Trulli confident Toyota will bounce back

The Italian driver had big hopes of starting the season on the right foot, but he was forced to retire in Melbourne following a problem with his car's battery.

Trulli showed good pace in today's practice in Sepang, posting the sixth quickest time in the afternoon.

His performance has left him upbeat, and the Toyota driver is optimistic for the rest of the weekend.

"In general that was a smooth day and I'm pleased with how things went," said Trulli. "We still have some problems to solve on the car to be more competitive but we made some changes between P1 and P2 and that made a big difference. It looked better and we made a good step.

"Obviously it is still Friday so it is difficult to judge. But we normally perform pretty well here so I'm confident that we can bounce back after the disappointment of Melbourne.

"The only problem is that the rain can be very heavy and this weekend's forecast is mixed. I would prefer a dry race but we will have to deal with whatever weather comes our way."

Timo Glock was unable to match Trulli's pace after struggling to extract the maximum from his tyres on the first lap. The German wound up 17th.

"The car doesn't feel too bad but I haven't yet got the most out of the tyres on the first lap," he said. "I'm also sliding a bit too much overall. I'm not sure what the problem is so we will have to look into that overnight. Thankfully I have no lasting effects from last week's crash and my hand feels fine.

"Our pace was strong last week and I have confidence in the new car but we still have to work to improve. We are in a tight group of teams so we have to get everything right to come away with a strong result."