Jordan drivers unhappy in Japan

A frustrated Heinz-Harald Frentzen could manage only eighth on the grid, nearly 1.5 seconds adrift of polesitter Michael Schumacher, while Jarno Trulli was almost two seconds off the pace in 15th.

The German, who this time last year was threatening the McLarens and Ferraris, is aiming to stay ahead of ninth quickest Jacques Villeneuve to break Jordan's fifth-place tie with BAR in the constructors' championship.

"Considering our difficult session this morning, eighth place is not a bad result, although obviously it's not where we wanted to be," Frentzen said. "The car just does not seem to be performing well on this track today, which is disappointing for us and not what we had expected.

"It will be a hard race tomorrow, but we will be doing our best to finish in the points and keep ahead of our nearest rivals in the championship."

Trulli was even more perplexed by his bright yellow Jordan's lack of sting.

"Today's result is very disappointing," the Italian said. "Everything looked so good yesterday, but today we just could not find the right balance on the car. In addition, there was a problem with the power steering in the high-speed corners, which cost us a lot of time. I just hope that, for a change, I have more luck in tomorrow's race."

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