Quick Salo Optimistic for the Race

Finn Mika Salo is encouraged ahead of Sunday's Italian Grand Prix after posting the sixth fastest time in today's free practice.

The Toyota driver, who is planning to retire at the end of the current season, benefitted from the low downforce nature of the fast Monza circuit to take full advantage of the powerful Japanese engine. Salo enjoyed a trouble-free day and was optimistic for the race.

"We are again at a circuit suited relatively well to our car," said Salo. "We can use the engine to good effect and the low downforce requirements are working to our advantage. We tested here last week, and it looked quite promising for the race.

"We had no major problems in today's two practice sessions other than some small issues with handling. The car generally seems to be fine and I am quite happy."

Allan McNish, on the other hand, was unable to get his Michelin-shod TF102 chassis to work properly during the session and could only post the 18th quickest time, more than 1.5 seconds behind his teammate.

"We had a difficult day with a big imbalance in the car from the start," said McNish. "We did some changes, but that didn't cure the problem. In the second session we tried a launch start but had a gearbox-related problem and the guys did a really good job changing the rear end.

"You can't afford to lose any time on Friday, let alone effectively two sessions. It is a bad start to the weekend, but hopefully we can recover the car we had in testing last week and it won't be so much of an issue."