US GP: Toyota Saturday qualifying notes

Comments from the Toyota team after qualifying for the US Grand Prix

Olivier Panis:

"During yesterday's practice sessions, we set a solid base for the weekend gathering valuable data about the tyres. In today's sessions I felt comfortable in the car and my qualifying lap went well. I am quite happy with my starting position for the race and from eighth on the grid, it is certainly a realistic target to score points tomorrow. We are getting the full potential out of the TF104 and everyone continues to do a great job. On the one hand, to be only one-tenth from the top five is a shame, but on the other, it shows the positive development of the entire team."

Cristiano da Matta:

"I was expecting more from qualifying today based on our performance in the practice. I suffered with less grip than in the previous sessions, which prevented me from attacking as much as I have been able to throughout the weekend. Nevertheless, we have demonstrated more competitiveness at this track than at any other all season, so I remain optimistic for the race."

Mike Gascoyne - Technical Director Chassis:

"Although this is one of our best qualifying performances of the year so far, we are all a little bit disappointed that we were unable to get both cars in the top ten and higher up the grid. It is an extremely tight field with only one-tenth-of-a-second separating us from a top five result. Both drivers were unhappy with the grip levels in the second session, which we will look into, but overall we have a competitive package for the race, so we have to target points for both cars tomorrow."

Olivier Panis
Car 17, Chassis TF104/03
Pre-Qualifying: 3rd
Lap Time: 1m09.923s (+0.469s)
Qualifying: 8th
Lap Time: 1m11.167s (+0.944s)
Grid Position: 8th

Cristiano da Matta
Car 16, Chassis TF104/04, T-car TF104/07
Pre-Qualifying: 7th
Lap Time: 1m10.108s (+0.654s)
Qualifying: 11th
Lap Time: 1m11.691s (+1.468s)
Grid Position: 11th

-toyota-