Toyota Confident of Saturday Fightback

The Toyota team are still confident of a strong result in their home Grand Prix despite a slow start in today's first qualifying session at Suzuka.

Frenchman Olivier Panis was the fastest of the Toyotas, the veteran driver setting the 13th quickest time of the session. Panis failed to emulate his performance at the United States Grand Prix two weeks earlier, when he qualified in a season-best third place.

Panis's teammate, Brazilian Cristiano da Matta, driving at Suzuka for the first time this weekend, wound up 14th fastest. Despite their slow start the Japanese squad are optimistic of fighting back on Saturday.

"Not a great qualifying for us today," said team manager Ange Pasquali. "We are not as competitive as we expected to be and we have to find out why. Both Olivier and Cristiano lost time in different sectors compared to their respective times from the free practice this morning.

"Obviously, we will have a busy time this evening prior to tomorrow morning's sessions in order to improve our overall performance level. Ultimately, it is tomorrow's qualifying session that forms the grid, so we are still confident for the rest of the weekend."