For the BMW WilliamsF1 team the San Marino Grand Prix holds a special place as it was the race that would see the WilliamsF1 team and engine partner BMW score their first race victory back in 2001.

One person who looks back at this day is BMW Motorsport Director Dr Mario Theissen. The team now is just days away from the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix and Mario is hoping for a similar performance from the team. The teams best result in the first three races was a third for Nick Heidfeld in Malaysia.

On the BMW WilliamsF1 web site Theissen spoke of this hopes for this weekends trace and the performance of the team to date.

Dr Theissen said: "The whole BMW crew has one very special memory of Imola: We celebrated our first victory there with the BMW WilliamsF1 Team after re-entering Formula One. The 2001 success is still fresh in our minds as we travel to Imola again. The track has always suited our car and we hope to be able to deliver a convincing performance at the beginning of the European season.

The performance of the car in race configuration is better than we expected after winter testing. However, this hasn't been fully reflected in our results to date. Two unfortunate accidents and a technical failure have compromised our record heading into the fourth race of the season. Nick's third place at Malaysia however, demonstrated what could have been possible."

Theissen added that returning to Europe certainly made life easier for the team as they no longer have to work from containers, as the teams can bring their motor homes and workshops to the race. As for the race itself Nick will be using a new engine after his failure in Bahrain but the temperatures at Imola should certainly make it far easier for the engines.