Australian GP: Super Aguri Friday practice report

SUPER AGURI F1 TEAM commenced its 2008 season challenge today with the inaugural outing of the SA08A at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne.

The first day of running got off to a hot and windy start with the team opting for installation laps, grid procedure simulation and systems checks for both Takuma and Anthony during the morning's Free Practice session. Anthony's running was cut short in the afternoon; however Takuma was able to complete his planned test programme for the day.

Takuma Sato

"I am pleased to have started our first day of the 2008 season. Of course we had some issues as our winter preparations were not completed and we had to evaluate many things on our very first day. But it was good to see the cars running and that the team is up to speed. There is a lot of work to do, naturally, but overall today was good."

Anthony Davidson

"It was a difficult Friday. We had planned a limited programme anyway, but then we had to cut short our run in the afternoon. I hope that we can get to grips with the car more tomorrow and move on from there."

Graham Taylor, Sporting Director

"We are very pleased to be in Melbourne, but Melbourne does not seem to be too pleased to see us! It was a very difficult day; we tried to adopt a staged approach to the start of the year, attempting to tick the boxes that other teams have been able too during winter testing. Therefore in FP1, Anthony's car undertook a full grid procedure simulation whilst Takuma's car undertook a green flag simulation. We are experiencing some new car issues, as you would expect - a little overheating here and there, but otherwise the morning went to plan. Unfortunately for Anthony his running was curtailed this afternoon because we exceeded a design parameter and we once again encountered some issues with cooling, so we need to address these areas this evening to allow us to complete a few more miles tomorrow."

-credit: super aguri