Setup and chassis problems for Super Aguri

Super Aguri drivers Takuma Sato and Sakon Yamamoto will line up on the starting grid for tomorrow’s race in 22nd and 21st position respectively. Varying track conditions due to the searing heat and lack of test running in the new SA06 made it difficult for both drivers to find the set-up they were looking for.

A major chassis problem during Qualifying rendered Takuma unable to improve on his fastest lap time set during the Free Practice session, whilst Sakon was also unable to improve on his best lap time set in the morning due to the varying track conditions and brevity of preparation time.

“It is a disappointing result. We had a new front suspension on my car today and this morning we made good progress during the session with only a small issue towards the end. In Qualifying, however, we had a major chassis related problem which caused me to struggle with the handling and I therefore could not set a good lap time. I have a good feeling from the SA06 from this morning’s session, so I hope that we can have a good race tomorrow.”

“This morning we continued with our car set-up plans from yesterday and progressed with the new tyre options. The car balance changed between FP3 and Qualifying, mainly due to the track conditions, and so we had to adjust our set-up again during Qualifying. We were unable to find a set-up that would give us a good lap time in the short amount of running that we had, so our times were much slower than those in the morning. However, I am looking forward to tomorrow and to hopefully finishing my first race with the team in the SA06.”

“The complete version of the SA06 is showing potential but we have not had enough time to set-up the car and you can see this from our Qualifying times today. Takuma was progressing well in the car this morning, but unfortunately experienced a significant chassis problem during the Qualifying session. Sakon has done a consistently good job and made no mistakes so far this weekend. He has been improving with every session and I hope that he will be able to finish the race tomorrow.”