Canadian Grand Prix - Qualifying Round-Up
QUEBEC ON SCHEDULE
Panasonic Toyota Racing is celebrating its best qualifying
performance of 2006 after Jarno Trulli took 4th place on the
grid for tomorrow's Canadian Grand Prix. After a week of mixed
weather, the sun appeared for Saturday's hour of qualifying
and it was a hot day's work at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Jarno enjoyed a good afternoon, making it into Session 3 before
taking 4th place in the final shoot-out. Team mate Ralf Schumacher
was less fortunate, struggling for balance and finishing Session
2 in 14th, less than a tenth of a second away from the top
ten. Toyota will now head into tomorrow's race looking to
secure the best possible finish around this circuit in the
Canadian province of Quebec.
Jarno Trulli (Car 8, Chassis TF106/08B)
PROVISIONAL GRID: 4th
Free Practice Session 3: 17th
Lap Time: 1m17.503s (+2.048s)
Laps: 24
Qualifying Session 1: 9th
Lap Time: 1m16.455s (+1.105s)
Laps: 6
Qualifying Session 2: 7th
Lap Time: 1m15.506s (+0.780s)
Laps: 7
Qualifying Session 3: 4th
Lap Time: 1m15.968s (+1.026s)
Laps: 26
"I'm delighted because that was an extremely strong
qualifying session for both myself and the team. The car went
really well and I put together a very good lap. I didn't expect
to be so far up the grid but I could have gone even quicker
if I hadn't been blocked by Fisichella. It's good to be fighting
for the top positions and this result comes because the whole
team is pushing so hard both on track and at the factory.
We worked pretty well in the morning, preparing both for qualifying
and the race without showing our true potential. We're in
good shape for the race and I'm confident about our strategy.
The start will be very difficult because the first corner
is so tight. We have struggled off the line in recent races
so we hope that improves tomorrow. But in the last few races
we've definitely shown better potential and better speed so
I will push for another good day."
Ralf Schumacher (Car 7, Chassis TF106/07B)
PROVISIONAL GRID: 14th
Free Practice Session 3: 19th
Lap Time: 1m18.212s (+2.757s)
Laps: 18
Qualifying Session 1: 15th
Lap Time: 1m16.702s (+1.352s)
Laps: 6
Qualifying Session 2: 14th
Lap Time: 1m15.888s (+1.162s)
Laps: 6
"This has been a difficult day for me. This morning
I really struggled for grip and I could not find a balance.
Those problems continued into qualifying, meaning that we
ended up far away from where we should have been. My team
mate had a better afternoon so we will have to look at the
data to try to improve for tomorrow. It will be a hard race
but we have a free choice of strategy and I expect the whole
package to work better in the race. This is a good track for
racing and there are chances to overtake. The circuit is improving
all the time and with more hot weather expected on Sunday
we should be able to make progress."
Pascal Vasselon - Senior General Manager Chassis
"That was our best qualifying performance of 2006 so
far and Jarno put together a very good afternoon's work. We're
disappointed for Ralf because he has been close to Jarno's
pace for most of the weekend and he missed out on the top
ten by the narrowest of margins. But we expect both drivers
to perform strongly in the race tomorrow. Again it was a tight
choice over the tyres but we are pleased with the pace our
car has shown. We ran on old tyres this morning as part of
our preparations for the race so it was no surprise that the
grip was not at its best but our Bridgestone tyres performed
very well this afternoon. There is a tiny chance of rain tomorrow
but we are expecting another hot day and those conditions
should suit us. So we are looking forward to the race and
we hope to come away with a strong result."
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