23/04/2005
NEWS STORY
It was another dry day at the Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit today as Bridgestone's teams knuckled down to refining their set-ups for the weekend. Having chosen their Bridgestone tyre specificiation overnight, they were busy pounding round the 4.933km Imola circuit ahead of this afternoon's qualifying session. Reigning Champion Michael Schumacher in particular has been on form all day and after running consistently at the top of the time sheets in practices he went on to post the third fastest time of the first qualifying session. His Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello set the 11th fastest time but his consistent pace in practice indicates he, too, could be running well in the race tomorrow. <p>
Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager of Bridgestone Motorsport:</b> We had two very productive morning practice sessions today during which we were encouraged by the performance of the specifications here this weekend. Michael posted the fastest and fourth fastest times respectively in those two early sessions which was a good indicator for us and he confirmed this competitiveness with the third fastest time in the first qualifying session. Rubens is still working on his set up at the moment but we expect he will be in the same competitive region tomorrow. We are working closely with all the teams to help them make the most of their race strategies tomorrow and certainly for Minardi, this weekend is all about gaining as much information on their new car as possible. Judging by the performances so far though, I think we have a good chance of giving our rivals a good fight in the race. Certainly after this afternoon's qualifying session things are looking good for the final qualifying session and race tomorrow.
Ross Brawn, Technical Director of Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: I think we have to be fairly happy as we didn't have the best starting conditions for qualifying but Michael in particular put in an exceptional lap. We look to be in good shape for tomorrow and I feel we can make a challenge this weekend. Probably on this occasion Michael has found a slightly better set-up than Rubens but the cars are now in parc ferme so there is not much we can change now. However, both drivers have completed some very good race simulation runs so we are encouraged for the race.