque is complemented by a dramatic looking aerodynamic
package featuring a swooping front nose section.

Giancarlo Fisichella joined Sato on Tuesday to begin a three-day test of
both the EJ11 and the EJ12 in cold, wet and windy conditions at
Silverstone. Despite worsening weather conditions on the second day of the
test (Wednesday), Sato spent time working on launch control, wet set-up
and practice pit-stops while Fisichella continued work on engine mapping
and various cooling configurations.

Fisichella completed 24 laps in the Jordan Honda EJ12 on the final day
(Thursday) setting a fastest time of 1:26.27s while Sato ran for 50 laps
in the Jordan Honda EJ11 and recorded a best time of 1:26.54s.

Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda completed the final two days of a four-day test
in Valencia on Saturday and Sunday last week, with new signing Ryo Fukuda
joining Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis to make his debut with the
team on the third day of the test (Saturday). 

After familiarising himself with the car and the track Fukuda began work
on a braking programme. The 22-year old Japanese test driver completed 159
laps in the B.A.R Honda 003 and set a fastest time of 1:14.240s, just 1.7s
off the lead time. Panis’ main focus during the last two days of the
Valencia test was car set-up evaluation while Villeneuve continued with
race simulation. The second B.A.R Honda 004 arrived in Valencia for the
start of the test, enabling both drivers to run in 2002-spec cars. Panis
set a best lap and second fastest time of the day on the second day of the
test (Friday) of 1:13.002s while Villeneuve recorded a fastest time of
1:13.566s, fifth overall on the third day of the test (Saturday).

Both Honda-powered teams will be testing in Barcelona next week at the
Circuit de Catalunya. B.A.R Honda begins a three-day test on 28 January
and Jordan Honda starts a four-day test on 29 January.

Shuhei Nakamoto, Race and Test Team Manager, Honda Racing Development
commented: “We achieved around 90% of the planned programme on the engine
side in the first week of testing of the EJ12. There were a few minor
problems, which is normal for a first test, and we are fairly satisfied
overall. 

“In Valencia, Ryo Fukuda had an impressive first test for B.A.R Honda. His
feedback was very useful, he communicated well with the BAR engineers and
has the potential to be a real asset in testing this year. “   

Giancarlo Fisichella, Jordan Honda, was encouraged by his first outing in
the Jordan Honda EJ12: “Driving the EJ12 today (Tuesday) went fairly well,
although I didn’t do very many timed laps. It looks really good on
high-speed corners and I’m excited about having some more time in the car
over the next two days.”

Commenting on his first run in the Jordan Honda EJ12, Takuma Sato said: “I
am very happy to have completed the first shakedown. It was a very cold
and windy day at Silverstone, but everyone at Jordan and Honda did a great
job to have the car ready to run.”

Olivier Panis, B.A.R Honda, said: “I’m happy with the progress we’ve made
on the set-up and tyre testing. Honda is improving the engine step-by-step
and the reliability of the car has been good, which is important for the
first three Grands Prix in particular because we need early points. We
should feel positive about the progress across the last four days. We have
learnt a lot about the car in general and the problems we have experienced
have been the kind you expect at this stage with a new car.”

Jacques Villeneuve B.A.R Honda, commented: “Today (Saturday) was a little
disappointing because I stayed on to make up for the lack of running
yesterday. We encountered some problems which are nothing serious but they
have cost us quite a bit of track time. Generally the car still feels good
so I’m looking ahead to Barcelona now.”

Ryo Fukuda, B.A.R Honda test driver, felt that he and the team made good
progress: “I’m very happy with my progress. We tested a lot of things
again which was very interesting for me and I’m feeling quite positive. I
was happy with the improvement in my lap time but the important thing was
to get to know the car and how I should be working with the team.” 


Digital images of the Jordan Honda EJ12, B.A.R Honda 004 and all
Honda-powered race and test drivers are available to view and download on
www.honda-gp.com, user name: honda, password: ginther



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