Happy Zonta Looking to Stronger Saturday

Ricardo Zonta is looking forward to Saturday's qualifying after he failed to shine on his first day as a Toyota racing driver in today's practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Brazilian Zonta, who has not raced in Formula One since the 2001 German Grand Prix, could only post the 18th best time in the afternoon as he replaced compatriot Cristiano da Matta. Zonta finished nearly 1.5 seconds behind teammate Olivier Panis.

"Generally, I felt very comfortable driving one of the race cars in practice for the first time," said the Brazilian. "Essentially, the job of all three drivers is the same on a Friday, carrying out long runs and comparing Michelin tyres.

"The only difference is that as race driver, I now have two more sessions to improve the set-up, so I am looking forward to tomorrow."

Panis, meanwhile, enjoyed a promising session and posted the fifth quickest time less than half a second behind McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, who topped the times.

"The weekend has started off in a very positive way," said the Frenchman. "We had two productive sessions without any problems. I am working with a new team on my car from this weekend, but the fact that I know all the guys has been a big help. Now we need to concentrate on tomorrow in order to try to keep our current pace."