Trulli confident of strong weekend

"Our pace looks pretty good so it was a successful day for me," said Trulli, who finished in fourth place at the United States Grand Prix two weeks ago.

"The car seems well balanced so I hope we can carry on working as well as we have so far. I found a car in the middle of the track on my quickest lap so my best time was set on old tyres.

"The team is doing a good job and at the last test at Jerez we worked on tyres and set-up for this race. It was very hot and those are the conditions we expect to encounter here this weekend so we should hope for another good race.

"After the points I have taken in the last two races it would be nice to build on that progress on Sunday."

Trulli, 11th quickest today, scored his first points of the season in Canada and followed with a strong drive from the pitlane at Indianapolis.

Teammate Ralf Schumacher also enjoyed a good day, posting the ninth fastest time.

"Today went well for us and the two sessions were pretty painless," he said. "We made it through everything that we had planned to test without problems and the car felt very strong.

"Apart from the higher temperatures, the track does not change as much here as at some circuits we go to so we look to be in good shape for the next two days.

"I like the Magny-Cours track and this is usually quite a nice place to race. The paddock has a different layout and there is a different atmosphere to many of the other tracks. We have gone well so far and the weekend seems very promising."