Formula 1

Japanese GP Jordan preview

The Benson and Hedges Jordan team travels to Suzuka, now the penultimate Grand Prix of the season, with fourth place in the Constructors Championship well within the team's grasp. "We are simply going to race our own race and do as good a job as we ...

Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM

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The Benson and Hedges Jordan team travels to Suzuka, now the penultimate Grand Prix of the season, with fourth place in the Constructors Championship well within the team's grasp. "We are simply going to race our own race and do as good a job as we can," says Chief Executive, Eddie Jordan. "We would like to have both drivers finish in the points so we can realistically challenge for fourth place in the Constructors Championship. A good race result would also be wonderful for the team and all of our sponsors."

Suzuka is a great circuit, as Jordan's Managing Director, Trevor Foster explains. "Most of the drivers love the Suzuka circuit. The track undulates and has several demanding corners, which the drivers really enjoy. Both Jarno and Heinz are competitive on this track; Heinz raced in Japanese F3000, and has done a lot of testing there so knows the track extremely well. Jarno was very competitive last year qualifying seventh on the grid, we are aiming to be on the podium in Japan."

Heinz-Harald Frentzen who just missed out on his seventh podium last year at Suzuka came home in fourth to finish off an impressive season for the Benson and Hedges Jordan team. This year Frentzen will hope to do better and return to the podium after getting the taste for it in Indianapolis.

"Suzuka is a circuit that has fascinated me since the first time I ever raced there, says Jordan driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen . To this day I still have fond memories of the circuit even though I have driven over 20,000 test kilometres there."

"The Japanese circuit is one of the most challenging that the F1 Calendar has to offer", adds Frentzen. "It demands, that before you enter a corner you already prepare for the next one. You constantly need to be on your toes in anticipation of what lies ahead. Suzuka is full of surprises and the chicane before the start-finish line can be very tricky. It seems quite simple to start with, but can entice you to brake too late making you over run the corner and lose a second in the process."

Jordan driver Jarno Trulli suffered with bad luck in Indianapolis after an impressive qualifying session. Trulli who is looking forward to Japan said, " I like Japan, I have my own fan club and I get good support from the Japanese fans. The circuit in Suzuka is very technical which I enjoy as it is interesting from a driver's point of view and provides a challenge. I think we will be strong in Japan and have the chance to qualify well up the grid and get ourselves in a position to challenge for fourth in the Constructors Championship."

The Benson and Hedges Jordan team tested last week at its home base in Silverstone. Jarno Trulli completed two days of testing which focused on Bridgestone tyre testing as well as reliability tests of new specification parts for the 2001 season.

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