Chinese GP: Jordan Saturday qualifying notes

Jordan Grand Prix drivers Tiago Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan carried on their usual technical programme during this morning's final two practice sessions. They particularly focused on further improving the balance of the chassis to cope with the demands of the Shanghai International Circuit.

Both made steady progress, as shown by the lap times set in the practice sessions. In the afternoon, Karthikeyan and Monteiro had good flying laps and qualified in 15t h and 19t h positions respectively for tomorrow's final race of the 2005 season.

Narain Karthikeyan:

"I did a very good qualifying lap even though I have lost a little bit of time compared to this morning. Nevertheless we are satisfied with the balance of the car today. I think we have also chosen the right Bridgestone tyre compound for the race. Hopefully we can have a good Grand Prix out of it tomorrow."

Tiago Monteiro:

"We have decided to go on an optimum strategy for the race so obviously we have made a few changes to the car and adapted everything to that strategy. It was therefore a more difficult car to drive as both the car and the tyres reacted differently from this morning."

"It was a bit of a surprise but in the end our times are not too bad compared to our competitors. We know we have a good strategy for the race and I am looking forward to it. Hopefully if we get any opportunities we could score some more points at the end."

Adrian Burgess, Sporting director:

"Narain and Tiago had very good laps today and the cars are on different strategies. Tiago has changed his strategy a little bit from this morning and his car felt a bit different, which probably cost him a position on the grid. However, for sure we should have been quicker than Minardi with both cars as we have been most of the year really."

Narain Karthikeyan
Chassis: EJ15B/01
1:36.583, 15th

Tiago Monteiro
Chassis: EJ15B/02
1:36.583, 19th

-jordan-