07/10/2005
NEWS STORY
Ralph Firman emerged 2nd fastest for A1 Team Ireland in the second of today's practice sessions at the Eurospeedway, Germany, as the team prepares for Sunday's second round of the new A1 Grand Prix series. Driving his A1 car for first time since setting the fastest time on the final day of testing in Paul Ricard, France, back in August, Firman reacquainted himself with the car and team during the opening practice session on his first ever visit to the Eurospeedway venue. His lap time was also the second fastest overall for the day.
Ralph Firman: We've worked hard today and made quite a few changes to the car in order to find the time and give me the confidence to produce the pace we wanted to find. The combination of long straights and tight in-field section takes a while to get used to but after the first practice session we were already moving in the right direction and further changes meant I was able to push harder towards the end and produce the time. The competition is very close but I think we achieved a lot today and just have to concentrate on getting it right for qualifying tomorrow.
Andy Miller, Technical Director: We made steady progress throughout the day and we are in a position to improve further overnight given what we have learned so far. We should be in a position to challenge tomorrow when it matters, and that's what we will focus on. We are not happy with the car's set-up as yet so there is a lot of time left to come, so that's what we'll be trying to do for the morning,
Mark Gallagher, Team Principal: With Ralph having missed the opening round of the series he's had to work quite hard today to get used to the car again, learn the track and ultimately produce a good step forward in terms of performance. The technical team is sure there is more time to come from the car and so tomorrow morning's third practice session will be important as I think qualifying will be extremely competitive as usual. Great to see A1 Team Ireland in 'P2' today, so a good start to the weekend.