The F1 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix is more than three months away, but Toyota Racing sprung a surprise by unveiling its 2006 car at the start of a four-day test session at Barcelona on Tuesday.
The F1 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix is more than three months away, but Toyota Racing sprung a surprise by unveiling its 2006 car at the start of a four-day test session at Barcelona on Tuesday.
The TF106 features a brand new rear-end design to accommodate Toyota’s latest specification RVX-06 V8 engine, which was test benched for the first time on March 21 and has completed a distance of 2 143km since its first track run at the end of July. The rest of the car is a development of the monocoque and front suspension of the pole-setting TF105B interim car that was brought in for the final two races of the 2005 season.
“We have been working on the TF106 since the end of 2004,” Toyota technical director Mike Gascoyne said on Monday. “The TF106 that will run in Barcelona marks the first stage of the car’s development. (We plan to) thoroughly develop the mechanical side of the car before we introduce a new aero package for the first race.
Toyota Racing experienced just one engine retirement in 19 race weekends this year and the Cologne-based team’s impressive reliability record laid the foundations for development of the V8 power unit, Toyota’s engine director, Luca Marmorini, said.
“We cannot compromise the performance of the engine, so we have concentrated on reducing the power loss,” Marmorini said. “A lot of teething problems have been solved through our ability to get the V8 testing at an early stage.
“On November 3 the RVX-06 completed the required two-race weekend mileage on the test bed and that has permitted us to start our winter testing programme with a fully ‘raceable’ unit. (We must) now redefine the limits of our engine and push the boundaries as much as we can before the new season,” the Italian added.
This week’s four-day Barcelona test will also mark Toyota Racing’s first outing on Bridgestone tyres. Ralf Schumacher, Jarno Trulli and Ricardo Zonta, who recently signed a one-year contract to be the team’s third/reserve driver for 2006, will conduct testing at Barcelona. Olivier Panis remains a Toyota F1 test driver in 2006.
Toyota has three scheduled test sessions ahead of the traditional winter break. Following this week’s test session, the team moves the Circuito de Jerez from December 7, where it will test for a total of eight days and use its full complement of drivers.
