Toyota is celebrating yet another double points finish after a strong weekend here at the French Grand Prix. On a sweltering Sunday at Magny-Cours, Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher took fifth and seventh places in a race where passing came at a premium.
Trulli spent the day fending off attacks from a number of drivers, setting his best lap of the race three laps from home which was overall placed him eighth in fastest race laps. Schumacher had a quieter time, but battled hard all day on the way to his two points. The result is good news for the whole team, bringing home six points and moving Toyota back up to fourth place in the constructors` championship with 53 points.
Jarno Trulli
"After the miracle in qualifying yesterday, today was much harder. I made a strong start and held everyone behind me, but then I couldn`t keep up the pace because the car was sliding, especially at the rear end. I was struggling for stability and traction and there was very little I could do. I kept fighting all day to keep the other cars behind me, but it was hard work because basically they were quicker than us. After the first pit stop the problem became worse, but we balanced the car better at the second stop and it was slightly better. Still, four points is a good result both for me and the team so we can go home satisfied with that."
Ralf Schumacher
"This was a good result considering where we came from at the beginning of the weekend, going out first in qualifying. We got through the whole weekend without any incidents or reliability issues, and I`m happy to be going home with two points. My car was struggling for traction and sliding a bit during the race so it was a matter of pushing as hard as possible all afternoon. The team changed my strategy from three stops to two and I was also helped out by Jacques going off near the end. It was good that we got both cars home in the points and I`d like to thank the team for all their help. I wish it could have been more but we have to be happy with this today."
Tsutomu Tomita, Team Principal
"We had high expectations for today`s race, so I feel slightly frustrated with this result. Still, we managed to bring both cars home in the points and both drivers did well too so we can be happy with that. Both Jarno and Ralf made good starts, but our race pace wasn`t as strong as we hoped because they were both struggling for rear grip, especially when the cars were heavy after the first pit stops. It was a tight call on strategy here, but we changed Ralf from three planned stops to two and he gained a place so that worked out. For him to take 7th place after going out first in qualifying was a good effort. It is a pity that we could not hold onto the podium with Jarno, but it is a sign of the progress we`ve made as a team that we can be slightly disappointed with both cars scoring a total of six world championship points. Still, we have a long way to go."


Tags: france, toyota, magny-cours, trulli, toyota, ralf,