Sato hails 'fantastic' result

The Japanese squad, who unveiled their new car only last Wednesday, continued with their impressive weekend, with Sato qualifying in tenth position in Melbourne.

Both Sato and teammate Anthony Davidson finished ahead of the works Honda drivers, completing a surprising day for Super Aguri.

"What can I say, it was an absolutely fantastic team effort," said Sato. "It was a difficult day again as it was spitting with rain and a set-up change took longer than expected in the practice session so we only completed a few laps.

"During the whole of qualifying the team worked well together, building up the car, step-by-step and things just went the right way. I was always going to be very happy if we made it into Q2, but I never imagined that we would reach Q3 - but we did, and it is a great feeling.

"Obviously this is just the start of the season, and we have a lot of work to do, so for tomorrow we just hope to have a good race."

Davidson was also ecstatic after qualifying in 11th position.

"It was awesome," admitted the Briton. "I felt really on top of the car and what I did in Free Practice continued on in to qualifying. I was really enjoying it and then I went off on my first attempt and I lost a little bit of time.

"On my last run I lost a lot of time in the last corner and I didn't set a good lap, but my next two split times were better than Taku, so I'm happy and generally really pleased for the team, but a little bit frustrated that I set my best time in free practice and not qualifying."