Apr.2 (GMM) Toro Rosso's 2008 car, the STR3 that is based on Adrian Newey's 2008-spec Red Bull single seater, has made its track debut.
With race drivers Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais overseas for the Malaysian and Bahrain grands prix, the task of shaking down the single car fell to Red Bull junior driver Brendon Hartley.Hartley, 18, drove the Ferrari powered STR3 at the Vairano circuit in Italy, apparently alongside the Maranello based works team, which conducted straight line tests with Marc Gene in a F2008 last week.The STR3 in Hartley's hands was painted dark blue, not yet decked out in Faenza based Toro Rosso's familiar blue and red Bull-style livery.Hartley, a New Zealander and one of the most highly rated of the Red Bull junior programme, last year became the youngest ever winner of the Formula Renault 2.0 Euro Cup. He is racing in British F3 in 2008.Vairano was not his debut at the wheel of a formula one car. Hartley demonstrated a Red Bull racer in Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital, last month.
