11/10/2003

Japanese Grand Prix - Second Qualifying Report

As the final curtain comes down on the season at Suzuka in Japan the weather smiled more kindly on the Panasonic Toyota Racing team as it benefitted from light rain in the latter half of the session to secure the second row on the grid for tomorrow's Japanese Grand Prix.

Both Toyota drivers set good laps relatively early in the final qualifying session following their 13th and 14th positions in Friday's first session. It worked in their favour when rain fell before the last six drivers had the chance to take to the circuit. It created the best combined qualifying position of the season for the team with Da Matta (1m32.419s) starting tomorrow's race in third place and team mate Panis (1m32.862s) fourth.

The Brazilian's third place equalled Panis's starting position in the USA - an individual best for the team.

Although the weather obviously helped there were still many drivers who did have a chance on a dry track and Da Matta's lap was highly impressive on his first visit to a circuit as technically demanding as Suzuka.

Da Matta said: "Obviously there was no way that I dreamed of starting the race in third position but we did make a lot of progress with the car between Friday and Saturday morning. I felt very confident and I think I could have qualified in the top eight in a normal session if not even a little better. For Toyota here in Japan it couldn't be any better. It is a great platform for us from which to attack tomorrow's race."

The proof of Da Matta's claim comes when you look at Juan Pablo Montoya's time. The Colombian BMW Williams F1 Team driver did have the benefit of a fully dry track and was only 0.007 faster than the Da Matta's Toyota.

With Olivier Panis backing his team-mate up in fourth place the drivers are well placed to run a race that could give them an outside chance of claiming fifth place in the constructors championship. The team needs to score six points to overhaul the total of the Sauber Petronas team which currently lies fifth.

"The session was obviously all over the place because of the different conditions but it does hide the fact that we have made big strides since yesterday Panis explained. It is now up to us to take full advantage of the situation and hopefully score some good points tomorrow."

Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari (1m31.713s) claimed pole position ahead of Montoya the Toyota drivers Fernando Alonso's Mild Seven Renault (1m33.044s) and then Mark Webber's Jaguar (1m33.106s). Both drivers championship contenders were rain-afflicted; Kimi Raikkonen starts eighth and Michael Schumacher 14th.

Panasonic Toyota Racing team manager Ange Pasquali said: "The weather was unkind to us in America but we have redressed the balance pretty quickly! We would have set competitive top eight positions even without the rain but third and fourth is a fabulous way to celebrate Toyota's home race. We will of course endeavour to maximise this advantage tomorrow afternoon looking to score points and hopefully make up as many places in the constructors' championship as possible. But for now we will relish this result - our best qualifying ever in front of our home crowd!"