Palmer makes debut for Lotus

(Lotus F1 Team)

The Lotus F1 Team’s official test and reserve driver Jolyon Palmer got his first taste of the E23 Hybrid at the Barcelona Circuit de Catalunya on Friday, as the reigning GP2 champion completed the second day of testing for the Enstone outfit.

Palmer completed 77 laps of the circuit in Montmelo setting the eighth fastest time overall with a 1m 26.280s.

Speaking following his day in the car Palmer stated:

'Today went well. We racked up a lot of laps and I got a good feel for the car. It was very slippery first thing with the cold track, it was certainly very difficult with the hard tyres combined with the low temperatures! Through the day there was a good mix of conditions and set-ups to work with. 

There was a lot to take on board with the different settings for the car and the different programmes we were running, so it’s been a pretty steep learning curve. It’s been a very positive start for me and I hope my work has benefited the team. I loved being in the car and I can’t wait to get back out on track!'

The Lotus F1 Team continue to gather extremely valuable data in relation to their new Mercedes power unit having made the switch from Renault over the winter. Speaking following the second day of testing in Barcelona, Lotus Trackside Operations Director Alan Permane stated:

'Today was about data accumulation and Jolyon did a great job in his first time in the car, especially with particularly cold conditions to start the session here this morning. We’ve completed a number of aero runs with a variety of different data collection tools on the car as well as conducted a number of different tyre assessments to build a picture of what to expect from Pirelli’s latest tyres working on the E23. The car has run well again and overall we’re making good progress this week.”

Pastor Maldonado will be back in the cockpit of the E23 Hybrid tomorrow, day 3 of the test.

© Ben Johnston 2015