Australian Grand Prix - Race Round-Up
Panasonic Toyota Racing took a dream podium after a dramatic
Australian Grand Prix. Both Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli
qualified in the top ten but they endured mixed fortunes in
an incident-strewn race. Ralf raced strongly near the front
early on before losing time for a drive-through penalty. But
he made the most of a series of safety car restarts on his
way to an eventual six points for 3rd place. Jarno's afternoon
was much shorter as he was taken out of the race on the very
first lap. Trulli was overtaking David Coulthard when the
pair clashed, breaking the Toyota's rear suspension. Ralf's
podium means that Toyota will return to Europe with hopes
of a continued challenge during the coming races. The team
is scheduled to test at France's Paul Ricard circuit next
week as it bids to make further steps forward.
ANTE-PODIUM
Ralf Schumacher raced strongly throughout today's incident-packed
race gaining several places before taking 3rd place.
Ralf Schumacher (Car 7, Chassis TF106/05)
Race Classification: 3rd
Gap: +24.824s (from race winner)
Qualifying Classification: 6th
Time: 1m26.612s (+1.383s in Session 3)
Grid: 6th
"We are all very happy with what we achieved today.
The drive through penalty was my fault because I accidentally
hit the button twice but I was lucky and due to the safety
car periods we achieved a lot more than we ever thought before
this weekend. At the start we were sliding around and locking
wheels. But while we've had problems with warming up our tyres
in earlier races, others seemed to struggle with that today.
Some of the safety car periods were a bit of a fight with
all the backmarkers in there but after the third safety car
period I gained a couple of places which was great. Grip was
hard to come by so I really had to fight the whole race to
keep the car there, but it worked out in the end and we achieved
a great result. We are still a way from the top teams so we
have to work, but I have no doubt that our crew is able to
do that. We're strong people and pushing hard so I'm looking
forward to the next few races."
GREAT BARRIER GRIEF
Jarno Trulli's race ended early when he suffered a broken
rear suspension after a clash with Coulthard on the first
lap.
Jarno Trulli (Car 8, Chassis TF106/04)
Race Classification: DNF
Qualifying Classification: 10th
Time: 1m26.327s (+0.598s in Session 2)
Grid: 9th
"I'm happy that Ralf did so well and it shows that we
have the pace to challenge again. But this has been a disastrous
weekend for me and it was a shame to be punted out of the
race so early. A couple of corners in I was following Coulthard
who was going very slowly and zigzagging on the straight.
I went to the inside to overtake him and I was ahead at the
corner but he just closed the door on me, hitting me on the
back. That broke my rear suspension and put me out of the
race. I was just being careful and overtaking a slower car
so I don't understand how it happened and I was surprised
by what he did. I've had such bad luck this weekend, I just
hope that I've had my share for a while. We showed good pace
so I hope we can keep that up and my fortunes can improve
back in Europe."
OVERJOYED DOWN UNDER
The Panasonic Toyota Racing team is delighted to have come
away from Australia with its first podium finish of 2006.
John Howett - President, Toyota Motorsport
"That was an incredibly exciting and eventful race and
it was a suberb job by Ralf and the whole team especially
when you consider the difficult start to the year. It was
unlucky for Jarno. He was passed by Coulthard at the first
corner but then he made a clean pass back and Coulthard just
turned in on him. So that was a shame, but with Ralf we could
run reasonably competitively. The tyres were very good, too.
Everyone struggled after the safety car periods here but Bridgestone
have helped us to get on top of the problem of getting heat
into the tyres and that paid off. When Ralf got the drive
through penalty for speeding in the pit lane, we thought we'd
thrown away a podium chance. We were a bit lucky with the
number of incidents but for all the safety cars we managed
to get the strategy right, and it was excellent team work
from the boys as always. Ralf drove aggressively on the restarts
and we were able to pick up places, which was fantastic. This
is a well deserved shot of adrenaline to the whole team who
have worked so hard over the winter."
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