Barcelona Report – Firing back to the Podium!

The fifth round of the championship had a lot to live up to, and it didn’t disappoint. Friday and Saturday practice saw all three Toyota’s run well except for a sight problem with Ricardo Zonta’s car, which suffered a hydraulic problem early on, this was solved to allow the Brazilian to finish second in the final practice during Friday’s session. Race drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher were hardy ever seen on the racetrack as they relaxed in the pits, saving their engine for the tough Grand Prix ahead.

Saturday saw both Panasonic Toyota Racing cars run successfully in both sessions, with Ralf Schumacher going into qualifying one having topped the timesheets during the final practice session of the weekend. Then to the fans belief, Jarno Trulli set a stunning 1m14.795 to take provisional pole position for Sundays qualifying two. Ralf Schumacher was only 0.075 of a second slower, ending up in fourth. The front runners were so close that 0.300 of a second covered the top six, leaving Sundays all important qualifying two with a lot to decide.

On Sunday the track of 21 degrees greeted the fans and drivers to what was going to be an excellent days racing. For Toyota the day didn’t start as well, the first Toyota engine of the season let go in the form of Tiago Monteiro’s Jordan down the main straight, prompting the young Portuguese with a 10 place drop on the grid. Luckily the oil dropped was only down the main straight, and after a lengthy red flag stoppage the session was back underway. When it came down to the two Panasonic Toyota drivers, the tables turned and it was Ralf who had the upper hand on his more experienced one-lap specialist Jarno Trulli. Jarno possibly at this stage on heaver fuel dropped behind his teammate qualifying in fifth, with Ralf edging him out for fourth. Mark Webber’s Williams made the biggest leap with a low fuel lap to jump from sixth to second, but Kimi Raikkonen’s McLaren stole the show with his second pole in the last two races, now all attention was on the reliability of the McLaren, and if it would withstand the high speed nature of the Barcelona track.

Just a few hours later the lights turned green and apart from the two Minardi’s everyone made it down into turn’s one and two cleanly, with Kimi Raikkonen leading them away from pole. Ralf Schumacher jumped his Toyota up into third place whilst Jarno Trulli held station in fifth. It was when the first round of pit stops came that things became more interesting, as Jarno Trulli’s Toyota left the pits the side pod caught fire from some over spilt fuel (similar to Michael Schumacher’s incident at the last Austrian Grand Prix) but as the Toyota navigated the pit lane, the fire cooled and by the time it had exited the pit lane the fire was more than gone. During this time amazingly Jarno Trulli was able to jump past Ralf Schumacher but both were overtaken by a hard charging Giancarlo Fisichella whose Renault came out in second, ahead of his team-mate Fernando Alonso now in third, with Kimi Raikkonen still leading the race.

Then Giancarlo’s Renault pitted early for his second pit stop for a new nose, the Italian losing pace quickly before his second stop. Just like in Imola Michael Schumacher used his late first stint to leap frog the two battling Toyota’s of Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher, prompting the 7-time world champion into third position. But, this was short lived as the Ferrari pitted early with a rear left puncture, then to retire the next lap with another puncture to the front left. This was another embarrassing race for the whole Ferrari team, concluding Schumacher’s third retirement from five races. This left the final 20 laps focusing on the battling Toyota’s with Ralf Schumacher desperate to snatch a podium finish off his team-mate Jarno Trulli. A few looks up the inside was as close as the German got, and possibly under team orders held station in fourth during the remaining few laps. But at the finish McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen took his and the teams first win of the season. Behind local hero Fernando Alonso added to his championship bid with second spot. Behind the two Toyota’s came Giancarlo’s Renault, salvaging something from his first finish in four races. Just behind was Mark Webber’s Williams, and a returning Juan Pablo Montoya put two McLaren’s in the points with seventh. And rounding out the top eight was David Coulthard’s Red Bull Racing, meaning the ex-Jaguar team had scored in every race so far this season.

Panasonic Toyota Racing did their fans and supporters proud. After Imola, which was less than successful, Toyota reminded everyone that they are here to win races and although that first win still eludes them, fastest in practice, fastest in qualifying one and the first team with two cars home gives them all something to build on. It’s no surprise that our next stop at Monte Carlo is where a certain Jarno Trulli took a well deserved win in his Renault last year, so he must be favourite for a repeat performance in two weeks time. But Ralf Schumacher also is pretty handy around the streets of Monaco, as he bagged pole position there a few years back. Things couldn’t be better for the Japanese team, and where better to win their first race in front of the rich businessman and supporters alike than Monaco! The road to success continues…

View a Printer Friendly version of this Story.

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon