Jordan hoping to rise to Spa challenge

Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher scored a memorable one-two for Jordan in the 1998 Belgian GP, and although neither Giancarlo Fisichella nor Takuma Sato expects a repeat of that result on September 1, both are hopeful of taking a top six finish.

Last year Fisichella produced one of the best drives of his career to take third place for Benetton and the Italian admits that he loves the challenge of driving at Spa.

"Spa is a fantastic circuit, one of my overall favourites," he said. "It is an old style track, with a couple of corners second to none in terms of technical difficulties and the enjoyment they give drivers. I am really looking forward to it, particularly because our competitiveness is improving race by race thanks to the efforts of the team, the development of the car, the Bridgestone tyres and the Honda engine, which is now really good."

Sato is also a big fan of Spa, and holds the F3 lap record. Unlike most GPs this year he will start the weekend with a good knowledge of the track and he's hoping to use this to score the first point of his F1 career.

"I know the circuit well and this is the sort of track that I love - fast, challenging and lots of up-and-down," he said. "It often rains in Spa, and it might give us an advantage, as we are normally in strong shape during wet conditions. It's gonna be a very exciting weekend for me, that's for sure."