Force India''s new car VJM-04 makes test debut in Jerez

Jerez (Spain), Feb 11 (PTI) VJM-04, Force India''s car forthe 2011 Formula One season, completed its first ever lapswith Adrian Sutil on driving duties on the first day of thesecond pre-season test at the Jerez de la Frontera circuithere.

It turned out to be a successful debut, with majorsystems checks completed and new components shaken down, on aday that saw Ferrari''s Felipe Massa set the quickest time.

After installation laps in the morning, Sutil graduallyincreased the lengths of his runs and clocked up 28 laps intotal over the day.

Sutil, who completed 28 laps, will continue in the car onthe second day with the objective of running through furtherchecks before moving onto performance work in the afternoon.

Paul di Resta will get his first outing in the new car onSaturday.

"A successful first day of testing for the new car -- abig well done to all the team. Out of the box it runs well andfeels generally better than the 2010 car in every area. We hada good baseline set-up and balance, already the car is verysmooth, which is always positive as you can then focus onimproving performance," Sutil said.

"Despite a bit of downtime this morning with a problemwith the floor we could still do 28 laps, which isn''t too badfor a new car, and got in all our baseline runs. I''ve got agood feeling and tomorrow we''re going to aim to put in somemore laps, longer runs and look at different tyre compounds.

"It''s too early to say where we are, but at this stage intesting I think we can be quite pleased and proud that thehard work everyone back in the factory and wind tunnel has, sofar, paid off," the German said.

Dominic Harlow, circuit engineering director, said,"Today was the roll out for VJM04, and as such we were lookingto install and shakedown the car whilst increasing our runlengths and looking to reach stabilised temperatures."

"The plan from there was to begin taking measurements andadjusting the car into our normal operating envelope andperhaps starting to sweep some set-up and control parameters,"he added.