Trulli crash ends Lotus test

Team Lotus has seen its test at Catalunya brought to an early end after a crash for Jarno Trulli on Monday morning.

Trulli was back at the wheel after an encouraging performance on Sunday, where he posted the sixth quickest time in the new T128 - admitting afterwards that he was pleased with the potential being displayed by the new car and that there was still more to come.

However, things went wrong on Monday when the Italian went off into the barriers at turn nine after an unspecified failure on the car and with the team missing a part needed to carry out repairs, there was no option but to pack up and end the test early.

Despite that, technical director Mike Gascoyne said the team was encouraged with the work carried out over the four days and would now aim to make further progress at the next test - wherever it ultimately ends up being held.

"Unfortunately the day was cut short due to the accident Jarno suffered this morning at turn nine," he said. "It was not his fault - it was caused by a car failure and we were missing a part we needed to put the car back together which meant we had to cut day four short.

"Despite this I still think there are a great deal of positives to take from the test in terms of the pace of the car and the fact that we are on top of the reliability issues. With that in mind we leave here with work to do but still on target for where we want to be.

"We will wait to see where the next test will be held and with the time we now have back at the factory we will be working hard to make sure we run through our complete programme at that test."

Following Trulli's accident, just ten teams remain on track at Catalunya after Hispania ended its testing session on Sunday after three days of running.