US Grand Prix – Race Round-Up
A FINE FOUR AT THE OVAL
Panasonic Toyota Racing will tonight begin its journey back
across the Atlantic Ocean with five points in the bag after
Jarno Trulli took 4th place at today's US Grand Prix. On a
scorching hot day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the
race was interrupted by an accident at the first corner that
took seven cars out of contention. Jarno faced the toughest
of afternoons, starting from the pit lane after the team changed
his rear suspension following yesterday's problem in qualifying.
But the Italian made the most of the early laps and was up
to 8th place by lap 10. Running on a one-stop strategy he
made up more ground and his finish added to his points from
Canada last week. Ralf Schumacher started 8th on the grid
and he was able to avoid the carnage at the start. He ran
another strong race and held 5th place when he was forced
to retire with a bearing failure on his front left wheel just
ten laps from home. The Toyota team is next scheduled to test
at Spain's Jerez circuit this week in preparation for the
French Grand Prix in a fortnight's time.
Jarno Trulli (Car 8, Chassis TF106/08B)
Race Classification: 4th
Gap: +23.604s (from race winner)
Qualifying Classification: 20th
Time: 1m13.787s (+2.699s in Session 1)
Grid: 22nd
"Even though I was starting from the pit lane, I knew
we had a big chance today because the car was quick. So it
was a pity about yesterday but nevertheless I knew we could
make up ground by pushing hard. I had a bit of luck because
I could profit from the pile-up at the first corner and the
safety car period. But I'm very happy because I was able to
match the times of the other runners in the early stages despite
having more fuel on board. The team did a great job analysing
the data and in the end to finish 4th is a great result. I'm
the kind of person who always wants more so we're disappointed
to have narrowly missed out on the podium. But after everything
that has gone wrong for me this year, it's great to have a
day when everything goes right. Now I'm really confident for
the rest of the season."
Ralf Schumacher (Car 7, Chassis TF106/07B)
Race Classification: DNF
Qualifying Classification: 8th
Time: 1m12.795s (+1.963s in Session 3)
Grid: 8th
"Today we were looking good for a strong points finish
until our problem late on. I had a very long brake pedal so
I had to come in. Then the team found that we had a wheel
bearing failure on our front left. It was a very difficult
race today because it was so hot out there. I also had a hard
job keeping the car balanced because there was a slight difference
in grip levels between my sets of tyres so that made it more
difficult to drive. The failure was unfortunate because I
was in a comfortable 5th place and those points would have
been great news for the team. Nevertheless our performance
this weekend shows that the development of our car is very
advanced. But we need to keep pushing for reliability as we
search for more points in the coming races."
Tsutomu Tomita – Team Principal
"First we are delighted that the American race fans saw
a proper F1 race today. For Toyota, Jarno made an exceptional
race from the pit lane. But he was confident before the race
because our car was obviously fast this weekend. We went for
a one-stop strategy because he was starting so far back and
our Bridgestone tyres looked so consistent. Everything went
well for him – including the accident and the safety
car period – but his pace was very strong throughout
the race even on heavy fuel loads. In the end we were fighting
Fisichella and though we lost third by a couple of seconds
we are very happy. Of course it hurts that we had another
retirement with Ralf. It's a pity that he had a wheel bearing
failure because he ran a very good race. Despite the fact
that he was held up behind Barrichello early he was still
able to pass Alonso at the last stop. So we need to work hard
to improve our reliability. But our pace shows that we are
getting nearer to the top cars. We must now push to continue
our development programme so we can catch them. We haven't
given up on our aim of winning our first race this season."
|
