17/08/2002

Hungarian Grand Prix - Qualifying

Panasonic Toyota Racing will make up the ninth row of the Hungarian Grand Prix grid after a troublesome qualifying session at the maximum downforce Hungaroring circuit in Budapest today. Mika Salo ended the session in 17th place with Allan McNish only two-tenths of a second adrift in 18th place.

Mika Salo - Car No. 24

Position:	17th 1m16.473s 11/12 laps completed
Chassis:	TF102/07

"Like the last race in Germany this has been a very disappointing qualifying with both myself and Allan near the back of the grid. We struggled badly today with a lack of grip and not enough downforce which is essential here. It will be a difficult race because overtaking is almost impossible and qualifying is 95 percent of the race. Tomorrow we just have to keep the car on the circuit. The car has handled better with a heavy fuel load up to now which gives us some hope."

Allan McNish - Car No. 25

Position:	18th 1m16.626s 11/12 laps completed
Chassis:	TF102/08

"On the first run the car balance was pretty good but I was held up by traffic towards the end of the flying lap which lost me three-tenths of a second. After that we never found the same balance on the car with an increasing amount of understeer on each run which we have to look into. I'm quite frustrated and it's going to be a hard day tomorrow."

Ange Pasquali - Team Manager
"Again we struggled with qualifying with only 17th and 18th positions to show for our efforts. We did not improve our lap times much from this morning's sessions and our priority now is to find out why. All we can hope for is a good start tomorrow a good strategy so we can make up positions and to get both Mika and Allan to the chequered flag."

Weather:	Hot and sunny with some cloud and a light breeze
Temperatures:	Air - Min 26°C Max 28°C Track - Min 29°C Max 30°C Average humidity 42%
T-car:	TF102/06 set up for Mika Salo

Review
Mika and Allan were 15th and 18th in yesterday's free practice. Both drivers worked on car set-up for the race. Mika was relatively happy with progress posting a 1m18.89s in 34 laps. Allan completed 37 laps but suffered with oversteer on the dirty and slippery track and set a best time of 1m19.17s.