By nGO
May 6 2006

Although Sato improved on his Saturday practice time, problems such as brake issues and tire problems prevented him and Montagny from realizing their true potential. Sato set a time of 1:35.239 and will race from 20th, Montagny spins setting a time of 1:46.505 and will start from the last row.

Saturday started smoothly for Montagny who improved his pace from yesterday and was looking to set a competitive lap time. However problems led to his tire losing some temperature and on his quick lap Montagny managed to spin the car, his second attempt was halted by the red flag incident. Sato had brake issues during Saturday practice so his final set up work was hampered. Although he still was able to set his fastest lap time of the weekend so far, like Montagny his second hot lap was abandoned due to the red flag incident.

Having set a best time of 1:35.239 Sato will start from the 10th row of the grid, having been promoted by Rosberg's engine change, "We had a difficult start to the morning. We needed a lot of work to improve the balance of the car, but then as we suffered a brake related issue which required some time to investigate we were unable to complete the running we needed. The guys did a good job in solving this problem and we made a set-up change, then I was happier with the car balance for Qualifying. It is a shame that there was some confusion about the Red Flag situation during my second Qualifying attack, but I am feeling positive about tomorrow’s race."

Things were going smoothly for Montagny until qualifying where his spin and a red flag prevented him from translating his impressive pace into a good lap time - he will start 21st? (Rosberg demotion) after setting a best lap of 1:46.505, "During the practice session this morning we found quite a good set-up for the car and continued with it in the afternoon, making only a small modification. But we encountered many problems during the Qualifying session. Firstly, when I had to stop at the FIA weight scales, there was a problem with the starter so during this time my tyres were out of the blankets and were getting cold. When I re-started and put on new tires five minutes later, the red flag situation came up, so I could not make a lap time. It is a little disappointing as this was my first Qualifying with the team, but there were no major problems with the car and I am looking forward to the race tomorrow."

Overall it was a disappointing day as neither driver fulfilled their potential. Suzuki comments, "It was a very frustrating qualifying session and it felt like it ended before we could actually start. The red flag was out when we needed to go out at the end of first 15 minutes and Franck and Taku couldn't really have a good attack. Taku went out with a new set of tires and when he was ready to make his quick lap with the second set, the red flag was out. As both SAF1 Team cars did not finish in Imola I hope that we will have another two-car finish in the race tomorrow."