Trulli's pole hopes dented by shunt

After setting the pace for most of the weekend, Jarno Trulli could only manage 10th on the grid for the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, after shunting his car in the dying seconds of the warm-up session at Indianapolis

Sep 27, 2003, 9:04 PM

Trulli spun off at Turn 11 and hit the tyrewall with the front end of his car, damaging the right front corner and the wing. His Renault team worked a miracle to repair his car in time for his qualifying run, but Trulli found that the handling just wasn't right.

"I want to thank my mechanics, who did a fantastic job to get the car ready after my accident," said Trulli. "As for the qualifying lap, nothing felt quite right: I made small mistakes all the way round the lap, and I perhaps had some trouble adapting to changing track conditions.

"It is disappointing to start from so far back, but we have already shown this weekend that our package is very competitive. We have chosen a good strategy and I am intending to drive an attacking race tomorrow."