Happy da Matta Eyeing Points Finish

Toyota's Cristiano da Matta is targeting a point-scoring finish at tomorrow's French Grand Prix at the Magny-Cours circuit.

The Brazilian driver, who has scored three points so far in 2004, posted the 11th quickest time of today's qualifying session. Da Matta admitted his car was more competitive than he had expected, and is now setting his sights on a points finish.

"This weekend, we have been more competitive than I think we expected to be, but I am certainly not going to complain about that," said Brazilian da Matta. "I am happy with my qualifying lap this afternoon.

"I really don't think I could have found more time from the car and even if I was holding out for a top ten result, eleventh place with our strategy puts us in good shape to pick up some points in the race."

Da Matta's teammate Olivier Panis, on the other hand, was not so pleased with his performance today after qualifying in 14th place for his home Grand Prix.

"I am not particularly pleased with qualifying today," said Panis. "Throughout my lap, I had some bottoming and then I lost some grip in the last sector. In the end, I will start from 14th but we cannot change anything about it now.

"Instead, we just have to improve the car for tomorrow because it is a long and hard race here in Magny-Cours. I will continue to do my best in front of all the French spectators and hopefully our strategy will allow me to make up some ground."