08/10/2004

Grand Prix of Japan - Free Practice Round-Up

Jarno Trulli (Car 16 Chassis TF104/10B)
First Session Classification: 14th 10 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m58.351s (+10.445s)
Second Session Classification: 14th 7 laps completed
Lap Time: 1m50.386s (+4.998s)
"It was a difficult debut for me today although I think we can be pleased to have done some meaningful running in tough conditions. I have never driven the TF104B in the wet so it was useful to get some experience. On the other hand I took it comparatively easy today because the conditions were very dangerous and I didn't want to spin or go off the track and damage the car. The positive thing is that we have done some laps and gained some beneficial experience for the rest of the weekend which at the moment looks like it could be quite tricky with the weather."

Olivier Panis (Car 17 Chassis TF104/09B)
First Session Classification: N/C 1 lap completed
No Time Set
Second Session Classification: N/C 1 lap completed
No Time Set
"The huge amount of rain made it very difficult today. In the first session I completed an installation lap and wanted to wait to see what everyone else was doing. When we saw there was no improvement we opted to stay in the garage as we would not achieve any decent set-up work in such conditions. It made sense for Jarno to do some running but not for me because I already know the behaviour of the car quite well in the wet. In the second session we had the same situation so we just did a launch and pit stop practice to be sure that everything worked on the electronics side. The track was so wet I felt that I was driving a boat rather than an F1 car but at least we could complete a lap to check that there was nothing wrong."

Ryan Briscoe (Car 38 Chassis TF104/11B)
First Session Classification: N/C 0 laps completed
No Time Set
Second Session Classification: N/C 0 laps completed
No Time Set
"Due to the restriction of extreme wet weather tyres I was unable to do any running today. The conditions were simply too bad to even consider going out on intermediate tyres. I am disappointed that I couldn't have the chance to drive at the Suzuka circuit and not to participate in Toyota's home grand prix weekend."

Mike Gascoyne - Technical Director Chassis
"On a positive note Ryan and Olivier enjoyed two troublefree sessions today and Jarno was able to complete some useful laps. I am sure it was disappointing for all the fans that we were unable to carry out much running but the conditions were simply too dangerous for the drivers. Jarno had never driven our car in the wet before so it was important for him to put in some laps just to familiarize himself. Ryan didn't go out because we have a limitation on the number of wet weather Michelin tyres we can use so our priority is to conserve the wet tyres and ensure we have enough for the race cars. Unfortunately this has negated our programme today so we have to see how the rest of the weekend unfolds."