28/06/2003

European Grand Prix - Second Qualifying Report

For the second successive race Panasonic Toyota Racing has qualified both its TF103 cars in the top 10. Dry conditions for the final qualifying session at Nurburgring allowed the team to exploit the car's full potential with the result that Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta will start the European Grand Prix from seventh and 10th places on the grid.

The outcome is a boost for the team as the second half of the year begins and raises hopes of a strong point-scoring race in front of the hardworking staff at the Cologne factory about an hour away who have the chance to watch the cars in action this weekend from the grandstand.

As he did on Friday Panis topped the free morning practice session and was hopeful of the competitive grid slot that his 1m32.357s lap has produced.

"The car and the tyres have been good all weekend he said, and after waiting a relatively long time until Canada to get my name on the scoreboard I am hoping to achieve another helping of points tomorrow. We had a productive test last week and have had a good balance on the car from the beginning which makes a big difference. It is always a bit of a disadvantage to run early in the session because track conditions tend to improve throughout as more tyre rubber goes down but I am satisfied."

Da Matta who has no previous experience of the modified Nurburgring did another first class job with a lap in 1m32.949s and is separated from his team mate on the grid by Fernando Alonso's Renault and David Coulthard's McLaren.

"You are never truly happy unless you have done the perfect lap the Brazilian said, but our target is always to put the car in the top 10 and I have now done that at the last three races. I am confident that we have a good platform for a strong race in the team's 'home' Grand Prix."

At the front of the field Kimi Raikkonen (1m31.523s) had the perfect response to any criticism he received after his Montreal spin when he claimed the first pole position of his Grand Prix career in a thrilling shoot-out which saw just 0.09s separating the first three cars!

Raikkonen's chief championship rival Michael Schumacher (1m31.555s) shares the front row in the first of the Scuderia Marlboro Ferrari cars alongside his brother's Williams-BMW (1m31.619s) third on the grid. Ralf Schumacher's BMW Williams F1 Team partner Juan Pablo Montoya (1m31.765s) took fourth position with Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari just 0.02s adrift. Jarno Trulli's Mild Seven Renault F1 entry completed the top six.

Panasonic Toyota Racing team manager Ange Pasquali said: "There are a lot of different elements to the lap at Nurburgring and as in Barcelona where we were strong the aerodynamic side is quite important. We have made progress in all areas however and I hope that we can give the whole Cologne HQ something to cheer about tomorrow - we certainly deserve it after being competitive all weekend long."