Monaco Grand Prix - Qualifying Round-Up
TRAFFIC IMAGES
Panasonic Toyota Racing heads into tomorrow's Monaco Grand
Prix with two drivers in the top six rows of the grid after
a hectic qualifying session around the streets of the principality.
The 2006 qualifying rules meant that traffic was always likely
to be a major factor in the afternoon's proceedings. With
up to 22 cars battling for space on the 3.340km circuit during
the first two 15-minute qualifying sessions, finding a clear
lap was close to impossible. Jarno Trulli battled hard to
make it into Qualifying Session 3, eventually taking 8th on
the grid. Ralf Schumacher just missed out, finishing just
outside the top ten in Session 2 with 11th. Both drivers will
now look for the best possible result tomorrow. One prize
already awarded this weekend was a lunch in the Toyota motorhome
with third driver Ricardo Zonta. Available at last night's
charity auction for the Tereza Maxová Foundation, it
was won by no less than Prince Albert II, Sovereign Prince
of Monaco. He passed on the prize to family member William
Von Medicus.
Jarno Trulli (Car 8, Chassis TF106/08B)
PROVISIONAL GRID: 8th
Free Practice Session 3: 19th
Lap Time: 1m16.456s (+2.633s)
Laps: 24
Qualifying Session 1: 9th
Lap Time: 1m14.883s (+0.996s)
Laps: 4
Qualifying Session 2: 8th
Lap Time: 1m14.211s (+0.679s)
Laps: 6
Qualifying Session 3: 8th
Lap Time: 1m15.857s (+1.959s)
Laps: 14
"The team did a good job today but it was a tough qualifying
session. We made some adjustments to the tuning to avoid a
bit of understeer and the car reacted pretty well. It was
hard work to find a good clear lap out there with the new
qualifying format but we managed better than expected. At
one stage in Q2 I was going even quicker when I was blocked
by several cars in the middle of the lap, but we still made
it through to Session 3. Then at the very end I was on the
second of a two-lap run when I saw a yellow flag and the car
in the middle of the track so I stopped my lap. In the end
I'm happy with where I am as well as our race strategy. It
is obviously difficult to judge a new car on this kind of
circuit but first we have a tough Sunday ahead and I just
hope we can run a good race tomorrow."
Ralf Schumacher (Car 7, Chassis TF106/07B)
PROVISIONAL GRID: 11th
Free Practice Session 3: 21st
Lap Time: 1m17.860s (+4.037s)
Laps: 21
Qualifying Session 1: 4th
Lap Time: 1m14.412s (+0.525s)
Laps: 7
Qualifying Session 2: 11th
Lap Time: 1m14.398s (+0.866s)
Laps: 7
"Our times were not impressive this morning because
we have spent the whole weekend doing race set-up work so
we were confident we could pick up the pace in qualifying.
The traffic was not as bad as we feared going into the sessions
with the 2006 qualifying rules so the team did well to find
some relatively clear laps. So it's a reasonable job so far
and with the race strategy that we have chosen and the tyres
that we have, we should be strong tomorrow. It is a very long
race and because you have to be 100 per cent concentrated
all the time it certainly feels like it. But the challenge
is to push to the limit for 78 laps without going over it."
Pascal Vasselon - Senior General Manager Chassis
"We were expecting a difficult morning because we decided
to use the session to prepare for the race. So of course we
were far back on the time sheets, but there were good reasons
for that. We were effectively expecting to catch up this afternoon
and that is what we did. As it turned out, it was less difficult
than we expected to find clear laps. We were prepared to face
any kind of situation and it went according to plan. Jarno's
position is satisfying but he was blocked by yellow flags
on his final lap while other drivers could continue their
fast laps. It was a pity that Ralf just missed out on Session
3 but he is still in a decent position to do well in the race.
We are happy with our tyre choice and now we have to look
for a good result tomorrow."
|
