French GP Saturday Jordan notes

Heavy rain created chaos during qualifying for the French Grand Prix. But Benson and Hedges Jordan driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen came through to place himself fifth for tomorrow's race. Damon Hill's session ran less smoothly. He was forced to take out the spare car after a broken exhaust caused a small fire in his race car. The same problem occurred in the spare car after the chequered flag. When the session ended, Hill, along with four other drivers, lay just outside the 107% qualifying time and is awaiting the stewards decision as to whether he will race tomorrow.

HEINZ-HARALD FRENTZEN 5th 1.40.690 CHASSIS NUMBER 5

"It was completely crazy out there. Thank God nothing serious happened. It was so difficult to keep the car straight as the track was so slippery and I was aquaplaning everywhere. I was lucky though and made a good time. It is easy to be wise after the session has ended and say we should have gone out sooner, but it could have dried out - and in fact almost as soon as we stopped the rain stopped. We decided to go out when we did to avoid the traffic. We expected most people would go out with 25 minutes to go, so we went out with about 28 minutes to go."

DAMON HILL 1.45.334 (.003 outside the 107% qualifying time) CHASSIS NUMBER 4

"As things stand, I am out of the race, but irrespective of that, today illustrates the difficulties that I have been going through this year and shows why I have announced that I am going to retire. Normally I enjoy driving in the wet, but not today. I was not able to get the best out of myself and the car, which is extremely frustrating for me and for the team. I must say that these were the worst conditions I have ever experienced in a qualifying session. It was extremely treacherous."

The T car, chassis 6 is set up for Frentzen in tomorrow's race.