Da Matta Expecting Stronger Saturday

Brazilian Cristiano da Matta is expecting to go faster in tomorrow's grid-deciding qualifying session for the United States Grand Prix.

Da Matta, debuting at the Indianapolis Grand Prix circuit today, was 11th quickest, but the Brazilian driver said without time to set-up the car on a dry track today's time were no relevant.

"I am not really worried about the qualifying today," he said. "I just have to focus on having a reasonable car for this track tomorrow. We were lucky to have a damp track, but we didn't get chance to run good on a dry track like the other guys did.

"I have to gain good experience driving on this track and be 100 perfect out there tomorrow morning. I've been here before, but not to race, just to watch, and I can say that there is no other track in the world like this."

Da Matta's teammate Olivier Panis was one of several drivers who had to complete their flying laps on a fully wet track. The Frenchman finished as 14th fastest more than eight seconds slower than the quickest time, set by Renault's Jarno Trulli.

"We were not at all lucky with the weather conditions in qualifying today," said Panis. "It started to rain heavily on my run and I did the best I could in the circumstances. I was very happy with our performance in free practice this morning.

"We showed that we have a good car for this track and we were quite competitive, setting the third fastest time. I am still confident for the rest of the weekend - all we need is a bit of luck with the weather."