Toyota Target Third Place

The Briton claims that Jarno Trulli's front-row qualifying effort at Magny-Cours has provided all the evidence he needs that Toyota have rediscovered their impressive form from the start of the season - even though the team missed out on a podium finish in Sunday's race.

When asked about the battle in the Constructors' Championship, with Toyota currently fourth behind Ferrari, Gascoyne said he had no doubts the team could now finish ahead of Williams and believed they still had a chance of catching Ferrari.

"Having seen Williams' performance I would be very disappointed if we don't beat them comprehensively in the Championship," said Gascoyne. "We've got almost as many points as Ferrari - although the problem is they got 18 points for free (at the United States Grand Prix). Still, third in the Championship is not out of the question"

Gascoyne believes that Toyota's race pace at Magny-Cours was hurt by the team failing to take into account the hotter conditions that greeted them on race day compared to what was experienced on Saturday.

"I think both cars struggled with the rear end of the cars in the hotter conditions and Jarno seemed to struggle more than Ralf," explained Gascoyne.
 
"We should have anticipated that with a change of set-up to make up for the changing weather conditions, but we didn't expect this much of a change. That is what got us off the podium in the end.

"But as a team, if we're pissed off with getting the two cars in the top seven, this just shows how much we've progressed this year. But in fairness, starting from second on the grid we should have done better - and if we'd finished ahead of Jenson Button we would probably be happier than what we are now."