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Kobayashi confident after solid start

Kamui Kobayashi is feeling confident ahead of his first qualifying session in Formula 1 after a solid start in practice on Friday in Brazil

The Japanese driver is standing in for the injured Timo Glock, and will be making his grand prix debut this weekend at Interlagos, where he had never driven before.

The Toyota driver had a good first day of work, finishing as 13th quickest, and was optimistic of more progress on Saturday.

"It was a a nice experience to be starting a weekend as a Grand Prix driver for the first time," said Kobayashi. "It was also my first time driving in Brazil; I found that the track is good fun for a driver and also very challenging.

"Our work went well; just the weather wasn't perfect with the showers which meant the track surface was not consistent. That made it difficult to properly judge the set-up and also to fully learn each corner because the conditions were changing during the sessions.

"In the end I found a good rhythm and the car felt competitive so it was a good day for me. There are still things we can improve and I'll be working hard with my engineers to prepare properly for my first Formula 1 qualifying sessions. I'm really looking forward to it and I'm confident."

Jarno Trulli posted the sixth fastest time and was also left encouraged by Toyota's form.

"Everything went well today and we did our usual Friday testing work," he said. "We had some rain in both sessions which makes things a bit harder than normal and particularly in the morning there wasn't much grip.

"But even though the weather disrupted things for us, we still went through quite a few set-up changes and it feels like we are moving in the right direction.

"The car seems pretty good on this track and I had no major problems so I hope we can continue this positive progress for the rest of the weekend. After the great result last time in Suzuka I am really motivated to keep up the momentum and I am optimistic we can do that."

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