Sato expected better laptimes

"This morning's practice session went well, however I am a little bit disappointed with my lap times from the qualifying session compared to our rivals as I was expecting to be closer to their times this weekend," said Sato, who finished nearly two seconds off the pace of his closest rival.

"Having said that, I think that we did everything we could in our preparation for tomorrow and I believe that I have a good set-up for the race, so I am looking forward to it."

Sato finished behind the Midland of Christijan Albers as the Super Aguri team again occupied the bottom row of the grid.

Sato's teammate Frank Montagny finished as slowest, but the Frenchman was pleased with his performance.

"I am quite happy with our results today," he said. "We have come a long way with the car since yesterday and I am quite happy with the set-up we have found.

"It is not going to be easy for us again tomorrow, but I like this circuit and the car is quite nice to drive here, a bit slow, but at least it is not so hard to keep the car on the track, so I think it will be a fun race."