German GP: Jordan race notes

The German Grand Prix ended in disappointment for Jordan Ford with neither Ralph Firman nor Giancarlo Fisichella finishing the race. Firman collided with Heinz-Harald Frentzen and then Justin Wilson at the first corner, as cars suddenly slowed to avoid an accident which had taken place further up the field. Fisichella struggled with electronics problems throughout the race until he had to retire two laps from the end when a water leak caused the engine to overheat.

Giancarlo Fisichella:

"That was a disaster for me really! I had a lot of problems: tyres, the car, electronics, the engine overheating - everything."

Ralph Firman:

"It's very disappointing to go out of the race. I went into the first corner and didn't see anything that was going on but suddenly everyone slowed and I ended up tapping the back of Frentzen and damaging my front wing. I thought it might be okay but then I was off the circuit on the outside when Justin came into the side of me, and there was just too much damage."

Gary Anderson, Director of race and test engineering:

"I suppose you might call that an eventful event. Ralph had a coming together with another car at the first corner and his race ended prematurely. Giancarlo avoided the accidents and we stuck with our strategy but then after the safety car went in, he had an electronic problem which caused the traction control to come in constantly. It caused a gear change problem and a traction control problem, he lost a lost of time while we were trying to figure out what to do to recover from it. We continued to find out about any other reliability issues and eventually he had to pull out of the race just before the end with a water leak which caused the engine to overheat. It was a disappointing day."

Jordan Ford is pleased to announce that newly-crowned F3000 champion Bjorn Wirdheim will test for the team at Monza in early September and also in the private test session at the Italian Grand Prix on 12 September.

GIANCARLO FISICHELLA
DNF (mechanical, lap 65)
CHASSIS NUMBER: EJ13-05

RALPH FIRMAN
DNF (accident, lap 1)
CHASSIS NUMBER: EJ13-03

-jordan-