Firman Aiming for Race Finish

Briton Ralph Firman is hoping for a race finish at tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix after an unimpressive Saturday qualifying.

The Jordan driver, making his Grand Prix debut this weekend, finished down in 17th position, only outpacing Jaguar's rookie Antonio Pizzonia and the two Minardi drivers, who did not set a time in today's qualifying in order to be able to work on their cars overnight.

"I got a good lap but the most important thing is I was able to get a feel for the car in preparation for tomorrow," said Firman, who was outqualified by nearly two seconds by teammate Giancarlo Fisichella. "It has a little bit of understeer but I think the balance is fine.

"We've done a lot of work so far this weekend and I feel pretty good about our preparations for the race. I am really looking forward to it and my objective will be to drive the best race I can and bring the car home."

Italian Fisichella did not enjoy a good session either, and wound up 13th quickest more than two seconds off the pace set by World Champion Michael Schumacher.

"My lap was OK but we can see that there is quite a lot of work to do on the car in order to achieve our goal of qualifying inside the top ten," said the Italian. "But it's also impossible to know what fuel loads other teams are running, so we will have to wait and see.

"We have worked hard to find a balance and set-up for the race and I just have to hope that we can make best use of the strategy we have planned for tomorrow."