Glock Happy With New Car Despite Fire Incident at Portimao

Timo Glock concluded his first on-track test of the new Toyota TF109 on Wednesday and was delighted with how the car drives on both wet and dry conditions. Unlike teammate Jarno Trulli – who said the car tends to be unstable under wet conditions – Glock was very optimistic after his first experience with the car, arguing that the new aerodynamic regulations have made the cars take the same direction as in the GP2 Series.

“I would say it was more the direction that we have in GP2. The positive thing was that I could feel no major problems. The car wasn't unstable under braking or not good enough in quick corners or whatever. It was in a good window and it was a good start point. It's important that you don't after 10 laps have a major problem with the car. That's what we don't have and that's a good sign,” said Glock after his first test with the TF109.

Also, the German revealed that he feels much more comfortable with the new car as compared to last season.

“When I compare it with last year it's definitely a better feeling. Last year, after the first couple of laps I said 'it's difficult, the car is not behaving like I expected from knowing GP2 cars and the BMW Sauber from 2007' and last year the car behaved different to what I expected. This year, the handling is more what you normally get from a race car with slick tires. This is already positive that it is a better feeling than last year for me,” added Glock.

He also got to test the new slick tires in the last part of the testing session, as the track was dry for the last 13 laps. He would have done a lot more laps hadn't it been for the oil pump breaking and setting the car into fire. The problem cost Toyota almost 5 hours, after which the team decided only to run a routine check for a few laps to close the day.