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Panasonic Toyota Racing: GP of USA - Qualifying Round-Up
Grand Prix of USA - Qualifying Round-Up
Pre-Qualifying: 3rd
Lap Time: 1m09.923s (+0.469s)
Qualifying: 8th
Lap Time: 1m11.167s (+0.944s)
Grid Position: 8th
"During yesterday's practice sessions, we set a solid base for the weekend gathering valuable data about the tyres. In today's sessions I felt comfortable in the car and my qualifying lap went well. I am quite happy with my starting position for the race and from eighth on the grid, it is certainly a realistic target to score points tomorrow. We are getting the full potential out of the TF104 and everyone continues to do a great job. On the one hand, to be only one-tenth from the top five is a shame, but on the other, it shows the positive development of the entire team."
Cristiano da Matta (Car 16, Chassis TF104/04, T-car TF104/07)
Pre-Qualifying: 7th
Lap Time: 1m10.108s (+0.654s)
Qualifying: 11th
Lap Time: 1m11.691s (+1.468s)
Grid Position: 11th
"I was expecting more from qualifying today based on our performance in the practice. I suffered with less grip than in the previous sessions, which prevented me from attacking as much as I have been able to throughout the weekend. Nevertheless, we have demonstrated more competitiveness at this track than at any other all season, so I remain optimistic for the race."
Mike Gascoyne - Technical Director Chassis
"Although this is one of our best qualifying performances of the year so far, we are all a little bit disappointed that we were unable to get both cars in the top ten and higher up the grid. It is an extremely tight field with only one-tenth-of-a-second separating us from a top five result. Both drivers were unhappy with the grip levels in the second session, which we will look into, but overall we have a competitive package for the race, so we have to target points for both cars tomorrow."
Full results on Friday and Saturday's free practice and qualifying sessions can be found on Panasonic Toyota Racing's media website www.toyota-f1-media.com