European GP Jordan race notes

Trulli ran a strong sixth place for the majority of his race. After thirty five laps, his engineers noticed a loss of pressure with his EJ11's gearbox, which ultimately ended his race on lap 44. The Italian ran competitive lap times right up until his retirement and had pushed Hakkinen and Villeneuve earlier in the race. . Frentzen maintained tenth position for the opening stages of the race until his pit stop on lap 29. He was running in eighth when a sudden failure with his traction control caused him to spin at the exit of the hairpin with just nineteen laps of the race remaining.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen Car 11
Position: DNF (traction control failure causing Frentzen to spin)

"I didn't have a good start and lost three places before the first corner, but moved back up to run in tenth for a good part of the race. After the pit stop, with new tyres I was able to do quite a few quick laps but I then had a problem with my rear tyres and couldn't maintain my good lap times. As I accelerated out of the hairpin, the traction control suddenly failed which meant I had excessive wheel spin causing me to spin off the track."

Jarno Trulli Car 12
Position: DNF (loss of gearbox oil pressure)

"I made a very good start and moved up to sixth by the end of the first lap. The early part of the race was going very well and I was trying hard to overtake Hakkinen. I was able to keep pace very well with the leading pack and although I did experience a problem downshifting, I was still pulling away from the group behind me. The car felt very well balanced so I could continue to push hard after my pit stop and achieve some very good lap times. Unfortunately on lap forty four, a lack of gearbox oil pressure which my engineers had been aware of for some laps but were unable to rectify, caused the gearbox to seize so I had to retire. It's a great shame as l was looking very strong in the race with the chance to score some points. We have been very unlucky this year and lost a lot of points as a result."

Eddie Jordan, Chief Executive

"It is clear that we are not realising our potential. The problems seem to be different at each race which is hugely frustrating, and means we have to have ongoing analysis to establish the causes for each retirement. In the meantime, with the top three teams opening up their lead, the battle for fourth place remains open and we will keep fighting."

-Jordan