By nGO
June 24 2006

The pace was disappointing as the cars qualified 2 seconds slower then the next slowest team, but the team should have a strong race on sunday. Sato Qualified 21st with a 1:19.088, Montagny joins him at the back of the grid in 22nd with a 1:19.152.

Saturday practice went by smoothly, although neither cars could improve on their practice pace during qualification by any significant margin. However there was an emphasis on race day and the cars should be strong for tomorrow.

Sato went marginally slower in the afternoon then he did during the morning session, he will start the race 21st after setting a best lap time of 1:19.088, "This morning’s practice session went well, however I am a little bit disappointed with my lap times from the Qualifying session compared to our rivals as I was expecting to be closer to their times this weekend. Having said that, I think that we did everything we could in our preparation for tomorrow and I believe that I have a good set-up for the race, so I am looking forward to it."

Starting 22nd Montagny managed to lap slightly faster then morning practice. He set a best lap time of 1:19.152 and was on an even faster lap, unfortunately time ran out before he could complete it.  “I am quite happy with our results today. We have come a long way with the car since yesterday and I am quite happy with the set-up we have found. It is not going to be easy for us again tomorrow, but I like this circuit and the car is quite nice to drive here, a bit slow, but at least it is not so hard to keep the car on the track, so I think it will be a fun race.”

Aguri is positive for the race;  "The team has done a very good job today. The cars’ performance is low and we are not happy to be two seconds off the nearest car’s pace, but on the positive side we did not encounter any problems and we completed our planned race preparations. The team is working extremely well together and growing stronger with every race, so I am happy about that and hope that we can achieve another two-car finish tomorrow."