US GP: Jordan Saturday qualifying notes

Jordan Ford qualified in 16th and 17th for tomorrow's United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis's famous Brickyard circuit. Ferrari took the front row with Rubens Barrichello outqualified Michael Schumacher for the first time this season and Takuma Sato taking third place alongside BAR team mate Jenson Button in fourth.

Incidentally, the three lead drivers for the grid are all past Jordan drivers, reinforcing Jordan's reputation as a talent spooter for bringing promising new drivers and stars of the future into the sport.

Nick Heidfeld:

"We have struggled slightly with our car balance here for some reason, although we have improved it over the weekend so far thanks to the engineers' hard work. During qualifying it was a little bit difficult as the car was nervous to drive. It has been cooler today which has suited us a bit better than yesterday's conditions and it will be interesting to see what happens in the race tomorrow."

Giorgio Pantano:

"I'm pretty happy with my qualifying although I know I made a little mistake on corners 7 and 8. I had a car problem this morning and lost a little bit of time because of that, which hurts a little bit as I am learning the track and every lap is valuable. I'm happy still, because I'm not far away from my team mate Nick and that's a promising position for having a good race."

James Robinson, Head of race and test engineering:

"We had a solid day which was trouble free other than a small transmission problem for Giorgio during the morning practice, which the mechanics worked swiftly to fix so he could participate in the second session. The race tomorrow will be about how the tyres hold out for people on two stops versus those on short three stops. How this transpires will be somewhat governed by the track temperatures on the day."

NICK HEIDFELD
Chassis: EJ14/03
16th, 1:13.147

GIORGIO PANTANO
Chassis: EJ14/02
17th, 1:13.375

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