Toyota pleased with qualifying result
After celebrating their home race with a sushi party for everybody in the paddock on Thursday evening, things got serious for Toyota today. The drivers of the Japanese team both made it into Q3. Jarno Trulli will start tomorrow's race from 7th place on the Fuji grid with team mate Timo Glock just beside him on the 8th position.
Jarno Trulli (Car 11, Chassis TF108-05)
Summary: Made it safely to Q3, taking 7th on the grid PROVISIONAL GRID: 7th
FP3 13th Best Lap Time: 1m 26.013s (+0.926s) Laps: 21
Q1 10th Best Lap Time: 1m 18.501s (+0.556s) Laps: 10
Q2 4th Best Lap Time: 1m 17.541s (+0.254s) Laps: 6
Q3 7th Best Lap Time: 1m 19.026s (+0.622s) Laps: 6
"We've done quite a good job overall this weekend preparing for qualifying and the race. I had to make some adjustments during the first part of qualifying but in the end fortunately I got the set-up right. That meant that I could find the right balance and get back on the pace. In Q2 I was 4th and Timo was 5th so it shows that the Toyotas are going well. Q3 was a bit of a mystery because as soon as we put the fuel on the car was rather unbalanced and we lost a lot of grip. So I wasn't so happy about the pace of Q3 but maybe its down to the different fuel levels. Now we must go for a strong result for everyone here in front of our own fans and we must fight really hard until the end tomorrow."
Timo Glock (Car 12, Chassis TF108-07)
Summary: Quick all weekend, he ended up making row four PROVISIONAL GRID: 8th
FP3 2nd Best Lap Time: 1m 25.171s (+0.084s) Laps: 25
Q1 1st Best Lap Time: 1m 17.945s (fastest) Laps: 11
Q2 5th Best Lap Time: 1m 17.670s (+0.383s) Laps: 6
Q3 8th Best Lap Time: 1m 19.118s (+0.714s) Laps: 6
"We have to be happy with how qualifying went in the end. This morning's rain didn't really help us because we would have liked to have more rubber on the asphalt. Instead it was quite low grip but still Q1 was quite easy. I was quickest and I had a really good feeling. But after that we struggled to get the most out of the softer tyre on heavy fuel and we are slightly further back than we'd hoped. There are a couple of places where you can overtake here so let's see what happens tomorrow. What is great is the home support we've had here. There are so many Toyota fans and now we have both cars in the top ten we have a good chance to get both cars into the points."
Pascal Vasselon, Senior General Manager Chassis: "This was a clear improvement compared to last year when we failed to get our cars into Q3. Overall the qualifying sessions went very well. In both Q1 and Q2 both drivers were very quick, with Timo the fastest of all in Q1 and Jarno less than three tenths off in Q2. Given that, we are slightly disappointed by the positions we had in Q3, but as usual it's really a matter of where people will stop tomorrow. Considering the situation with tyres we feel that we have the ideal strategy for tomorrow. Both drivers did a good job and we are where we deserved to be. This morning we had the only wet conditions of the weekend - unlike last year - and we saw that even in the case of rain we are competitive. Now we must look to make the most of these positions in tomorrow's race in front of our home fans."
