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Ricciardo confident of points in 2012

Both Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne are aiming for points with the new STR7 © Press Association

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• Toro Rosso unveils new STR7
  

• Drivers:
• Daniel Ricciardo
• |
• Jean-Éric Vergne

• Teams:
• Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo is confident the new Toro Rosso STR7 will be quick enough to challenge for points in 2012.

Ricciardo joins the team from HRT where he spent half a season learning the ropes last year. He will be joined by fellow Red Bull junior driver Jean-Eric Vergne and believes Toro Rosso will be able to continue to challenge for points as it did last year when Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi were behind the wheel.

"I think, if the performance at the end of last year is anything to go by, we can definitely be realistic about points," Ricciardo said when asked about his personal objectives.

"Obviously it's probably easier said than done, but I'm going to have a pretty competitive car this year, at least more than I had last year. We'll see tomorrow once testing gets underway and we know what we've got underneath us. I know they've [the team] tried to go better than what they had last year, so if it's an improvement on that then points are realistic."

Ricciardo is hoping his experience last year will help him as he goes head-to-head with Vergne, who is starting as a rookie in 2012. However, he does not expect the advantage to last long.

"Having done 11 races last year was really beneficial for me and I learnt a lot and improved a lot during that time," he added. "It's a bit of a head start, that's obvious, but we've both got quite a bit of testing before the season starts so he'll be able to catch up a little bit. Maybe for the first race he can use that excuse, but not for the first 11!"

Meanwhile, Vergne is hoping to learn as much as possible during testing in order to fight for points at races.

"I wish to learn as much as possible, as quickly as possible and of course score as many points as possible," he said. "But right now I want to learn from the team and make the car as good as possible for the first grand prix. Then we will see where we are, but a good goal will be to finish as many times as possible in the points."

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