US GP ended in disappointment for SA
The US Grand Prix weekend ended in disappointment for the SUPER AGURI F1 TEAM. Franck Montagny’s race ended before it had begun when he made unavoidable contact at the start of the race during an incident at the first corner that wiped out a total of seven cars. Takuma Sato made a good start off the line and was running in 11th position when the safety car was deployed.
At the restart Taku made an over taking charge beside Monteiro (Midland) who then closed the door across him, forcing Taku off the track at turn one.
Takuma Sato “This is a disappointing end to a positive weekend. At the start of the race everyone packed into turn one and I managed to avoid the accident. I was prepared for the re-start and after the safety car went in I caught up to DC and Monteiro and at the end of the straight I was half a car length up beside Monteiro as I raced with him into turn one. He obviously saw me and he just kept pushing across me. By this time we had already started braking, so I couldn't go anywhere and he just kept coming and I ran out of space. I had to go over the kerb to avoid him, which is very high on this circuit, and this unfortunately launched the car up and off the track.”
Franck Montagny “It was quite a bad weekend. In Canada and here in Indy we only did two laps in both races. There was nothing I could do today. I am very careful normally at the start of the race because I know we can't really fight with the others, so I don't take the risk and I prefer to finish the race. I went on the inside, braked normally and easily. I think Coulthard pushed against Klein and he spun in front of me and you can't stop a car when it's going 200 clicks and the car in front is only 5 metres away.”
Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal “It was a very bad day for us. Franck could not manoeuvre to avoid the accident at the start as it happened right in front of him. Taku was running in a good position when he tried to overtake Monteiro who then closed the door in front of him. I don’t know who was at fault there, but what matters is that both of our cars were out at the beginning of the race and that is extremely disappointing.”
