German GP: Super Aguri race notes

It was a disappointing but not wholly unexpected end to the German Grand Prix weekend for the Super Aguri F1 Team. A start-up issue prevented Sakon Yamamoto, who was commencing his inaugural race with the SAF1 Team from the pit lane, from initially leaving the garage. This was followed by a drive shaft failure which forced him to retire on his first lap.

Takuma Sato's weekend came to an equally disappointing end after an encouraging Qualifying session yesterday. Takuma made an impressive race start and was soon up to 15th position from his original 17th when a gearbox oil leak also forced Takuma to retire from the 2006 German Grand Prix on lap 38.

Takuma Sato:

"The debut of the SA06 in Germany has been positive and the car performed very well in Qualifying yesterday. We were expecting a little bit more in terms of race pace today, so we are a little bit disappointed, but it is a big step up from the SA05 so this will come in time. It was exciting to be able to race with the Midland's and in the second stint I was still ahead of one of them."

"In the end I had a gearbox related oil issue so I had to retire from the race, but because this is a new car it is not really surprising that we encountered some kind of problem. Although it was obviously a disappointing race today, overall it was a good weekend for us, not easy, but definitely a good weekend."

Sakon Yamamoto:

"I am disappointed not to have raced here today as I only completed one lap. On the positive side, we have collected more data than we had for the SA06 today, so we shall study this before we arrive in Hungary. The SA06 is easier to drive than the SA05, so I hope that I can continue to adapt well and learn more about the car for the race in Hungary next week."

Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal:

"I am very sorry that Sakon was unable to compete in his first race with the team today. He showed encouraging progress in the SA06 all weekend so I hope that he will have a good Grand Prix in Hungary."

"Taku did a good job here today - he was competitive and showed that he was able to fight with the Midland's, but unfortunately he suffered with an oil leak. Even with our result today I am happy with the SA06's first outing because we were not been able to test the car before this race and I think that we have made an encouraging start."

Takuma Sato: DNF
Chassis: SA06-03
No. of Laps: 38
Fastest Lap Time: 1:19.413

Sakon Yamamoto: DNF
Chassis: SA06-04
No. of Laps: 1
Fastest Lap Time: No Timed Lap

-superaguri-