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Panasonic Toyota Racing: Grand Prix of Australia - Race Round-Up
Grand Prix of Australia - Race Round-Up
Grid: 13th
"It was a difficult race for us today. The car's performance was not good at all, but at least we are under no illusions now. We know where we are and we have to work really hard to make progress up the field. There are few positive things to take away from this first race of the season, but at least we showed that the car was reliable in the race and we will be able to benefit from that as the season goes on."
Olivier Panis (Car 17, Chassis TF104/03)
Session Classification: 13th, +2 laps (from race winner)
Grid: 18th
"It was a disappointing start to the season in Melbourne today. After our pre-season testing in Europe, I really expected us to be in a better position today. At least now we know where we stand in comparison to everybody else. We are far away from the top teams and there is a long road in front of us, but we are all determined to work harder than ever before. I fully trust Mike Gascoyne and the technical team and I would like to say thanks to all the guys who have been doing their utmost all weekend."
Mike Gascoyne - Technical Director Chassis "On a positive note, the reliability of the car was excellent and we got both cars to the finish. Performance-wise, the race was very disappointing with both drivers suffering from a general lack of grip from the tyres. We experienced no particular problems with the balance of the car, just a lack of grip throughout the race. Cristiano stalled the car on his first pitstop, which lost him a couple of positions, but overall this weekend just shows the size of the task in front of us. We need to make the car quicker, however the programmes to do that have already been put in place, so I am sure we will achieve that during the course of the season. Looking ahead to Malaysia, we already have some aero improvements for that race and I am sure that the nature of the Sepang circuit and the higher track temperatures will mean we have a more competitive package than we had here in Australia."
T-car: TF104/04 (set-up for Cristiano da Matta) Spare chassis: TF104/01
Panasonic Toyota Racing will be testing in Valencia, Spain next week with Ryan Briscoe and Ricardo Zonta assuming driving duties on March 10 and 11.