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The Toyota-powered Jordan EJ15 performed faultlessly as it began its first full test session at Silverstone on Wednesday, with new drivers Tiago Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan at the wheel.

Including mileage at the shakedown of the new machine earlier in the week, both drivers have now completed over 300 kilometres of testing in it and the car has now racked up almost 700 kilometres of trouble-free running.

“The car has run faultlessly today,” reported Jordan’s sporting director Trevor Carlin. “We clocked up over 400km in total, with Tiago starting off the day and handing over to Narain later on. It’s positive that we’ve had good reliability and were able to cover plenty of mileage, and we are very impressed with how quickly both drivers have got back into the groove of driving racing cars after a couple of months out of them.

“They are both comfortable with the EJ15 and they are being sensible and not pushing to the limit at this stage. To be honest I think they are both enjoying it immensely! All credit to Jordan’s factory staff and to Toyota for such a good reliability record on our first full day of testing.”

Karthikeyan added: “It went very well, we did lots of distance and I’m happy with the test so far. We had no major problems, and achieved my aim which was to complete 300km. Last time I drove a single-seater car was in November and the first thing I’ve driven on the circuit since then is a Formula One car! So it was very quick and very exciting this morning but I now I’m getting used to it and it’s time to get on with the work.”

Jordan are due to continue testing at Silverstone until Friday.