Pleased Villeneuve Aiming for First Points of 2002

A pleased Jacques Villeneuve is aiming to score British American Racing's first points of the season at Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix.

The Brackley-based squad introduced in Canada a revised version of their Honda-powered chassis, with both Villeneuve and teammate Olivier Panis claiming the car was a step forward compared to the earlier version.

Both drivers confirmed their progress in today's qualifying, with the Canadian champion setting the ninth quickest time of the session. Villeneuve was happy with what was his best qualifying performance of the year and was hoping to finally give his team their first points of 2002.

"I'm definitely pleased with our performance today," said Villeneuve. "I was a little bit worried yesterday because we were playing around with fuel but we did better than I expected today. We managed to improve the car overnight and that gave us an acceptable qualifying today, so I'm quite happy.

"It was too bad that we had an engine problem on the last run because we timed it just right before the rain came and could have improved the lap. I think we're in a position to fight in the race tomorrow and hopefully get a point."

Teammate Panis was disappointed after missing out on a top ten position, finishing in eleventh spot less than a tenth of a second behind ten-placed Jarno Trulli. However the Frenchman, who is yet to finish a race this season, was encouraged by the improved performance of the BAR.

"After the first signs of improvement with the car on Friday, I felt that we had the potential for a top ten qualifying position today," said Panis. "Jacques proved that to be the case and I had the car to do the same, so I'm disappointed with 11th. Still, we have to look on the positive side and be pleased with the improvement in the overall package."