Jordan Positive after EJ13 Shakedown

The Jordan Grand Prix team are confident ahead of the start of their testing programme following a successful shakedown of their new Ford-powered EJ13 on Tuesday.

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella completed a handful of laps around the Silverstone circuit in the first appearance of the new car, created by a design team led by director of design and development Henri Durand and engineering chief Gary Anderson.

"This gave us the opportunity to run the car from the point of view of checking the electronic set-up and making sure the basic systems such as water and oil did their job prior to going to Barcelona to run properly," said Anderson. "It's nice to make a plan five months ago and achieve it to within the hour â€" everyone has worked hard and done a good job.

"This car is more complete now than last year's was when we went to the first race in Melbourne and it's come out exactly as specified in terms of the aerodynamic and weight targets."

Jordan, who are yet to announce the official launch date of the new car, decided to skip testing during November and December to concentrate on the design of the EJ13, which will be powered by a Ford engine after the team parted ways with Japanese supplier Honda.

Durand, who joined Jordan at the start of last season after leaving the defunct Prost team, feels positive the new power unit will deliver in 2003.

"The EJ13 is a very important car for Jordan Grand Prix," admitted Durand. "Five months ago the technical team decided on our technical objectives and approach and we have achieved all that we set out to do. The concept of the car is based on having good aerodynamic efficiency allied to engineering simplicity.

"We have used the very considerable expertise which exists here within Jordan and also with our new partners at Cosworth Racing. The Ford Cosworth RS engine is obviously a very important aspect of the new car, which has been easy to integrate into the new design and has all of the qualities we would expect from a top ranking engine."

Jordan will beging a five-day testing programme at Barcelona on Monday with Fisichella, their only confirmed driver so far, at the wheel. The Italian, who turned 30 on Tuesday, admitted he was impressed by the Ford engine and was looking forward to the start of the test.

"This has been a good start - I am very impressed by the engine's power and also with the car which not only looks very nice but is aggressive and simple," said Fisichella. "Everything went okay without any major problems so I am looking forward to starting testing in Barcelona on Monday."