French GP Jordan race notes

A two car finish and Jarno Trulli's fifth place returned the team to its points scoring form and further demonstrated Benson and Hedges Jordan Honda's ability to challenge the top three teams.

Trulli's strong and consistent race performance enabled him to be the only driver to complete the full race distance behind the four leading cars and provide the team with two, well deserved additional points. The Italian's nine points scored so far this season is his record achievement to date.

Frentzen drove a solid race to eighth place, although his extended first pit stop lost him positions to the Saubers.

Jarno Trulli

"It is a great result for me and the team to finish another race in the points and be fighting with the top teams. You really need to be determined to achieve good results and the whole team was certainly determined today. I made a good start but unfortunately lost a place to Montoya as he had better acceleration. Barrichello then overtook me on the straight. The car set-up was perfect and I really pushed hard to keep pace with the front runners, but they were just much quicker than me. In order to have the speed to challenge the top teams we need to develop our engine power. I lost a bit of time due to the rear tyres but after the pit stop I was achieving very good lap times. I really enjoyed the race and feel we achieved the best that we could today."

Heinz-Harald Frentzen

"My first stint was quite good and I was able to hold a solid seventh place until my first pit stop which was extended when we had a problem with the fuel nozzle which caused me to lose positions to the Saubers. My fight with Irvine was good, but because he tried to overtake on the inside at the chicane, there wasn't enough room for both of us on the track so I had to overshoot the corner for safety reasons. I was able to push harder in the second stint, but unfortunately had bad understeer after my second pit stop which hindered the car's performance. It's great that both cars crossed the finish line and the team scored more points."

Eddie Jordan, Chief Executive

"It feels great to be back in the points and bring both cars home. We had a small problem during Heinz's pit stop which unfortunately lost him a couple of places but he drove a very solid race. Jarno proved to be very competitive over the whole race distance. It feels good to be back on form going into our home Grand Prix at Silverstone."

-Jordan