By Phil Giles
September 28 2003

Jordan drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Ralph Firman have qualified in 17th and 18th places for the US Grand Prix. The team have chosen to set up their cars for wet conditions which they anticipate will hit the track during the race.

The second qualifying session however stayed dry, a marked contrast to qualifying one. Ralph ran fourth and Giancarlo went ninth, thanks to their performance in Q1.

Ralph lapped the Speedway in 1:14.027 ending the day 2.4 seconds off the pace of eventual pole sitter Kimi Raikonnen but faster than the Minardi's of Verstappen and Kiesa

"Ralph, are you pleased with your lap?" asked ITV's Louise Goodman.  "I had a good lap" he replied,  "but not as good as it could be but not where we should be with the car."  Ralph complained not for the first time that the car suffered through the lap with over and understeer.

Giancarlo Fisichella's penultimate Grand Prix for Jordan will be started from 17th place on the grid after he posted a 1:13.798.  "This morning I had a problem with the gearbox and didn’t get enough laps done so the car was not good in terms of set-up today. Grip is poor and the set-up we have chosen is more suited for wet conditions in case tomorrow is wet, which is what I’m hoping for." He said.

"Mixed conditions in the morning meant that the first session was a bit of a waste of time" said Gary Anderson.  "Giancarlo had a gearbox problem which necessitated a gearbox change so he lost any running time potential. The second session was okay, we got through some work on fuel loads and we went with what we think is the best thing for qualifying. There are no miracles and our pace is where we are relative to the front. Hopefully we’ve got a strategy that will keep us in contention and if a couple of points drop our way we will take them and say thank you very much!"

The team seem to be hedging their bets on a wet race or at very least the showery weather that has hit the track this weekend.  Let's hope that the weather forecasters have it right and that the team can pick up a few more points before the end of the season.