French GP: Toyota Friday notes

The Panasonic Toyota Racing team had mixed fortunes on the opening day of its debut French Grand Prix weekend in Magny-Cours today. Mika Salo had incidents in both sessions, but ended the day in 7th place, whilst traffic affected Allan McNish's ...

The Panasonic Toyota Racing team had mixed fortunes on the opening day of its debut French Grand Prix weekend in Magny-Cours today. Mika Salo had incidents in both sessions, but ended the day in 7th place, whilst traffic affected Allan McNish's running - the Scot finishing in 11th.

Mika Salo

"Not such a good first day. I had an incident early in the first session when a car on its installation lap collided with me. We then had to repair the steering on my car, which lost a lot of time. We concentrated on setting up the car in the second session, but we had an engine-related problem towards the end preventing us from completing today's programme. The exact cause of the problem needs to be investigated."

Allan McNish

"Friday is always a little bit hard to read, but the car was definitely better by the end of the second session. Traffic is always a major issue round here, and I think that is going to be a big factor for tomorrow in qualifying. I was held up on a couple occasions today, but overall it probably happened to a lot of other people as well."

Keizo Takahashi Technical Co-Ordinator

"Being fast around this circuit is all about the total balance of the car. Cars need to be good aerodynamically, but have good mechanical grip, good brakes and a good engine. The first day was not so bad for us, but unfortunately Mika had a engine problem in the second session. We now have to check exactly what happened and find a quick solution."

Mika Salo - Car No. 24
Position: 7th, 1m15.161s
28 laps completed
Chassis: TF102/07
T-car: TF102/06

Allan McNish - Car No. 25
Position: 11th, 1m15.411s
44 laps completed
Chassis: TF102/08