Toro Rosso confirm Speed for 2007
After weeks of speculation, Toro Rosso announced on Saturday that Scott Speed would continue to race for the team for the 2007 season. Speed, who competed for the Italian squad last year, will line up alongside ’06 team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi, who was re-confirmed earlier this month.
Speed got his first taste of Toro Rosso’s new car, the STR2, during last week’s test session in Bahrain. The American driver covered 60 laps on Saturday in the 2007 challenger, clocking a best lap of 1m 33.255s around the Sakhir circuit.
Liuzzi was confirmed just under a fortnight ago, during the low-key launch of the STR2, held at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya. The Italian squad cited ‘ongoing contractual negotiations’ as the reason behind their failure to announce a second race driver at the same event.
Speed’s confirmation in Bahrain means that all 11 teams have now finalised their race line-ups, ahead of this season’s opener, the Australian Grand Prix, scheduled to take place in Melbourne on March 18.
