GMM (yes, yes they know what they're doing) have put out an article suggesting the French engine manufacturer is still having issues with it's powerunits citing the Toro Rosso team 'managed only 70 kilometres at the Misano circuit in Italy, littered with "repeated" stoppages for battery and software faults.' as the team completed one of their promo/filming days.
This comes off the back of the STR9 footage that surfaced yesterday, showing the car at the Misano circuit.
This trip to Misano was ahead of the Jerez test by several days and not after the Jerez test as they've reported. It was used by the team for both filming and promo work but probably most importantly as a shakedown and installation/systems check ahead of Jerez. The team are said to have covered around 70km (17 laps) which although it's short of the 100km allowed it's still more than was covered by Mercedes at Silverstone ahead of the Jerez test (40km).
Meanwhile having missed the 1st pre season test in Jerez, Lotus rocked up a few days later to shakedown the E22 and do some filming work. They reportedly covered the full 100km allotment, which roughly equates to 23 laps and although they had some teething issues it's still only 1 lap less than Red Bull managed in 4 days. This signals either Renault have addressed some of the issues already seen at the first test or the issues were more highly concentrated on the RB10.
For 2014 the sporting regulations were changed in order to facilitate a return to in-season testing which consists of 2 days testing after 4 of the Championship rounds in order to reduce costs. Furthermore article 22.1:
Each competitor will however be permitted to carry out two promotional events which will not be considered track testing, provided neither exceeds 100km in length. During any such test only tyres provided specifically for this purpose by the appointed supplier may be used.
Toro Rosso, Mercedes and Lotus have now completed one of these 100km promotional events each, using them as a platform to shakedown their cars too. For anyone speculating on how much can be learnt at a 'promotional event' it's use as a method of testing is pretty limited as there isn't really enough mileage to complete anything meaningful in terms of data gathering, meanwhile the use of none representative tyres (supplied by Pirelli) would further scupper any relevant data.
NB: As the rumor of Toro Rosso completing another filming day post Jerez continues to circulate in the media I will say it is plausible but I'm yet to see any evidence this occurred or in fact it was wise considering that would be their usage done for the season. (I have put the feelers out to see if they have indeed partaken in a 2nd promo day)