Pleased Michelin Confident for the Race

French tyre manufacturer Michelin were delighted with their performance in Saturday's qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix and are confident of scoring their second win of the 2002 season.

Michelin-shod teams occupied eight of the top ten positions today, with only Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello being able to shine with the Bridgestone tyres, setting the third and fifth quickest times in today's session.

"We are very, very pleased with today's result," said Michelin boss Pierre Dupasquier. "It proves that the new tyre we developed especially for Monaco is working very well. It shows we have understood the lessons we learned here last year and have reacted appropriately.

"All today's result shows is that we have developed a very good tyre for Monaco. Sometimes you go to an event and find out that your hard tyre is too hard or your soft is too soft, at other times you hit the sweet spot. Our partners and us are looking very well here in Monaco which does not mean that we will be able to do as well on others circuits."

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya scored his second pole position of the season with the Michelin-shod Williams, while McLaren's David Coulthard secured an all-Michelin front row. Following their strong performance on Saturday, Dupasquier is confident about a good result in the race.

"I feel very confident that our tyres will be in good shape and I am pleased to see that several of our partner teams are fighting at the front and have a strong possibility of scoring points tomorrow," he added. "It shows that they are performing well and that we are working well together."

Ferrari, using tyres from Japanese manufacturer Bridgestone, have won five of six races so far this year, with Michelin having won only once at the Malaysian Grand Prix thanks to Ralf Schumacher.