Trulli completed 116 laps in Jerez
Jarno Trulli has expressed his happiness with Caterham's CT01 after he finally received his first taste of their new machine ahead of the 2012 season.
Trulli sat out the opening three days after Caterham split track time between Heikki Kovalainen and Giedo Van der Garde, but the Italian was pleased with his new car.
'My first impression of the car was that it is good – a definite progression from 2011 and a good basis for us to work on for the season ahead.' He said. 'Its reliability has been demonstrated all week here in Jerez and we have generated a lot of data, particularly on KERS and the 2012 tyres which will help us improve setups for the next couple of tests.
“We know there’s a lot more to come in pure pace – perhaps we were the only team to run without dropping the fuel but we wanted to focus on running through the development program and making sure we completed the plan each day.
Trulli was also delighted with KERS, having never used the system before and was particularly happy with the power steering, an aspect which blighted his 2011 campaign.
'For me there are a couple of real positives from today. I hadn’t used KERS before, and despite the extra buttons it means on the wheel, it’s pretty simple to get used to it quickly and I think we’ll see the benefits of that more and more as we keep learning how to get the most out of it. Also, for me the car felt balanced pretty much straight away. The power steering is good – we can keep fine tuning it, but I think it’s basically a good package with a lot of potential for us to work on. A good way to start the season.'
