Good day for SA
Super Aguri Formula One Team driver Takuma Sato set a respectable lap time during this morning's free practice session that placed him firmly between the Midland F1 cars on the official time sheets. The opening section of the Qualifying session was interrupted by a Red Flag situation following David Coulthard's Red Bull leaving the track, however both SAF1 Team drivers were able to clock reasonable lap times despite a small mistake by Franck Montagny which compromised his flying lap.
Takuma Sato "We had a very smoothe morning and made good progress during the practice session. Qualifying was also encouraging. The conditions were relatively difficult as I had low grip and encountered traffic before the Red Flag stopped the session. However during the second run I had a clear track and was able to set a similar lap time to the one I set in practice, so I am happy. The gap between our times and the Midlands' is getting smaller, so things are starting to get exciting for the team."
Franck Montagny "My day was better day than yesterday for sure. We were able to improve the car's handling into the quick corners, so now we have a stable car and I am happy about that. We found quite a good set up on used tyres and the car was quite easy to drive with no problems with degradation, but with new tyres we are struggling a bit around the slow corners. The track has changed so much and we still need more data for the car, so it makes things a little difficult. We are getting closer and improving a little all the time and I know that in time the pace will come."
Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal "Taku did a good job with the hard tyre option and I am pleased that he made the 1:18's. Although Franck went off the track at the end of his quick lap he also did a good job. The times are not so fast but they are showing the best possible performance of the car at this point. We have not been able to finish a race since we started the Europe leg of the season, so I hope that we will be able to have a two-car finish tomorrow."
