After a busy British Grand Prix weekend at the team’s Silverstone base, where Jarno Trulli scored an important Championship point, the Benson and Hedges Jordan race team travels to Barcelona with a successful three-day test under its belt and the knowledge that this week has seen the Bridgestone Corporation and Jordan enter into a new long-term contract. “A strong relationship with a tyre manufacturer is imperative to any bid for the World Championship,” said Jordan’s chief executive Eddie Jordan, “and this contract with Bridgestone is crucial to Jordan’s planning. We have had a good week since Silverstone, and have every reason to be confident of a good showing in the Spanish Grand Prix.”

Having missed pole position at Silverstone by 0.003s, and enjoyed a highly competitive race before a problem with a gearbox sensor caused Heinz-Harald Frentzen to retire his car into the pits, the Benson and Hedges Jordan team is keen to regain lost ground. Jordan’s technical director, Mike Gascoyne is optimistic that Spain will not be a repeat of Silverstone. “Looking purely at our performance in the British Grand Prix I feel we have a car that can put us third in the championship - and retaining at least that position is our goal for this season. We have been disappointed over the past few races due to our reliability problems, and although we knew the cause and put an interim solution in place, that did not go as planned. Due to lead times we could only get the new parts we needed in time for this week’s pre-Spanish Grand Prix test, but the results have been very encouraging with Heinz completing 91 trouble free laps on the final day alone.”

The team tested on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday immediately following the British Grand Prix, with Jarno Trulli working on set up and balancing the car with a full fuel load, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen proving the new gearbox components as well as undertaking a tyre testing program for Bridgestone.

Barcelona has not been the best circuit for the Benson and Hedges Jordan team in the past. Last year Heinz-Harald Frentzen and team mate Damon Hill qualified 8th and 11th, with Hill going on to finish the race in 7th position. “Barcelona is a good aerodynamics circuit that is hard wearing on tyres and very challenging,” admits Gascoyne. “However, testing this week has been much more positive than in the past and we have looked much stronger.”

For Heinz-Harald Frentzen the Spanish Grand Prix is almost a second home event because, although German by nationality, he has a Spanish mother and is a fluent Spanish speaker. “I enjoy going to Barcelona,” he explains, “although, because we test there so often, I know the circuit very well and racing there has become less of a challenge. It is a demanding track though, and you need to be very physically fit to race well. It is one of the faster tracks in Formula 1, with a number of quick corners where aerodynamics plays a key role. This is a difficult place to find the optimum set-up as the track conditions change continuously, so it is a good technical challenge for the teams.”

Heinz-Harald was naturally disappointed to retire from last weekend’s British Grand Prix, but added, “The team has been working very hard to cure the reliability issues, and this week’s test was a good step forward. It's been frustrating for all of us to miss out on good points-scoring opportunities and we hope to get that turned around this week.”

Jarno Trulli feels confident about the task that awaits him in Barcelona. Last year the Italian driver managed to qualify ninth and come home in sixth place, scoring a vital point in a race that he describes as, “very tough“. Like Frentzen, Jarno feels the track is demanding and requires optimum physical fitness.

“After last year’s performance I feel confident this time around,” said Jarno. “At Silverstone I managed to get a point from eleventh on the grid, so for Barcelona I feel it is important to qualify higher up the grid and start from the front in order to score even more points. Testing this week has been good and hopefully we will be able to put our reliability problems behind us and move closer to the top teams.”

Jordan Grand Prix