Karthikeyan Happy to Beat Minardis

"I had a decent lap today," Karthikeyan said after posting the 17th quickest time.

"I think the wind was a bit stronger compared to this morning so it changed the balance of the car a little but I think my time was pretty good and showed that we are well ahead of the Minardis."

The Jordan driver was a whole second ahead of Minardi rival Christijan Albers and two seconds in front of Patrick Friesacher.

A Jordan, however, will start from the back of the grid after Tiago Monteiro did not even set a time following his engine change yesterday.

"Unfortunately after the penalty we had yesterday morning for changing the engine after I experienced some problems, we had to adapt our strategy for the race tomorrow," Monteiro said. "This explains why I only did an installation lap. It is really a pity because I was quite fast on this circuit yesterday and this morning.

"The car was also doing really well so it is a bit frustrating. However, I will push really hard tomorrow at the start and try to overtake some cars and then do my best to bring the car home."