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'Definite progression' for Trulli

Jarno Trulli was two seconds adrift at the bottom of the timesheets on Friday © Getty Images

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• Drivers:
• Jarno Trulli

• Teams:
• Caterham

Jarno Trulli says that the new Caterham CT01 is "a definite progression" after completing his first day in the car at Jerez.

After Heikki Kovalainen and Giedo van der Garde completed the opening three days of the test, Trulli took over for the final day's running. Having never driven a KERS-powered car before Trulli was pleased with the reliability of the car after completing 117 laps, and said that he wasn't concerned about being adrift at the bottom of the timesheets because the team never ran low fuel.

"My first impression of the car was that it is good - a definite progression from 2011 and a good basis for us to work on for the season ahead," Trulli said. "Its reliability has been demonstrated all week here in Jerez and we have generated a lot of data, particularly on KERS and the 2012 tyres which will help us improve setups for the next couple of tests.

"We know there's a lot more to come in pure pace - perhaps we were the only team to run without dropping the fuel but we wanted to focus on running through the development program and making sure we completed the plan each day.

Having struggled with the power steering in 2011 to such an extent that he allowed Karun Chandhok to drive the car in Germany, Trulli highlighted it as an area that was a clear improvement.

"Also, for me the car felt balanced pretty much straight away. The power steering is good - we can keep fine tuning it, but I think it's basically a good package with a lot of potential for us to work on. A good way to start the season."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.