Since the end of the testing ban In November last the team have been working hard, first of all testing different components for 2001 on the EJ10, then integrating those bits onto the EJ11 after its launch. For all teams, the work is now finished and Heinz-Harald is very pleased with where he feels Jordan sit amongst their competition.
“The more I test with my new Jordan Honda car, the more excited I am about the start of the season in Melbourne next month,” he said. “I cannot wait to get it onto the grid in Australia and mix it in qualifying and racing trim against the opposition, the first time we will really know just how competitive we look like being this season.
“From the times we have been doing in the past few tests and the sort of times our opposition have been setting, I think we should be pretty much on the pace. Of course, I cannot give away to many team secrets, but suffice it to say that I am a lot happier with the improvements we have gained over last year´s car.”

Unlike many parts of the EJ10, the Mugen engine from last year was quite reliable but just didn’t have enough power. Heinz-Harald thinks that the new Honda engine will score well in both the power and reliability stakes. “The new Honda engine looks very strong and has much better fuel consumption, while even the ‘qualifying’ engine we have tested has proven reliable enough to run a whole race distance, which is a very encouraging for any further development in the pipeline further along in the season.”

The German also feels that the new chassis is currently performing very well and is, above all, consistent in all the different required configurations - wet and dry, fast and slow set-ups. The uneven tyre wear, which gave the team so many handling problems last season, now seems to be a thing of the past. He believes that the car will be just as quick and well behaved at the end of a race distance as it was at the start.

Following the departure of technical director Mike Gascoyne, Eddie convinced Iranian Eghbal Hamidy to make the move from Arrows to Jordan. Heinz-Harald feels that this can only help to improve the EJ11 during the season, even though it is not too bad now. “Aerodynamically it is working well pretty much as it came out of the box which says a lot for the solid base of engineers we have at Jordan. Eghbal Hamedy joins the team at the end of the month, which can only add even further to our strength, and I am sure there will be more ideas in the future.”