Toyota struggles in the wet

The team, which entered the ranks of grand prix racing this year, struggled for pace on the wet Imola track during Friday's two one-hour sessions.

Mika Salo finished the day in 20th position and five seconds off the pace of leader Michael Schumacher, while team-mate Allan McNish was last with the Scot's best time a further two seconds back.

McNish, who had two trips through the gravel during practice, said: "We have not had much running in the wet, so we have some work to do on the car's set up. The first session was not great, but we tried some different tyres in the second session, which seemed to work better. I certainly hope we have drier conditions tomorrow [Saturday]."

Technical director Gustav Brunner added: "We really haven't got much experience in these conditions. We know that the weather will probably be different in the race and we didn't alter the set-up very much for the wet. The times today were all about tyres. Mika, for example, improved his time by five seconds just by changing tyres and, to be honest, we didn't see the point in pushing excessively hard and risking damage to the cars, which would set us back."

Despite the team's performance, Salo is sure the Cologne-based outfit can raise its game for qualifying on Saturday, if it stays dry.

He said: "The car is not too bad when it's dry, but we knew we would struggle in the wet and sure enough there was just no grip. The car has never been quick in the wet but at least we have got some data to work with. For sure we can improve, but we can't find five seconds."