Panasonic Toyota Racing will tonight begin its journey back across the Atlantic
Ocean with five points in the bag after Jarno Trulli took 4th place at today's
US Grand Prix. On a scorching hot day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the
race was interrupted by an accident at the first corner that took seven cars out
of contention. Jarno faced the toughest of afternoons, starting from the pit lane
after the team changed his rear suspension following yesterday's problem in qualifying.
But the Italian made the most of the early laps and was up to 8th place by lap
10. Running on a one-stop strategy he made up more ground and his finish added
to his points from Canada last week. Ralf Schumacher started 8th on the grid and
he was able to avoid the carnage at the start. He ran another strong race and
held 5th place when he was forced to retire with a bearing failure on his front
left wheel just ten laps from home. The Toyota team is next scheduled to test
at Spain's Jerez circuit this week in preparation for the French Grand Prix in
a fortnight's time.
Jarno Trulli(Car 8, Chassis TF106/08B)
Race Classification: 4th
Gap: +23.604s (from race winner)
Qualifying Classification: 20th
Lap time: 1m13.787s (+2.699s in Session 1)
Grid: 22nd
"Even though I was starting from the pit lane, I knew we had a big chance
today because the car was quick. So it was a pity about yesterday but nevertheless
I knew we could make up ground by pushing hard. I had a bit of luck because I
could profit from the pile-up at the first corner and the safety car period. But
I'm very happy because I was able to match the times of the other runners in the
early stages despite having more fuel on board. The team did a great job analysing
the data and in the end to finish 4th is a great result. I'm the kind of person
who always wants more so we're disappointed to have narrowly missed out on the
podium. But after everything that has gone wrong for me this year, it's great
to have a day when everything goes right. Now I'm really confident for the rest
of the season."
Ralf Schumacher (Car 7, Chassis TF106/07B)
Race Classification: DNF
Qualifying Classification: 8th
Time: 1m12.795s (+1.963s in Session 3)
Grid: 8th
"Today we were looking good for a strong points finish until our problem
late on. I had a very long brake pedal so I had to come in. Then the team found
that we had a wheel bearing failure on our front left. It was a very difficult
race today because it was so hot out there. I also had a hard job keeping the
car balanced because there was a slight difference in grip levels between my sets
of tyres so that made it more difficult to drive. The failure was unfortunate
because I was in a comfortable 5th place and those points would have been great
news for the team. Nevertheless our performance this weekend shows that the development
of our car is very advanced. But we need to keep pushing for reliability as we
search for more points in the coming races."
Tsutomu Tomita - Team Principal
"First we are delighted that the American race fans saw a proper F1 race
today. For Toyota, Jarno made an exceptional race from the pit lane. But he was
confident before the race because our car was obviously fast this weekend. We
went for a one-stop strategy because he was starting so far back and our Bridgestone
tyres looked so consistent. Everything went well for him – including the
accident and the safety car period – but his pace was very strong throughout
the race even on heavy fuel loads. In the end we were fighting Fisichella and
though we lost third by a couple of seconds we are very happy. Of course it hurts
that we had another retirement with Ralf. It's a pity that he had a wheel bearing
failure because he ran a very good race. Despite the fact that he was held up
behind Barrichello early he was still able to pass Alonso at the last stop. So
we need to work hard to improve our reliability. But our pace shows that we are
getting nearer to the top cars. We must now push to continue our development programme
so we can catch them. We haven't given up on our aim of winning our first race
this season."
