Minardi Pair Confident of Strong Race

The Faenza-based squad continued making progress with their PS05 car, and although Friesacher finished behind the Jordan of Tiago Monteiro, he was still pleased with his performance.

The Austrian rookie will start from 18th position.

"Generally, I was quite happy with my lap," said Friesacher. "We were struggling a little bit this morning with one or two small problems on the car, but we made some changes, which enabled me to find a good balance.  I think we're in a good position for tomorrow's race."

Teammate Albers lamented making a mistake during his flying lap in today's qualifying, but was also optimistic of a stronger race tomorrow.

"The fuel load we were carrying this afternoon meant the car had a little bit more understeer than I would have liked for the qualifying run," he said.

"As a result, I ran wide in one spot and lost a little bit of time there.  Even so, it was not a bad run, and I think we have a good strategy for tomorrow.  We should have a good pace in the race."