Europe: Salvaging a Point from a dismal race


By Karl King
May 30 2005

One point is all the Panasonic Toyota Racing Team could manage at the European Grand Prix this afternoon. The team's first spell of bad luck came as Ralf Schumacher became tangled up in a first corner incident at the Nurburgring.




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Difficult race for the team
This incident, caused by Williams' Mark Webber, forced Schumacher to pit for a new nose. Hopes for a points finish were dashed as Ralf spun off the track shortly after half distance.

Ralf was not the only one with the bad luck. Jarno Trulli was running as high as third in the race, when fans were confirmed with the worst. Trulli had to return to the pits for a drive through penalty, caused by some Toyota mechanics who made the unforgiving mistake of not being of the track before the 15 second alarm. The Italian reckons this mistake cost him a podium, and maybe even a win.
Jarno managed to salvage a point from the race, however, helped along by Kimi Raikkonen's tyre problems. Spinning off in to the barrier with only 1 lap to go, Kimi Raikkonen allowed Trulli into the final points paying position, and also allowed the Italian to equalise with him in the Drivers Championship.

Toyota stay in third place in the championship, one point ahead of Williams.