Timo Glock left the Jerez paddock scratching its collective head on Wednesday as his 2008 Toyota topped the time sheets on the final day of the group test.
Despite saying just 24 hours earlier that the TF108 could initially be a “step back” for the struggling Japanese team, the reigning GP2 champion went quicker than all comers, including Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Fernando Alonso (Renault) and the title-winning Ferraris.
“It was a perfect lap,” he boasted to Germany’s Bild newspaper, which said Glock completed the lap late in the afternoon with fresh tyres.
But Glock insisted: “I had much more fuel on board than many people might believe.”
Earlier this week, however, he cautioned that the Cologne based team is unlikely to make an immediate step towards the middle of the podium in 2008.
“What is clear is that we can’t think the new car is the new ‘wonderbaby’ and we will be five seconds quicker or whatever,” the Press Association quoted him as saying.
“It could be a little step back, but in the end it will pay off when we understand how the car works and make it quicker,” he added.
