San Marino: Qually - In the top ten again!

By Luke Marc Carlile-Stanton
April 22 2006

After Ralf’s superb podium in Australia, and Jarno’s impressive pace in testing, Toyota was on some what of a comeback as they reached the qualifying session for the San Marino Grand Prix. With both Toyota’s looking strong, the team didn’t seem too uprooted by the departure of Mike Gascoyne.

Knockout 1:

Ralf was one of the first cars to hit the track, along with Ide, Liuzzi and Albers, Ralf took an early advantage by going fastest, only soon to be displaced by Williams driver Nico Rosberg. Jarno also went out early, slotting behind his teammate Ralf, but one thing was becoming apparent, all the drivers were struggling for a decent lap time due to the track temperatures not being to everybody’s liking. With three and half minutes to go both Toyota’s had slipped back dramatically, Jarno was in danger of becoming a big name to go out early, he was in seventeenth whilst Ralf was only one better in sixteenth. But Jarno saved his bacon by jumping up into fifth with Ralf following suit going into a superb third before the chequared flag was dropped. Red Bull driver Christian Klien was the big looser of Toyota’s gains, being pushed back to seventeenth. But the good news for Toyota was that both drivers were through into the next session, albeit leaving it late to make their make.

Top 6: Alonso, Raikkonen, R.Schumacher, Fisichella, Trulli, Button

Bottom 6 and knocked out: Klien, Speed, Monteiro, Albers, Sato, Ide

Knockout 2:

Both Toyota’s made it through into the second knockout session, with both Jarno and Ralf aiming to make it through into the final shoot out. Jarno was one of the first big names out on track and he went comfortably fastest, being the first man to break into the 1.23’s, with Ralf slotting in right behind in second place. But when big guns of Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher and Alonso came out, Jarno and Ralf were pushed back, with Jarno still remaining near to the front of the grid. But for Ralf it was a completely different story, falling right back into the drop out zone, with the mid-field covered by only a few tenths of a second. But Ralf put in one last effort, which pushed him into third, away from the drop zone, and comfortably into the next session. With just over a minute, the yellow flags were brought out for BMW-Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld who had spun and crashed his car on his final hot lap, practically ending the session. With only a minute left to run on the clock, no one else would improve their times which was good news for Toyota. But the big shock of the session came in the form of Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella, who ended up in eleventh place, meaning the drop zone, ending his chances for pole.

Top 6:M.Schumacher, Raikkonen, Ralf, Massa, Webber, Trulli

Bottom 6 and Knocked out: Fisichella, Villeneuve, Rosberg, Coulthard, Heidfeld, Liuzzi

Pole Shoot-Out:

Both Toyota’s were through to the final shoot out, and unlike Australia Jarno was problem free and able to compete. The times in the first few minutes of the session were pretty irrelevant, with Ralf going second fastest early on, slotting between both of the Ferrari drivers of Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa, with Jarno back in ninth. But with eight and a half minutes to go the action on the track really hotted up, as the first of the ten drivers decided to put in a quick lap. One of those was Honda’s Jenson Button, with teammate Rubens Barrichello and Massa following suit. And indeed it was Button who set the benchmark with a time of 1:24.159’s with Michael soon displacing him with a time of 1.22.579’s, which would later take him to pole position and breaking Ayrton Senna’s 12 year old pole record. But the session was hardly over behind him as Rubens Barrichello popped into second place, pipping team mate Jenson Button, only for Button to take it back again as the chequared flag came out! World Champion Fernando Alonso made a last lap attempt for pole position but could only manage fifth place, ahead of Ralf Schumacher in sixth who’s last lap effort jumped him up one place ahead of the McLaren duo of Raikkonen and Montoya, With the second Toyota of Jarno Trulli beating Williams’ Mark Webber to ninth position, Toyota look to be in good shape for their first double points finish of the season.

Top 10: M.Schumacher, Button, Barrichello, Massa, Alonso, Ralf, Montoya, Raikkonen, Trulli, Webber.