French GP: Jordan Friday qualifying notes

Ralph Firman and Giancarlo Fisichella were 3rd and 13th in first qualifying - a session which began with rain and wet track conditions, which gradually dried by the time the final runners went out. Jordan Ford set the trend with tyre choice, being the first team to select normal wet and then grooved dry tyres for Fisichella and Firman respectively.

Firman lost approximately 30 minutes of time in this morning's private testing session when an oil pressure sensor failure caused his EJ13 to stop on the circuit but the team's track time today was otherwise trouble-free.

Ralph Firman:

"The team made a good call on tyres. I was trying to be cautious at certain parts of the circuit but it was difficult and I made a big mistake which is frustrating, but it's great to be third. It's my first time here and I need a lot more laps in the dry tomorrow to get the hang of the circuit as it's quite technical."

Giancarlo Fisichella:

"It was a strange qualifying session. We did our best with intermediate tyres when the circuit might still have been a bit too wet. Today is important but nothing like Saturday so I hope we have more consistent conditions tomorrow, and I wouldn't mind if it's still wet."

Gary Anderson, Director of race and test engineering:

"First qualifying was a bit of a lottery as the track dried out and everybody got quicker and quicker. It's nice to be third with Ralph although he made a bit of a mistake at the penultimate chicane and lost a bit of time. There's not much else to say, it was just one of those days."

RALPH FIRMAN
3rd, 1:23.496
CHASSIS NUMBER: EJ13-03

GIANCARLO FISICHELLA
13th, 1:28.502
CHASSIS NUMBER: EJ13-04

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