Fisichella Frustrated by Gap to Leaders

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella was frustrated by the gap to the leaders in today's qualifying for the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.

The Jordan driver posted the ninth quickest time of the session with his Ford-powered car, but wound up 2.2 seconds behind pace setter Kimi Raikkonen. Fisichella was thankful he could complete his lap before the rain started to fall, but was nonetheless disappointed with his pace.

"For the first time in my life, I think, I've been lucky and my place in the starting order allowed me dry conditions," said Fisichella. "It was a good lap and the balance wasn't too bad but I was two seconds off the pace which is frustrating. It's a combination of tyres and our whole package."

Fisichella's teammate Ralph Firman was not as lucky as the Italian, and he did have to run in the wet, finishing in 14th position 23 seconds off the pace.

"It's disappointing for me that it rained halfway through the session but I suppose it was inevitable that it would happen at some point this year and unfortunately I wasn't on the beneficial end of it," he said.

"14th place is okay as it means tomorrow there will be a few cars out before me and that should be a good thing."