 Cristiano
da Matta - Car Number 16
"We are heading to the European Grand Prix on the back of our
successful points-scoring Monaco
race, but I think it is unlikely that we will be able to repeat that
performance this weekend.
The Nürburgring is another maximum downforce, slow-medium speed circuit,
which on paper should
not suit us, so we simply have to keep pushing to extract the most from our
TF104 race car.
With our factory just down the road in Cologne, the Nürburgring is
effectively a home Grand
Prix for Panasonic Toyota Racing, so we will have the additional support of
all the team
employees watching from the grandstands, which will be very welcome. I just
hope we can give
them all something to cheer about."
 Olivier
Panis - Car Number 17
"We don't have much time to reflect on the four championship points
that we scored last weekend in Monaco as our thoughts have already turned to
the European Grand Prix weekend at the Nürburgring. We had a highly
competitive package at this race last year, and I was fastest in two of the
practice sessions, but in the end we were unable to turn that performance
into
points. I think this weekend's race will be much tougher, but we are working
in the right direction and everyone wants to do well at the Nürburgring, a
local race to everyone in the team in Cologne."
 Ricard Zonta- Car Number 38
"I last raced at the Nürburgring back in 2000 before the recent changes
to the first corner, so I will have to learn the new infield section on
Friday morning. I don't see that as a big problem and I am looking forward
to again assisting the team with tyre selection and car set-up in free
practice. Michelin did a very good job for us in Monaco, and I believe we
are making small steps ahead in all areas in terms of the car's performance.
Because we don't have testing this week, most of the Nürburgring
preparations were done at Paul Ricard before the Monaco GP. After our good
result at the last race, I hope we can continue that trend in
Nürburgring in front of the team's home crowd, although I think we will
again be looking at
battling with Jaguar, Sauber and McLaren-Mercedes for the midfield
positions."
 Tsutomu Tomita - Team Principal
"The four points we scored at Monaco were very good news for the whole
Toyota family, fans, and sponsors around the world, but we know that we
still need further improvements and developments to catch the teams in front
of us. The Nürburgring circuit is not far from our
factory in Cologne and most of our employees will go to the track to support
their colleagues. I said prior to the last race that Monaco is not one of
the circuits that suit our TF104s, but we demonstrated our reliability and a
good performance in the race, setting the eighth and
ninth fastest race laps. With our usual strong motivation, we will keep
pushing ourselves at the Nürburgring this weekend."
Weekend in numbers:
8616.77 Number of kilometres completed by the TF104s in race weekends so far
in 2004
1748 Number of laps completed by Da Matta, Panis and Zonta in race weekends
so far in 2004 (Da Matta 739, Panis 704, Zonta 305)
600 The number of employees working at Cologne-based Toyota Motorsport, who
will be visiting the Nürburgring this weekend to cheer on the TF104s
308,863 The number of kilometres that make up the European Grand Prix
60 The number of laps that make up the European Grand Prix
40 The European Grand Prix marks Panasonic Toyota Racing's 40th Grand Prix
32 The number of nationalities comprising the workforce at Panasonic Toyota
Racing
7 Position held by Toyota in the championship after the four-point success
in Monaco
5,148 Length of the Nürburgring in kilometres
4 Number of championship points scored by Toyota in 2004
2 The number of practice sessions in which Olivier Panis set the fastest
time during the 2003 European Grand Prix weekend
1 With its factory just down the road in Cologne, the European GP will be
the 1st race of the year to which Toyota team members will not have to fly |
