Bruni Hoping for Trouble-Free Race

Italian Gianmaria Bruni is looking to a trouble-free Spanish Grand Prix after a difficult practice and qualifying sessions today.

Bruni suffered a loss of hydraulic pressure during the first practice session, and had only completed three laps before his Minardi came to a halt. In the afternoon, the rookie qualified down in 18th position.

"It was a difficult morning, but the guys did a fantastic job to sort out the problem, and I'm pleased for them that we were able to set a decent time this afternoon," said Bruni. "We made our tyre choice at the end of yesterday, but the problem was that without any chance to do any real running this morning, I had no idea how the tyres would feel at the limit on the track.

"Fortunately, my engineer came up with something and it worked well, so I am very happy. We are certainly in better shape here than we were at Imola, and I now hope for a good, clean race tomorrow with no mistakes."

Baumgartner, meanwhile, was disappointed after finishing over a second behind Bruni in 20th place.

"I think we had two reasonably good sessions this morning, although the cool temperature meant it was difficult to find a good balance for the chassis," said Baumgartner. "Unfortunately, we continued to struggle with that in qualifying.

"I'm disappointed, because I think I could have done a better lap time this afternoon, but we'll work with what we've got and hope to have a strong race tomorrow."