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 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

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