2006 EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX – RACE
TAKUMA SATO Car 22 (SA05-05)
Position DNF Fastest Lap Time 1:36.706
FRANCK MONTAGNY Car 23 (SA05-02)
Position DNF Fastest Lap Time 1:37.214
T Car SA05-01
It was a disappointing end to the European Grand Prix for
the SUPER AGURI F1 TEAM as both SAF1 Team drivers failed to
finish the race due to separate hydraulic issues. Takuma made
an impressive start, however, when he jumped up nine places
from his 21st grid position. Franck kept out of trouble during
the usual first corner excitement and drove a solid race until
his stop out on track on lap 32.
Takuma Sato
“It was a great race for me up until the last moment
when I had to retire due to a hydraulic problem. It is a shame
for the team who had worked so hard this weekend – I
also really wanted to finish this race because we had been
reliable for the first part of the season. The start was exciting
for me as off the line was reasonably ok but I overtook quite
a few cars at turn one, which was a good feeling. Unfortunately
I then had a similar problem to the one I experienced on Saturday
morning – the car’s straight-line speed got increasingly
slower over the first five laps and I lost a number of the
places that I had made up. For the rest of the race the car
was handling reasonably well so it is disappointing not to
have crossed the finish line, but at least the next grand
prix is only a few days away, so I am looking forward to getting
back to work in Barcelona.”
Franck Montagny
“It is disappointing not to have finished my first
race with the team, but that is motor racing! The car’s
handling was not too bad and I was having quite a reasonable
race up until I suffered with a hydraulic problem. I would
like to thank Aguri Suzuki for giving me this opportunity.
It has been a good weekend and I have enjoyed working with
the team, so hopefully I will be back in an SAF1 Team racing
seat again.”
Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal
“This weekend has not been a successful one for SUPER
AGURI F1 TEAM. Both cars retired with a mechanical problem
so we will find out what was wrong and correct it for the
next race. The performance of our car is lower than the others
and we will struggle until we have the SA06, so we will have
to keep working on the current car and continue to do our
best."
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