19/06/2004

Grand Prix of USA - Qualifying Round-Up

Olivier Panis (Car 17 Chassis TF104/03)
Pre-Qualifying: 3rd
Lap Time: 1m09.923s (+0.469s)
Qualifying: 8th
Lap Time: 1m11.167s (+0.944s)
Grid Position: 8th
"During yesterday's practice sessions we set a solid base for the weekend gathering valuable data about the tyres. In today's sessions I felt comfortable in the car and my qualifying lap went well. I am quite happy with my starting position for the race and from eighth on the grid it is certainly a realistic target to score points tomorrow. We are getting the full potential out of the TF104 and everyone continues to do a great job. On the one hand to be only one-tenth from the top five is a shame but on the other it shows the positive development of the entire team."

Cristiano da Matta (Car 16 Chassis TF104/04 T-car TF104/07)
Pre-Qualifying: 7th
Lap Time: 1m10.108s (+0.654s)
Qualifying: 11th
Lap Time: 1m11.691s (+1.468s)
Grid Position: 11th
"I was expecting more from qualifying today based on our performance in the practice. I suffered with less grip than in the previous sessions which prevented me from attacking as much as I have been able to throughout the weekend. Nevertheless we have demonstrated more competitiveness at this track than at any other all season so I remain optimistic for the race."

Mike Gascoyne - Technical Director Chassis
"Although this is one of our best qualifying performances of the year so far we are all a little bit disappointed that we were unable to get both cars in the top ten and higher up the grid. It is an extremely tight field with only one-tenth-of-a-second separating us from a top five result. Both drivers were unhappy with the grip levels in the second session which we will look into but overall we have a competitive package for the race so we have to target points for both cars tomorrow."