French GP Jaguar qualifying notes

Weather: Hot, clear, dry, air temperature 31 degrees, track temperature 44 degrees

A hectic Qualifying session for the Jaguar Racing team as both its drivers battled against sweltering conditions and a couple of hitches. Eddie Irvine set his fastest time on his first run but on his second, lost control of his R2 and spun out at Turn thirteen. Eddie took to the spare T-Car for his remaining two runs but was unable to better his time. Pedro de la Rosa was unable to start his session as early as he would have liked due to an electrical problem on the overhead gantry in the garage. Once under way he was happy with the balance of his car and managed to clock the fourteenth fastest time of the day and his best time of the weekend so far.

Eddie Irvine
Position: 12th
Best time: 1.14.441
Chassis: R2-04
T-Car chassis: R2-05

"It was obviously disappointing to lose the race car but it's debatable whether I could have got further up the grid with it today. My first lap was bloody good although there was one corner where the car didn't select a lower gear as I was going a bit too fast and I lost a bit of momentum from that. I was two and half tenths off moving up a position and everyone improved through the session so you have to assume I would have too. The T-car was actually slightly better balanced than my race car but into corner seven the rear end of the car was very wayward and I half spun on my last lap. We know the car is good in race trim so if I push hard tomorrow you never know."

Pedro de la Rosa
Position: 14th
Best time: 1.15.020
Chassis: R2-06

"I had a problem with the electrics on my overhead gantry so that was why my start was delayed for 20 minutes. We had made a few changes on the car since the warm-up this morning and it felt much better. I still, however, made a mistake on my fastest lap and if I had hooked it up perfectly, I would have been in the 1 minute 14 seconds zone. On my last run, which was the best, I was pushing so hard I nearly went off and this cost me a lot of time. Nevertheless, the car felt better than it has all weekend and we will race hard tomorrow for points."

Bobby Rahal, Chief Executive Officer & Team Principal

"It was a problematic session but Eddie started well with a great lap and it all looked good until he went off and that obviously meant we lost valuable time. I'm disappointed because we were not able to improve through the session, especially since the mid-field pack was so tight. Even so, the performance of the car was a little better but we still have to make it more consistent so that our drivers can push it harder and close the gap on our competitive group. Obviously we'd like to be at the head of that group but our expectations are now higher because of our improved performance over the last few races. Don't rule us out of the equation tomorrow though."

-Jaguar