Da Matta talks down hopes
Cristiano da Matta has no real hope of a good result for Toyota in the European Grand Prix on the Cologne-based team's home track the Nurburgring. The Brazilian, who finished sixth at Monaco as team-mate Olivier Panis took eighth, doesn't think the track suits his car
"We are heading to the European GP on the back of our successful points-scoring Monaco race," said da Matta, "but I think it is unlikely that we will be able to repeat that performance this weekend. The Nurburgring is another maximum downforce, slow-medium speed circuit, which on paper should not suit us, so we simply have to keep pushing to extract the most from our TF104."
Panis remembers the team's fine form at the track in 2003, but doesn't take much hope from that. "We had a highly competitive package at this race last year," said the Frenchman, "and I was fastest in two of the practice sessions, but in the end we were unable to turn that performance into points. I think this weekend's race will be much tougher, but we are working in the right direction."
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