By role
January 20 2004

The new Renault R24 saw the light today on a test in which Jarno Trulli set the 6th best time of the day. Alonso was also working today, however, his duty was at the wheel of the R23B. Alonso set the 3rd best time of the day. Jarno Trulli completed 42 laps, 195 kilometers driving the new R24, with a best time of 1.17.041 and he was quite happy with the first impressions of the car:

"It was a good first day of testing with the R24. Everything worked well straight away, and we spent the day ironing out the little glitches that come with any new car. The car was well-balanced, and responded well to the set-up changes we tried." Trulli said.

Bob Bell, Technical Director of Chassis was also optimistic on the first run of the new car:

"This was a very promising start for us. We ran reliably, and the systems on the car functioned as expected. Jarno reported the car to be well-balanced, and he was comfortable in it. The intention today was not to push, rather to build up mileage reliably and with that in mind, I think we had a very successful day."

Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering, was satisfied with the results of the first day:

"We ran the R24 for the first time today and completed over 200 km. This is an extremely satisfying result on the first day that the car has turned a wheel. Our programme consisted of systems checks and medium length runs, and all the indications are that the car and engine are behaving as we had predicted. The initial feeling is that we have a very good package."

Alonso was driving and R23B in which the electronic system of the R24 was adapted. he ran for 89 laps, 412 kilometers, to post a best time of 1.15.920.

The best time fo the day was set by Ralf Schumacher on his Williams FW26 with a 1.15.678 ahead of his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya who set a best time of 1.15.843.