European GP: Jordan race notes

Nick Heidfeld and Giorgio Pantano finished 10th and 13th for Jordan Ford in today's European Grand Prix, with Heidfeld racing for position right to the finish line after rapaciously closing in on Felipe Massa during the race's final laps. Following a strong start, Pantano's race was beset at half distance by a transmission downshift problem which slowed his pace and constrained him to concentrating on bringing home the car.

Nick Heidfeld:

"I'm really happy with our performance over the weekend especially in the race. Finishing 10th, only two positions off the points, is positive - as was actually being able to fight and beat some other cars. I was pushing Felipe hard at the end, which was really good fun. With one more lap I might have overtaken him!"

"I didn't have a great start, so that is something we need to improve and practise, and then I was held up by Klien for a long time in the race, but that's just racing. Our race performance is good but we need to see if we can improve qualifying. A big thanks to all the team as they are really doing a good job at the moment. If we keep improving at this rate I'm very pleased."

Giorgio Pantano:

"I was lucky to finish the race, to be honest, because for the last 25 laps I had a problem with the downshift. The first part of the race was not going badly and we were doing our maximum but after that this problem started and that was it. There's not much else to say. I'm not very happy really as this has happened to me a few times."

James Robinson, Head of race and test engineering:

"It was a tough race for Jordan Ford today with Nick driving a very good, hard race. Some slower cars in the first part of the race cost him any chance of getting in the points. Once he got past those we were running on target and the Bridgestone tyres were performing consistently, but he had just lost too much time in the early part of the race. Giorgio drove well, and was up there with Nick but unfortunately he had a car problem that basically slowed his race and at the end he was driving to get the car over the line."

Eddie Jordan, Chief executive:

"I'm glad that both our cars finished. Unfortunately we had a problem with Giorgio's car but I think that was Nick's best race drive for us. We seem to be making a bit of progress. Thanks to everyone in the team for their continued hard work."

-jordan-