Austrian GP Saturday Minardi notes

Marc Gene:
"Today was a difficult day. This morning we experienced many problems and I must say thank you to my engineers and all the lads of my crew if we managed to sort everything out for the afternoon. In fact, for the qualifying I finally found a good set-up and I improved my time when I was on the second set of tires. Unfortunately, during my last run, the third set of tires was not as good as the previous one and I felt a lack of grip but I am happy all the same. Honestly I did not expect to find the right car setting in such a very short time today, the team was truly helpful to me."

Gaston Mazzacane:
"I expected to do a better qualifying session today after the job we had done during this morning's free practice. It did not go well and I feel very disappointed. Unfortunately I had some problems in the very first laps due to the rain and to the lack of grip which I had not experienced in the morning; I was not able to improve my performance not even when I was on the last two set of tires. Now I only have to concentrate thoroughly for tomorrow, and hopefully I will keep a good rhythm in the race in order to increase my experience and to see the finishing line for the tenth time."

Cesare Fiorio:
"Today's Gene's time, 2"3 slower than pole position, is one of the shorter gaps we've ever experienced throughout the season so far and shows our car's progress which is steadily approaching to the other cars' best performances. If we compare today's times with last years' ones, our performance improved twofold compared to the pole position and what is also worth being noted is that now a mere 1" gap separates us from the 8th grid position."

The T-car (chassis 01) for tomorrow's race is prepared for Marc Gene.