Toyota happy despite accident

Although its race drivers Olivier Panis and Ricardo Zonta were only 14th and 15th fastest respectively, both were remarkably upbeat about their progress.

"I think we did a good job today," said Panis. "We compared different tyre compounds and set-ups and we have a good idea what we need to run for Sunday's race. It appears as if the weather will be worse tomorrow, so we had a lot to fit into today's two sessions. We just need to keep working on things overnight. I am sorry for Ryan but he got out without any pain, so that is good news."

Zonta said: "The behaviour of the tyres at this track makes a big difference to the level of performance, so we decided to spend today's two practice sessions working on finding the best Michelin compound for the weekend. We were much more focused on race preparations today because the weather is very uncertain for tomorrow's sessions and we did not want to lose valuable time."

Technical director Mike Gascoyne said: "We are very pleased with the work carried out and we are confident for the weekend. We just have to see what the weather will do."