Trulli Rules Out Racing with Toyota in 2004

Italian Jarno Trulli says he has ruled out racing for the Toyota team during the 2004 season despite testing for the Japanese squad at Silverstone on Thursday.

Trulli has signed a two-year contract with Toyota and already made his debut with the team during testing at Silverstone after parting ways with Renault. There are three races remaining in the season, but the Italian said he will not be racing until 2005.

"No, that would be rushing things even more," said Trulli when asked if he would race at the Chinese Grand Prix next week. "I prefer to wait until 2005 to go back to Grand Prix racing. In the meantime I've started the preparation for next season in advance. I got a head start."

Trulli set the fifth fastest time of the day at Silverstone and was pleased with the TF104's performance.

"There are good things and some not as good, but it wasn't difficult to get some good performance," he told Gazzetta dello Sport. "In the tests we'll ceaselessly do from now until the beginning of 2005 there will be time to try many things and to improve the situation in general."

Toyota's contracted drivers to the end of the year are French veteran Olivier Panis, who will retire in October, and Brazilian Ricardo Zonta - promoted from test driver after compatriot Cristiano da Matta left last month.

Trulli's two-year deal with Toyota was announced this week but he confirmed that he had started talking with the Germany-based team before he won this year's Monaco Grand Prix in May.

"I spoke with (technical director Mike) Gascoyne and with others," he said, adding that the decision to switch had been made in July. "At Magny-Cours, at the beginning of July, I had a contract in my hands. I just had to sign it. Which I then did."

Trulli left Renault three rounds before the end of the season after an open falling out with team boss and compatriot Flavio Briatore, who accused him of having his mind elsewhere after five races without scoring a point.

The driver, who is fourth overall and likely to be replaced in the short term by former champion Jacques Villeneuve, said he was pleased to leave having scored more points than Spanish teammate Fernando Alonso.

"My conscience is clear," he said. "I made some mistakes and I owned up to them in front of everybody. But I could not support certain observations which became too serious."