Spanish GP: Jordan Saturday qualifying notes

Ralph Firman and Giancarlo Fisichella will line up 15th and 17th for Jordan Ford in tomorrow's Spanish Grand Prix after eventful preparations for the qualifying session. Firman's day ran smoothly and he had a clean qualifying lap however Fisichella missed warm-up due to problems with his race engine installation. After two aborted engine changes the team had to prepare the spare car (which was set up for Firman), including a further engine change, in under fifteen minutes to meet the deadline for his qualifying slot.

Ralph Firman:

"I feel quite happy with qualifying. We are getting a lot closer to a good set-up and I'm hoping for positive things tomorrow. We may be in with a shout of scoring a point if we have a good race. It's going to be a long hard race but I'm looking forward to it. I was surprised to see Giancarlo out on the circuit as when I left the garage the car was still in bits, although I was really focusing on my own thing."

Giancarlo Fisichella:

"We had a few problems fitting the race engine on my car so I couldn't do the warm-up session. We changed engines and there was still a problem so we went to the T car, which was set up for Ralph, and I had not driven it all weekend. It's been quite a frustrating weekend and it will be difficult tomorrow. I'm disappointed, but these things happen. Anyway, you never know. I still hope to score some points."

Gary Anderson, Director of race and test engineering:

"We ran into a bit of a drama when fitting Giancarlo's race engine so we had to change very quickly to the only other engine kitted up and ready to go, the T car engine, and unfortunately in so doing, the fuel pump on his race car was damaged. So we had to get the T car ready, and put the engine back on it. It was a bit of a self-inflicted saga of events. Giancarlo hadn't driven the T car this weekend and it's never the same. Thankfully Ralph's day was without problems, he got a reasonably good lap and is fairly content with his set-up. We may be able to recoup something tomorrow in the race."

RALPH FIRMAN
15th 1:20.215
CHASSIS NUMBER: EJ13-03

GIANCARLO FISICHELLA
17th 1:20.972
CHASSIS NUMBER: EJ13-02 (T car)

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