Mixed feelings for Super Aguri
Super Aguri F1 Team has maintained its performance momentum and once again made the cut in to Q2 of today’s Qualifying Session. In a reverse of fortune it was Anthony who brought the SA07 into Q2 this time and ending his running in 13th position. Takuma, who experienced lower grip levels than he expected, will start the 2007 Bahrain Grand Prix in 17th place on the grid.
Takuma Sato “It is disappointing that I did not get into Q2 today. We completed positive work in the morning and made the car good with regard to race pace in the long run situation, but I could not introduce that pace into Qualifying. It is a shame that I did not have good grip, had a slide and lost time. For me the grip level was lower than expected, but I believe that I have strong race pace, so hopefully I will be able to make up some positions.”
Anthony Davidson “It was a very good Qualifying session and I enjoyed it immensely. I managed to get through to Q2 and that's been our aim from the start of the year, so do that, and to also beat my team-mate, was a really good achievement for me and I'm really happy. The car balance we achieved in the morning for the long runs was also good, so I am confident for a strong race tomorrow.”
Graham Taylor, Sporting Director “The preparation for Qualifying through Free Practice 3 went very well. Anthony was extremely happy with his car and did an exceptional lap time and we felt that we probably couldn’t repeat that in Qualifying. Taku took a slightly different approach to the Practice and really tried to concentrate on balance changes rather than out and out speed, but we felt confident and prepared for Qualifying. This afternoon again the drivers’ took a slightly different approach to each other. Anthony was able to extract the best out of the car on his first and second runs. Taku's first run seemed good, and then his second run was just a little bit compromised by a slight run wide at one of the corners and we unfortunately missed out on getting through to Q2 by literally a couple of hundredths of a second. Anthony sailed through in to Q2 and we knew that it was going to be tight to get through to Q3, but we were up for the challenge. He had a very good lap time on his first run in Q2, was very happy with the balance, didn't touch the car whatsoever and went for it at the last possible moment. We were absolutely the last car to challenge for Q3 with three seconds to go on the clock. The wind had picked up a little bit and that changed the balance of the car slightly, and we failed to improve. But all-in-all another fantastic Qualifying session for Super Aguri F1 Team.”
