After two reduced free practice sessions due to spins from both Jordan Grand Prix drivers while pushing hard, Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro qualified 17th and 18th in the first qualifying session at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. Both drivers hope recent improvements to the EJ15 package will further improve their performance in the race.

Narain Karthikeyan: The track here at Imola is quite tricky as you need to use the kerbs a lot if you want to make a quick lap. I have lost a bit of time in the first sector but otherwise I think I did a decent lap. We have made some progress and if we keep making similar steps, we will improve. I am pretty positive for the rest of the weekend and I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Tiago Monteiro: I am a bit disappointed with my lap. I made a few mistakes this morning in both free practice sessions and I lost maybe 40 minutes of running which would have been very useful. The car felt different with new tyres and low fuel so I had to get used to it while still pushing. Otherwise I am happy with the progress we have made on the car even though I have some catch up to do tomorrow.

Trevor Carlin: Today was a bit disappointing after yesterday's sessions. We expected to be slightly closer to the pace. Tiago struggled to get heat into his tyres; so he is not very happy with his performance. We will have to work hard for the race set-up tomorrow and try to bring the car home again.