Paul Ricard, France - May 14, 2007. Malaysian Fairuz Fauzy
will resume his testing duties for the Etihad Aldar Spyker
Formula One Team this Tuesday at the Paul Ricard circuit
in southern France.
The test will be Fairuz’s first laps in F1-spec
machinery since he completed over 400km at the grand prix
circuit of Barcelona back in February. The Malaysian is
thrilled at the chance of returning to the cockpit of the
Etihad Aldar Spyker F8-VII.
“I’m absolutely delighted that I’ve
got a chance to help the team with some testing work this
week,” said the 24-year-old. “I have to thank
Etihad Aldar Spyker Formula One Team for this opportunity
and it will be great to get some further F1 testing mileage
under my belt.”
Tuesday’s run will not be the first time Fairuz
has driven the technical Paul Ricard circuit as he has
prior knowledge of the track from his GP2 days. He is expected
to run in the afternoon session with the Silverstone-based
team’s other drivers.
“It shouldn’t be a problem to be on the pace
straightaway, although at the moment I’m not sure
which configuration of the Paul Ricard circuit we’ll
be running on, but that won’t be of too much concern
as I know the track well. It will be interesting to compare
the circuit in an F1 car from the GP2 when I last drove
there.”
Fairuz is expecting to run through a varied testing programme
similar to his runs in February at Barcelona and Valencia
which might involve testing new parts, or even a race simulation.
The Malaysian is currently racing for Cram Competition
in World Series by Renault in his ‘Macho’ sponsored
machine and the testing trip to France follows the opening
two events of the year at Monza and Nürburgring.
“It will be very exciting to get behind the wheel
of the Etihad Aldar Spyker F8-VII again but after racing
in World Series it will be a big jump. Although the World
Series is close to an F1 car in terms of downforce there
requires a lot of discipline to adjust your driving styles
between the two types of car. However I don’t expect
there will be any problems adapting,” said Fairuz.
Following the F1 run on Tuesday, the Etihad Aldar Spyker
Formula One Team test driver will head to the streets of
Monte Carlo at the end of May, where the next round of
World Series supports the prestigious F1 Monaco Grand Prix. | 