Monaco GP: Super Aguri Thursday practice notes

Super Aguri F1 Team successfully completed its planned programme today despite red flag situations interrupting running during both Free Practice sessions.

Takuma Sato:

"It was a good day for the team. My role in today's programme was to concentrate on the race set-up as the track conditions will change considerably before Saturday morning."

"We will be back to a low-grip surface for the third free practice session as there is no running tomorrow and this is why today was our best chance to experiment with the different set-up options for the race. I am reasonably happy with the car balance and pace today, so I am looking forward to continuing our programme on Saturday."

Franck Montagny:

"This morning we split the tyre choices between Taku and me. I had the easier option so that I could clock up some laps and get used to the circuit. They were very comfortable to drive but unfortunately they were only good for relatively few laps, so this afternoon we worked on another tyre option and I think that we found something that is more or less ok. The car is still a bit nervous and is quite heavy on the steering, but we had a productive day and I am finally happy with my lap time."

Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal:

"This is a very tough circuit for the drivers as well as for the cars. I am sure it must be hard to handle the SA05 here compared to other Grand Prix circuits and since it is such a challenging track, the drivers' skills are very important."

"After looking at the times from today's practice sessions both Super Aguri F1 Team drivers are coping with the car very well. I think that we are making small but consistent steps forward and are on our way to finding a good set-up for the race."

Takuma Sato
Chassis: SA05-05
Practice session 1: 25th, 23 laps, 1:21.144
Practice session 2: 28th, 31 laps, 1:19:803

Franck Montagny
Chassis: SA05-02
Practice session 1: 26th, 21 laps, 1:21.594
Practice session 2: 25th, 19 laps, 1:18:731

-superaguri-