European Grand Prix - Race Round-Up
Panasonic Toyota Racing had bittersweet results at the European
Grand Prix. During the race, Jarno struggled with his race
pace, while Ralf had a hard day's work battling through from
midfield. While Jarno Trulli achieved 9th place in the race,
Ralf Schumacher disappointingly retired early after having
engine problems. Toyota will now journey to the Circuit de
Catalunya in Barcelona as it bids to make steps forward for
the coming races. Directly after the race, the team will head
to Circuit Paul Ricard to continue testing the B-car specification,
which is expected to make its debut at the Monaco Grand Prix.
GRIP FIGHT
Jarno Trulli could not find the right grip on his car today
and subsequently missed out on scoring his first points of
the season.
Jarno Trulli (Car 8, Chassis TF106/04)
Race Classification: 9th
Gap: +1 lap (from race winner)
Qualifying Classification: 7th
Time: 1m31.419s (+1.600s in Session 3)
Grid: 7th
"I had a good start, gaining one position and made it
through the first corner without any instances. That was the
first hurdle for me, to make it through the first lap without
any problems. I was pushing the whole race, but was struggling
with the balance and getting enough grip in the tyres. The
team tried some different set-up adjustments, but I just did
not seem to increase my pace until the last 10 laps. By then
it was too late to make any impact on the race result. I think
once the issue has been evaluated, we can say more about what
happened. Right now, it is important that we keep working
and keep improving on the car to set some good laps at the
coming race."
RING OF SMOKE
Ralf Schumacher finished the race early due to an engine failure.
Ralf Schumacher (Car 7, Chassis TF106/05)
Race Classification: DNF
Qualifying Classification: 11th
Time: 1m30.944s (+0.931s in Session 2)
Grid: 10th
"The first corner here is very tight and there was again
a collision and I lost a bit of time. We made up for this
with a long first stint which put me solidly into a point
scoring 6th position after my first pit stop. The car felt
strong and we were doing competitive times, but I was unlucky
not to make it past Barrichello at the second pit stop. Unfortunately
we had an engine failure in the closing stages of the race.
Of course we are disappointed, because we were stronger in
the race than expected. The whole weekend was a step forward
and we will certainly make another small step in Barcelona."
WORK TO DO
Panasonic Toyota Racing had high hopes of gaining points at
its home Grand Prix, yet returns to its Cologne-based factory
with homework to do before heading into next week's race.
Tsutomu Tomita - Team Principal
"This weekend, we enjoyed a great atmosphere, with many
fans and employees supporting our team. After having a good
race and a good strategy, we unfortunately did not do as well
as we had hoped. Obviously for Ralf, it is quite disappointing
that he retired so close to the end of the race, but now we
will have to analyze the situation and find the root cause
for this. With Jarno, we had tyre control difficulties, but
I think if we could have maintained a similar pace to Ralf,
we would have had a good race. We really need to evaluate
today's issues, going into detail to avoid any problems at
the coming race next weekend in Barcelona. Both drivers showed
that they can push hard and now we will concentrate on giving
them a reliable car to drive."
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