01/07/2006
NEWS STORY
The Honda Racing F1 Team's Rubens Barrichello will start tomorrow's US Grand Prix from the 2nd row of the grid at the Brickyard after posting the 4th fastest lap in this afternoon's qualifying session. His team-mate Jenson Button will line up on the 4th row in 7th place.
Today's result comes hot on the heels of a positive showing in all three free practice sessions this weekend, in which the race drivers were consistently running towards the top of the timesheets. In preparation for the qualifying hour, Rubens and Jenson ended this morning's final session 5th and 7th respectively.
Rubens Barrichello: "I'm really happy with my position today. The car is certainly competitive and I enjoyed the qualifying session. I would like to thank everybody in the team because we have all done a good job to get the best possible from the car today. For sure the race will be tough and we have to keep pushing hard because we have some tough competition behind us on the grid. My aim now is to push for a good points finish and I think we have the car to do that. I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
Jenson Button: "I'm pleased with the way qualifying went today. The car was well-balanced and I think I have a good strategy. The challenge will be getting past the cars directly in front of me but generally I think we can have a strong race and points for both of us is certainly a possibility here. It should be a great race for the fans tomorrow."
Gil de Ferran, Sporting Director: "This has been a good day for us. The engine has been working very well throughout the weekend and the overnight changes were effective. As a result both drivers were quite quick this morning. Qualifying was less nail-biting than it has been lately as Jenson and Rubens sailed through into Q3. We are happy with their starting positions as well as our race set-up and strategy and we look forward to tomorrow's race when we'll put up a good fight."
To check out our Indianapolis qualifying gallery, click here