Panis: Toyota in Good Shape for the Race

Toyota's Olivier Panis was happy with his qualifying performance despite failing to shine with the new car from the Japanese outfit.

Toyota, who have had limited success so far despite a considerable budget, are counting on the new TF104B car, which will race for the first time in Sunday's German Grand Prix, to live up to expectations at last.

"Today, I felt much more confident with the TF104B and the balance of the car," said the Frenchman after posting the 10th quickest time of the day, over a second behind the pole position time

"Overall, we had a stronger and more competitive package. We did a good job this afternoon and performed well in both qualifying sessions. After carrying out some long-runs this morning, I think that the car is in good shape for tomorrow, and from ninth place on the grid, I am looking forward to a strong race."

Toyota, the youngest team in Formula One after making their debut in 2002, have failed to make an impact so far despite almost unlimited financial resources. Their best result this season has been a fifth place by Panis in the United States.

Under pressure from the ambitious Japanese carmaker to obtain results, the team introduced the TF104B, which is more of an evolution with a new engine specification than an entirely new car, three races earlier than planned.

Brazilian Cristiano da Matta also failed to make the new car shine after qualifying in a disappointing 15th position.

"I am not happy with either of my qualifying laps today," admitted da Matta. "In this morning's practice, we were looking quite good and had found a clear direction with the updated car, but I was not able to get everything out of the car this afternoon.

"I was expecting to do a lap time similar to what I did in the morning - in the mid-to-high 1m14s - but on both of my runs, I had difficulty entering turn two, as well as some problems braking into turn 6. We have to look into this, because I experienced no trouble there in practice.

"The TF104B has shown that it is a better car with improvements on the aerodynamics side, so it is frustrating that I couldn't show its potential in qualifying. We have another 67 laps in tomorrow's race to put that right."