Super Aguri duo content with their race

Interlagos had been the scene of Super Aguri's breakthrough race last season, when Takuma Sato had taken an impressive 10th position and his then-teammate Sakon Yamamoto set the seventh-fastest race lap.

But this year Sato and Anthony Davidson faded in the race after battling with Ralf Schumacher and Kazuki Nakajima early on.

"It was a tough, but exciting race," said Sato, who ultimately took 12th. "I did not get a great start off the line, but into turns one, two and three I was side by side and overtaking lots of people, in fact the whole lap was full of exciting moments and I really enjoyed it.

"I then started to struggle with the balance and pace, but I think that we had done everything we could and it was a tough race for the team."

Davidson's race was ruined when he was pushed into a spin by Adrian Sutil at the Senna S. He had to pit for repairs and was consigned to 14th place, three laps down.

But he remained positive despite this result.

"The car didn't quite have the pace to match our stronger competitors in the midfield, but we had reliability on our side again," said Davidson.

"The team did a fantastic job in all the pitstops and considering I got taken out by Sutil early on in the race I thought that my pace was really good towards the end on the prime tyre and I really enjoyed it. It was a good race to end the year on."

Sato agreed that Super Aguri had enjoyed a superb year overall, having taken big strides forward compared to their debut campaign.

"It has been a fantastic season and we have achieved so many things," he said.

"Our result has been a great achievement. I would like to thank the whole team, the factory back in Leafield and our colleagues at Honda, our sponsors and fans for all of their hard work and support."