Ralf Pins Hopes on Dry Race

Ralf Schumacher is hoping the weather remains dry for Sunday's race at Imola as he bids to repeat his victory in last year's San Marino Grand Prix this weekend.

The German Williams-BMW driver managed to qualify third, an exact repeat of his position on the grid last year, and he believes he will have his best chance of a second victory at the circuit if the rain holds off.

"Certainly it looks as if we are a bit stronger in dry conditions at the moment, but we take as it comes," he said. "I think it's a good effort for the team to be third, as last year.

"We were very close, we improved run to run until the last one when I made a mistake so the team did a good job putting the car where it is and I'm sure it is a promising position for tomorrow.

"After Brazil it looked like they (Ferrari) were going to be very strong here, and we expected it. Luckily it was nice and sunny today which helped us out for sure."

Williams-BMW clearly struggled in the wet conditions on Friday, and their Michelin tyres are expected to perform better the hotter the conditions get.

The temperature rose to 17 degrees Celsius during the day but clouds came over soon after the qualifying session concluded and are expected to remain over the circuit tomorrow.