Although Trulli jumped into a Sprint Cup machinery for the first time in his racing career – also first time driving in an oval – the Italian improved his lap times consistently throughout the few hours spent on the Lakeland-based track. His team had to do a lot with his improvements though, as he reckoned the crew members of Michael Waltrip Racing guided his every step on Wednesday.
In the end, the lap times scored by Trulli on a hot, 50 degreed Celsius track temperature session were almost as competitive as the ones recorded by the team's Nationwide driver Trevor Bayne. Former F1 driver Mika Salo also joined Trulli in his testing, setting some pretty fast laps of his own yesterday.
“It's very exciting. I guess this is not the kind of track where you want to race with 43 cars. It would be a bit difficult and tricky. I'm the kind of driver who prefers a more high-speed circuit, rolling the car through the high-speed corner, let the car roll, not stopping it too much like here,” said the Italian driver.
“I'm really enjoying it. It would be nice to enjoy the race, because Juan Pablo (Montoya) told me the race is even better because you keep fighting every time."
“I think it's very important to have a team that teaches you, in order to get everything better and better. Like today, I had Trevor here and I had several people telling me and my steps were rapid, quicker and quicker,” added Trulli.
Needless to say, the Michael Waltrip organization was impressed with how the two F1 racers proved themselves at the oval track, former McLaren chief engineer Steve Hallam – now MWR's executive vice president for competition – being the first to stress out Trulli's performance.
“Both Jarno and Mika have done really well. They have both delivered competitive lap times. They bring a different perspective to our ears,” concluded Hallam.
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