Jordan profit in wet conditions.

By Philip Giles
March 5 2005

In rather mixed conditions at Melbourn's Albert Park, the Jordan's of Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Montiero have ended the first qualifying session in 9th and 13th places respectively.

Despite being one of the first six drivers to go out on the damp circuit, Narain put in a quick if not slippy lap to go top of the time sheets. As the circuit started to dry out, the lap times started to fall, however just after half time, the rains came again.

Poor old Felipe Massa, out on dry tyres failed to set a time as the heavy rain forced him back into the pits. Takuma Sato started this season with an off at turn five, spreading enough debris to call a halt to the session. Michael Schumacher took to the track on intermediate tyres setting a lap time which dropped him into 18th place overall.

The two Jordan's were lucky to escape from the rain that deluged the circuit and as the qualifying times are now aggregated (ie they're added on to each other), Jordan stands a good chance of getting ahead of the rest for qualifying.

Narain said afterwards: “Qualifying was a bit tricky for the rookies today as it was so slippery. I am happy with what I have done. Obviously I could have pushed a bit harder but I am learning step by step. ”

“It was quite tricky as you do not know what to expect and you have to push on your first lap out.", commented Tiago. "However, the wet conditions were the same for everyone, but as a rookie it is not the easiest solution. I have made a few mistakes with braking and almost went out twice as I was pushing and trying to do my best.”

Trevor Carlin said: "It was quite an interesting session with mixed conditions. We started out in heavy rain which obviously put us behind a little bit as the track dried, but then with the downfall, we had a bit of luck. It is a great start. It is nice to be 9th even though we would be very lucky to finish there tomorrow."