Trulli surprised by qualifying pace

"It was good to make it into the top ten again and to be on the fourth row is better than I expected," said Trulli, who has not missed on the top ten in qualifying all season.

The Toyota driver confessed, however, that he was not feeling comfortable with the handling of his car.

"I am not really satisfied," he said. "I just couldn't get the set-up right so I had some trouble with understeer and oversteer.

"That meant the car was difficult to drive and I could not repeat the same laptimes that I did at the beginning of the session.

"Maybe there was something strange happening with the wind on the track but that's the same for everyone. We're in a very tight group of teams so we will have to push hard for a result in the race."

Teammate Timo Glock, who said yesterday he was hoping for a place in the top ten, was disappointed after finishing down in 15th.

"That's a disappointing result because I have been happy with the handling of the car this weekend and I was able to push this afternoon," he said.

"In Q2 we had a good qualifying lap until turn nine. I braked in and suddenly I felt a problem with the front right wheel. I couldn't finish the lap and I had to give up and bring the car back.

"It's a shame because it was a good lap and I think it would easily have been good enough to make the top ten. Instead this result clearly means we have a difficult race ahead."