Bruni Aims to Fight Jordans in the Race

Italian driver Gianmaria Bruni is hoping to be close to rivals Jordan at tomorrow's United States Grand Prix.

Minardi's Bruni qualified in 18th position, over half a second off the pace of the slower of the Jordans, that of Italian Giorgio Pantano. Bruni, however, said he expected to be closer in the race.

"I'm looking for tomorrow. We're not very far from Jordan, and they've got a more powerful engine and everything, more budget, unfortunately for us," said Bruni. "We are eight-tenths, nine-tenths off of them. We try to be close as much as we can.

"It is difficult to beat them, but I am sure we can be closer then what we show now."

Hungarian Zsolt Baumgartner could not escape the final row of the grid after only beating Renault's Jarno Trulli, who failed to set a time.

"My best time this morning was good, and it's just a shame I couldn't repeat it this afternoon in qualifying," said Baumgartner. " I made a couple of mistakes on the final run and the car also developed quite a bit of oversteer.

"I'd like to thank all the guys, who have put in a lot of effort this weekend. I think it's going to be a difficult race tomorrow, but I'll try to reward them with a good result."