Bridgestone Confident of Strong Race

Japanese tyre manufacturer Bridgestone were confident of a strong showing in tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix after scoring their seventh pole position of the season on Saturday.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello and teammate Michael Schumacher dominated the hour-long session in the Bridgestone-shod Ferraris, with Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella and Sauber drivers Felipe Massa and Nick Heidfeld also qualifying in the top ten for the Japanese marque.

Technical manager Hisao Suganuma was pleased with the performance of their tyres at the slippery Hungaroring circuit, and was confident of scoring more points on Sunday.

"Overall, an encouraging result for Bridgestone with two cars on the front row and three more in the top eight which confirms the competitiveness of the tyres we brought here," said Suganuma.

"In addition, today's temperatures were closer to what we expect in Hungary and still we encountered few problems. As we know, grid position is very important here because there are so few overtaking opportunities, so a number of our drivers will start the race with a realistic chance of points."