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Noritoshi Arai Report: US Grand Prix
19 Jun,2007 (Tue) As always, thank you for your support over the weekend. Here is my report from the U.S. GP, the second race of the North American Round in as many weeks, held at the holy land of American auto sports, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. ![]() High expectations for Indianapolis based on our good performance last year The best result was having both cars completing Friday's programs were the greatest yield For the first time in a long time, we had a trouble-free Friday practice, and we were able to complete the entire first day's program exactly as planned. Usually, we would expect nothing less, but at the Monaco GP, for example, the water pipes in the second floor of our garage broke, flooding the first floor, and preventing us from being able to use our telemetry during the free practice session. At the Canadian GP, trouble with breaking uprights forced us to go into qualifying without a fully established car setup. In that sense, being able to finally complete a full program on Friday meant that we could go into Saturday morning practice to concentrate on car settings for qualifying based on a full set of long run data. We brought two sets of uprights with us to the U.S. GP: one set of the same specification that gave us trouble last week in Canada, and another set designed to a stronger specification. Indianapolis didn't have the same crossties behind the curbs that were in Montreal, but we checked the load on the uprights when we first started lapping at the Motor Speedway. After confirming that there was no problem here, we decided to use the same upright spec that we used in Canada. While our lap times might have seemed fairly far down on the time chart, this was mainly due to the fact that we put on new tires rather early, so we weren't especially concerned about our pace. Of course, both drivers suffered from lack of grip during the first day, but we were able to make grip improvements on Saturday. Overall, I would have to say it was a favorable first day of the grand prix weekend. Disappointment that only one car made the third period, but expectations for Ralf's resurgence ![]() But we had such high expectations for both cars to qualify in the top 10 that we all felt some disappointment that Ralf wasn't able to continue on to the final qualifying period. I really can't point to any significant mistakes or traffic issues. I just think that the qualifying times were all so close that even minor mistakes resulted in large position differences. Even though he didn't make it past Q2, Ralf wasn't driving badly at all-even outpacing Jarno during Saturday's morning practice session. We thought that Ralf might qualify as the better of our two drivers on Saturday, and we still feel confident that Ralf has found his way back to performing at the level he wants. Although Ralf qualified P12, we had high expectations that he would battle his way through the field during Sunday's race. Jarno captures P6; good ammunition going into the second half of the European Round ![]() ![]() Meanwhile, Ralf's brakes locked in the first corner immediately after the race start, bringing him into contact with another car. With a damaged front left suspension, Ralf was done for the day. Ralf had made it to Q2 for the first time in four races, barely missing out on making Q3. But even so, we were encouraged to see Ralf back at his former speed, which made the early retirement all the more disappointing. I do think, though, that Ralf's performance here will bring some good momentum into the next GP. We still haven't closed the gap with the top teams, but we'll take four points away from the North American Round as a worthwhile souvenir, working harder than ever on further development as we go into the rest of the European Round. We at Panasonic Toyota Racing ask for your continued valued support. ![]() ![]() Noritoshi Arai, watching Panasonic Toyota Racing capture their best finish of the season so far in Indianapolis. After testing at Silverstone, the team will head to the French GP, aiming for a double-points finish. |