Sato encouraged by Super Aguri progress

The Japanese driver qualified down in 20th position, but less than a second behind the Midland of Christijan Albers.

"We had a very smooth morning and made good progress during the practice session," said Sato. "Qualifying was also encouraging. The conditions were relatively difficult as I had low grip and encountered traffic before the Red Flag stopped the session.

"However during the second run I had a clear track and was able to set a similar lap time to the one I set in practice, so I am happy. The gap between our times and the Midlands' is getting smaller, so things are starting to get exciting for the team."

Sato outqualified his teammate Franck Montagny, racing with Super Aguri for the second time this weekend.

The French driver, who had a poor opening day on Friday, enjoyed a more productive outing today. And although he was still nearly two seconds off Sato's pace, Montagny was also encouraged with the progress made.

"My day was better day than yesterday for sure," he said. "We were able to improve the car's handling into the quick corners, so now we have a stable car and I am happy about that.

"We found quite a good set up on used tyres and the car was quite easy to drive with no problems with degradation, but with new tyres we are struggling a bit around the slow corners. The track has changed so much and we still need more data for the car, so it makes things a little difficult.

"We are getting closer and improving a little all the time and I know that in time the pace will come."