Da Matta Eyeing Points Finish

Brazilian Cristiano da Matta is hoping to score his first points of the season at Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix.

Toyota driver da Matta qualified in 10th position for tomorrow's race, but the former CART champion said he had the speed to finish in the top six.

"I am happy to be in the top ten again," said da Matta. "Actually I pushed a little bit too hard in sector one, which cost me some time. With another couple of tenths less I would have been in the top six.

"The handling of the TF104 was quite good and the car felt really strong in the second and third sectors of my lap. I made no mistakes and was able to drive aggressively. Tomorrow I will do my best to finish in the points."

Olivier Panis will start the race from 13th position, the Frenchman surviving a scare during the warm-up lap, when his car almost came to a halt due to a problem with the electronics.

"We have done a good job again this weekend," Panis said. "In fact the gap to some of the other teams is much closer. It is positive that we are progressing constantly and concentrate on the right issues. Reliability is a strong point, so hopefully we can have a successful race.

"Unfortunately I had an electronic problem on the warm-up lap and was close to stopping the car, but then the system came back. However, it may have affected my concentration and cost me three tenths or so."