Teams pushing for Sepang test

The start to the 2007 calendar has left teams with a logistical nightmare because of the untypical break between the Albert Park season opener on March 18 and the second round at Sepang three weeks later on April 8.

With teams keen to test after the season opener, especially with such a long gap, there was the expensive prospect of some of them choosing to freight their cars back to Europe for a run before shipping them back out to Malaysia.

Teams also faced the headache or whether to fly all their personnel back home or pay for them to remain in Asia.

Following a series of meetings between teams, provisional agreement has been reached for a test to take place at Sepang from March 27 to 29. This will provide them with a cheaper and more convenient way of preparing for the second round of the championship.

The weather in Sepang is also guaranteed to be useful for testing, and far more predictable than the conditions at Silverstone, where many teams would have to run at because of the terms of the 2007 testing agreement.

The Sepang test has yet to be rubber-stamped, however, because tyre supplier Bridgestone is currently evaluating whether it has the financial and logistical means to supply all teams with tyres for the test.

A Bridgestone spokesman told autosport.com: "The Sepang test is in the draft 2007 testing plan but it has not been finalised yet. 

"Bridgestone is currently looking into the logistical and financial implications of that test while concentrating our engineering resources to the current end of 2006 tests."

As well as the Sepang test, the teams are pushing for a pre-season run at Bahrain, as several outfits did last year. The provisional dates for this are February 22 to 24 and February 27 to March 1.