Monaco GP Jaguar Free Practice recap

MONACO GRAND PRIX - FREE PRACTICE
Monte Carlo - 24 May 2001

Weather: Warm, clear, dry, air temperature 21 degrees, track temperature 36 degrees

There were mixed fortunes for Jaguar Racing's two drivers in the Free Practice sessions for this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix. Eddie Irvine worked through a programme of set-up changes and tyre combinations which allowed him to hustle his Jaguar R2 around the tight street circuit to post a best time of 1.22.302 for 12th position. It was a very different story for Pedro de la Rosa who experienced an accident at the Portier corner on his ninth lap of the morning session. The team repaired the damage to Pedro's car but he was unable to take part in the afternoon session leaving him in 22nd position with a time of 1.27.316.

Eddie Irvine Position: 12th Laps: 35 Best time 1.22.302
Chassis: R2-04
T-Car chassis: R2-05

"That's not a bad start to the weekend for me. The car feels well balanced and I don't have any issues with the tyres. We believe we still have more pace to extract from the car as we have not yet fitted the new floor that has been developed as part of our new aerodynamic package. We will be installing the new floor for qualifying and I'm reasonably confident of the gains it will bring us."

Pedro de la Rosa Position: 22nd Laps: 9 Best time 1.27.316
Chassis: R2-03

"Not the start I needed to say the least. My first session was disrupted on the in-lap as I came into Portier and discovered the throttle was jammed open. Luckily it didn't happen at a faster section of the circuit but it was enough to cause an accident and I lost over two-thirds of the second session while the team repaired the damage. With around fifteen minutes of the second session to go, I got into the car and no sooner had the tyre covers come off than we were alerted to a problem with the power steering. There was a malfunction somewhere and it simply wasn't worth taking a chance on going out."

Bobby Rahal, Chief Executive Officer & Team Principal

"A mixed beginning for us. Eddie had a productive morning while Pedro suffered at the hands of bad luck. There's little I can add to what the drivers have already said except to say that we are reasonably pleased with the overall picture. Our hard work over the past few weeks is beginning to pay dividends and Eddie's performance during both sessions highlighted the improvements with the car. Combined with the new floor for Saturday, we're looking forward to what should be an interesting weekend for us."

-Jaguar-