14/09/2003

Italian Grand Prix - Race

Both Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers Olivier Panis and Cristiano da Matta retired from today's Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Da Matta's race lasted just three laps after his TF103 sustained damaged from debris on the track. Panis was running strongly until a dislodged bearing in the brake balance bar forced him out of the 53-lap race on lap 35. It is only the third time that neither TF103 has been classified in a grand prix this season.

Olivier Panis - Car Number 20
Classification:DNF +18 laps (from race winner)
Grid Position:9th
Chassis:TF103/07
"I had a fabulous start and was up to sixth on the first lap. Marc Gene got past me but I continued to run well in the points. We put a lot of fuel in on at my first pitstop and we were having a good race. Unfortunately shortly after the second stop the brake pedal went completely to the floor and I had to stop in the garage. It has been another encouraging weekend and we have demonstrated that we have the potential to score points. We now have to look ahead to the next race in Indianapolis with this as our target."

Cristiano da Matta - Car Number 21
Classification:DNF + 50 laps (from race winner)
Grid Position:12th
Chassis:TF103/04
"I didn't have a great start but I recovered my position and everything was running okay so being forced to stop is a real shame. All of a sudden I felt a big vibration at the rear and I started to lose the car straight away. At this stage we are not a hundred percent sure what happened but most likely I picked up some carbon fibre debris after an incident on the start-finish line. For both myself and Olivier to retire is a missed opportunity as I reckon we could have added to our points total today."

Ove Andersson - Team Principal
"A very unfortunate outcome to what could have been a good result for Panasonic Toyota Racing today. What happened to Cristiano is a pure racing incident and could have happened to anybody. Olivier was running well and was looking good to score some good points but the car developed a terminal problem with the brakes. Again I think the car has shown the capability to score points but all we can do now is to look towards the final two races in Indianapolis and Suzuka to see if we have some better luck."

Weather:Hot and sunny.
T-car:TF103/08 set up for Olivier Panis. Spare Chassis: TF103/02

Weekend at a Glance
Friday practice (dry track)
Da Matta P6 1m21.881s 24 laps
Panis P12 1m22.584s 20 laps

Friday Qualifying (dry track)
Da Matta P4 1m21.829s (+1.173s)
Panis P10 1m22.372s (+1.716s)

Saturday practice 1 (dry track)
Da Matta P11 1m23.312s 12 laps
Panis P20 No time set 4 laps

Saturday practice 2 (dry track)
Panis P7 1m22.321s 14 laps
Da Matta P12 1m23.194s 20 laps

Warm-Up (dry track)
Panis P10 1m23.095s 5 laps
Da Matta P14 1m23.467s 6 laps

Saturday Qualifying (dry track)
Panis P9 1m22.488s (+1.525s)
Da Matta P12 1m22.914s (+1.951s)