Japanese Grand Prix - Qualifying Round-Up
IT'S A JOLLY QUALI DAY
Panasonic Toyota Racing is celebrating its best qualifying
performance of the season after Ralf Schumacher and Jarno
Trulli secured the second row of the grid for Sunday's Japanese
Grand Prix. Following a difficult qualifying session last
week in China, today was a much better day for Toyota. Both
Ralf and Jarno showed quick pace in all three of the sessions
and they easily made it into Q3 before setting the 3rd and
4th fastest times respectively. After yesterday's wet practice
sessions, the weather improved around the Suzuka circuit today.
The sun came out for the morning practice session and Q1 and
Q2 took place in similar sunshine on a dry track. The conditions
were still not ideal because there were strong gusting winds
and there was a shower at one end of the circuit during Q3.
The eventual grid positions now give Toyota the best possible
chance for a strong result in tomorrow's race. Now the whole
team will push as hard as possible to make sure that there
is something for its employees and fans to remember.
Ralf Schumacher (Car 7, Chassis TF106/10B)
PROVISIONAL GRID: 3rd
Free Practice Session 3: 2nd, 15 laps
Lap Time: 1m31.863s (+1.210s)
Q1: 4th, 6 laps
Lap Time: 1m30.595s (+0.483s)
Q2: 5th, 3 laps
Lap Time: 1m30.299s (+1.345s)
Q3: 3rd, 10 laps
Lap Time: 1m29.989s (+0.390s)
"That was a great achievement for the whole team. After
the last two races we needed that to show where we really
are in terms of pace. We knew from the previous races that
we were always there from a lap time point of view and we
needed to show that. Today, with the clear help of our Bridgestone
tyres, we were able to show that our car is a good car. We've
obviously struggled for results in the second half of this
season, but our car has improved a lot. I've always said that
if we had a good weekend and the tyre is right then we could
be heading for the podium. This is my favourite track and
while we will obviously have a hard race with the two Ferraris
ahead of us, we will do our best to catch them. It is important
to qualify up the grid at Suzuka and now that we have achieved
that we will push as hard as we can."
Jarno Trulli (Car 8, Chassis TF106/08B)
PROVISIONAL GRID: 4th
Free Practice Session 3: 20th, 15 laps
Lap Time: 1m34.118s (+3.465s)
Q1: 2nd, 6 laps
Lap Time: 1m30.420s (+0.308s)
Q2: 3rd, 3 laps
Lap Time: 1m30.204s (+1.250s)
Q3: 4th, 10 laps
Lap Time: 1m30.039s (+0.440s)
"It's great to be so far up the grid. We've been competitive
all weekend, especially today, and we were confident that
we could have a result like this. It was very windy out there
but the car balance still felt good throughout the afternoon
and we were very competitive. I was very quick throughout
qualifying and I could have made it into the top three, but
I missed out by a few hundredths. Still we have a very strong
car for the race tomorrow so I'm happy both for myself and
for the team. Obviously we are keen to record a strong result
at our home race so we will fight from the start to finish.
We appreciate the extra support that we receive at this race
from our local fans and employees so we will hope to reward
them with something to cheer."
Pascal Vasselon – Senior General Manager Chassis
"This is our best qualifying result of the season and
a very different story compared to China. But we knew what
went wrong in Shanghai so we were always confident that we
were able to put in a performance like this. We saw early
in the weekend that our car was well balanced and fast around
one lap in all types of conditions. So this is confirmation
of the potential of our car because you need a good car to
be fast around Suzuka. You also need good drivers as both
Ralf and Jarno are. They did well so it has been a fine day
for us. We were very strong in Q1 and Q2 and we preserved
a set of tyres so we could have two outings on new tyres in
Q3, which is definitely the best tactic. The wind was not
a problem for the drivers, which is another good indication
of the car's quality. We must also give a big thank you to
Bridgestone because the tyres are working very well, both
in terms of the first lap and consistency. As for the race,
we are on the optimal strategy according to our calculations,
so we are in good shape and looking forward to tomorrow."
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