San Marino Preview Quotes: BAR

Takuma Sato: "I am excited to be returning to the European races after we had good performance in Bahrain and at our recent tests. Imola is a historic and challenging circuit with a narrow, bumpy track and high speeds. We hope that the team's hard work carried out during the recent tests pays off for us in Imola, where we will have a new aero upgrade and engine. Racing in Imola will be very different from the first three races where we had very hot temperatures and different track characteristics, so I am really looking forward to it."

Geoffrey Willis, Technical Director: "After very successful tests of our new aerodynamic package at Barcelona and Paul Ricard, we are looking forward to the first round of the European season at Imola. We had a very good race weekend here in 2004 and we expect the car to perform well again over the kerbs, which is important at this circuit. With track and air temperatures much lower than we experienced at the first three races, getting good tyre warm-up will be important, particularly in first qualifying, to help get a good aggregate qualifying position for this race where it is very hard to overtake. Imola is also a circuit which is hard on brakes, but despite the retirement at Bahrain we are confident that we will not encounter any wear problems."

Shuhei Nakamoto, Engineering Director, Honda Racing Development: "We have had two productive tests since the Bahrain race, and will be aiming with confidence for a much better result in Imola."