By nGO
March 16 2007

Super Aguri start the 2007 season with a competitive friday showing, the drivers setting times already over three seconds faster then SA's fastest lap time in Australia last year.

It was a damp start to friday which slowed down progress in the first session, but the weather improved enough for Super Aguri to complete their planned schedule. Both cars ran faultlessly despite this being the first time the full SA07 package was in action.

Takuma Sato finished the session 13th with a best lap time of 1:29.009, "I think it was a good start for us. We didn't have any issues with the car and everything went well straight away. We had to compromise a bit in the first session due to the mixed weather conditions, but it was good to experience both tyre options. I had a good first running in the SA07 and although I think that we have a lot to do before tomorrow, I am positive and hopefully we'll see more progress tomorrow."

Anthony Davidson finished the session 11th with a best lap time of 1:28.727, "It was a good day and the car was reliable again. We experienced difficult weather conditions, especially in the morning, and it was decided that I would not run the grooved tyres like most other people did. The second session was a bit more difficult for me because of this, but it was a good day nonetheless and I am looking forward to tomorrow."

Graham Taylor can see drastic improvements a year on, “During the morning we obtained some good information and we feel that we were on the circuit at the right time. We understand the crossover point between the wet and dry tyre now in case the weather is changeable in qualifying or the race. This afternoon we had an excellent session and the two drivers looked very competitive with each other. The car did not have a great balance at the beginning of the afternoon, but both drivers and their Race Engineers worked to find a much better balance by the end of the session. Both cars could do what looks like very competitive times, but I think that we're showing ourselves to be in higher positions than we really are because of the decisions we made to accommodate for the green track. We are, however, very pleased. It feels a lot more cohesive than we did last year; we've got a lot more tools that we're able to employ from an engineering and preparation point of view.”