Toyota F1 outside top ten in Italian Qualifying


Toyota Garage
By Toyota F1 Media
September 12 2004

Both Toyota F1 drivers would be outside the top ten after qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix. Ricardo Zonta would finsih in 11th while team-mate Panis would be in 13th. The result was very much what the team expected, but they are hopeful of a points scoring result.

 
Italian GP Qualifying Round-up
 
Grand Prix of Italy - Qualifying Round-Up
Saturday 11 September 2004

PanisOlivier Panis (Car 17, Chassis TF104/09B)
Pre-Qualifying: 16th
Lap Time: 1m22.169s (+2.644s)

Qualifying: 13th
Lap Time: 1m21.841s (+1.752s)
Grid Position: 13th

"I cannot say that I have enjoyed a trouble-free weekend up to now. After the problems we faced in yesterday's practice sessions, we were forced to change the gearbox on my car just before pre-qualifying today. The team has been working hard to fix the car quickly, but I am still not totally happy with the car. Considering all the problems that we have encountered, I think we should be content with 11th and 13th places on the grid, even if I personally expected us to be more competitive at this high-speed track. Now we simply have to be focused on tomorrow's race and hope for our fortunes to change."

ZontaRicardo Zonta (Car 16, Chassis TF104/10B)
Pre-Qualifying: 14th
Lap Time: 1m21.829s (+2.304s)

Qualifying: 11th
Lap Time: 1m21.520s (+1.431s)
Grid Position: 11th

"I am very pleased with my qualifying lap this afternoon. We have worked very hard in preparation for this race, both at the test session last week and in the free practice sessions. The Michelin tyre evaluation work we carried out yesterday was beneficial for qualifying and I think the tyres will be consistent in the race. I would have liked to get into the top ten, but I am satisfied with eleventh - it is a good position from which to start the race and I hope from there we can get a positive result."

Luca Marmorini - Technical Director Engine:
"Overall, I think that we have achieved encouraging qualifying positions today and both Ricardo and Olivier performed well. Basically, the results are very similar to what we expected. We opted to run both sessions with more fuel in the car to make sure that there were no surprises in the important second session. The Monza circuit is particularly stressful on the engine, but so far this weekend we have had no difficulties. We studied the problem that we unfortunately experienced in Spa and we subsequently found the cause to be a broken bearing. We have taken measures to ensure that we never have this problem again. From 11th and 13th places on the grid, I really hope we can score some points tomorrow afternoon."

 
Driver Classification Chassis Best Lap Gap Laps

Free Practice Session 1
Olivier Panis 15th TF104/09B 1m22.487s +1.961s 8
Ricardo Zonta 16th TF104/10B 1m22.607s +2.081s 10
Ryan Briscoe 17th TF104/07 1m22.815s +2.289s 21

Free Practice Session 2
Ryan Briscoe 12th TF104/07 1m22.197s +1.351s 35
Ricardo Zonta 14th TF104/10B 1m22.298s +1.452s 22
Olivier Panis 18th TF104/09B 1m22.813s +1.967s 15

Free Practice Session 3
Ricardo Zonta 14th TF104/10B 1m22.867s +1.167s 9
Olivier Panis 15th TF104/09B 1m23.103s +1.403s 9

Free Practice Session 4
Olivier Panis 12th TF104/09B 1m21.889s +1.334s 18
Ricardo Zonta 14th TF104/10B 1m22.114s +1.559s 20

Qualifying 1
Ricardo Zonta 14th TF104/10B 1m21.829s +2.304s 3
Olivier Panis 16th TF104/09B 1m22.169s +2.644s 3

Qualifying 2
Ricardo Zonta 11th TF104/10B 1m21.520s +1.431s 3
Olivier Panis 13th TF104/09B 1m21.841s +1.752s 3