F1 Car for Jaguar
©2000 SpeedCenter Publishing
Silverstone, Eng. (July 18, 2000) Dario Franchitti ran 36 laps on Tuesday in his first official test in a modern grooved-tire F1 car for Jaguar Racing. At the end of the afternoon session, his best time of 1m 29.40s was only 2.0s behind Jaguar's regular test driver Luciano Burti, while 4.2s off of the fastest time of Olivier Panis at 1m 25.20s. Burti's best time was set in the morning, while Franchitti's was set in the afternoon, and was a second faster than his morning time.
A Jaguar team member said: "He's settling in pretty much as we'd expect. Bear in mind that two days ago he was racing something with full slicks, a turbo engine and ground-effect and you figure he's bound to be just feeling his way in until he's comfortable. It's a fairly fundamental adjustment he's making here. He took it nice and steadily and whittled his times down progressively as the day went on. Considering this morning was the faster session for most of the guys out there, he's done well. I think we're all pretty impressed, but I expect you'll see the proper times coming tomorrow."
Franchitti wore a plain white firesuit and an unsponsored helmet, and had no words for the assembled media. An official press conference is expected to take place Wednesday afternoon after the morning test session.
Silverstone Day One:
1 Olivier Panis, McLaren-Mercedes, 1m 25.20s (63 laps; time set AM)
2 David Coulthard, McLaren-Mercedes, 1m 25.63s (28; AM)
3 Ricardo Zonta, BAR-Honda, 1m 26.66s (41; PM)
4 Giancarlo Fisichella, Benetton-Playlife, 1m 26.79s (25; PM)
5 Mika Salo, Sauber-Petronas, 1m 26.86s (47; PM)
6 Jarno Trulli, Jordan-Mugen Honda, 1m 26.88s (43: AM)
7 Luciano Burti, Jaguar, 1m 27.40s (49; AM)
8 Alex Wurz, Benetton-Playlife, 1m 27.57s (34; PM)
9 Patrick Lemarie, BAR-Honda, 1m 27.91s (37; PM)
10 Dario Franchitti, Jaguar, 1m 28.41s (36; PM)
11 Ralf Schumacher, Williams-BMW, 1m 28.94s (46; PM)
