Jaguar Given Green Light to Test on Fridays

Jaguar confirmed today that they have been given permission to join the three teams that have already opted for Friday testing and claimed the extra session could give them a significant performance boost this season.

The sport's governing body, the FIA, said on Sunday that Jaguar must gain permission from Jordan, Minardi and Renault - the other three teams who have opted for Friday testing - for their late entry into the new testing agreement.

But the team said that they have already been agreed, and managing director David Pitchforth explained the decision to opt in came about after the FIA changed the amount of days available to test during the season.

"When the rules came out it was ten car days but that went to ten test days for two cars," said Pitchforth. "That has now been clarified as 20 car days and that is more in line with our thinking. It is not too dissimilar to what we would have had this year.

"So we chose to do it because we can get extra running on Grand Prix days and still do what we did before."

Pitchforth said the team will run just one car at a time, and will therefore have doubled the original amount of test days available to the teams which opt for the two hours of extra running on a Friday.

Rookie Antonio Pizzonia was delighted with the team's decision to offer him the chance to gain extra track time, and believes it will help him get to grips with his Formula One debut season.

"It is good for me, especially for the tracks I don't know," said Pizzonia. "In terms of the tracks they will be quite dirty so you will not understand the set-up of the car but for me as a driver it is quite useful."

His teammate, Australian Mark Webber, was not so sure but backed the team on their decision and believed that the second hour of the session, once the dust on the track is cleared, could prove invaluable.

"I suppose Antonio is more excited than I am," said Webber. "But for the performance of our team it is not a bad thing. Friday could be a very useful day. The first hour or so is not so good but the second hour will be quite juicy in terms of getting good info and getting to grips with the circuit. It also should relieve a bit of the pressure of the one-lap runs."