Verstappen Would Welcome Wet Race

Minardi's Jos Verstappen is hoping for rain-hit Japanese Grand Prix tomorrow after setting the 17th quickest time in final qualifying today.

"That was a reasonably good qualifying lap," said Verstappen, whose team are the only ones yet to score a point this season. "I put a wheel just slightly in the dirt on one of the fast corners, but otherwise, there were no problems. Hopefully, the weather will play into our hands tomorrow, as some rain would definitely help.

"I lost set-up time in the second practice session this morning with a hydraulic system failure on my car, but it shouldn't affect us too badly, as the car felt good on its race fuel load."

Today's session was hit by rain in the dying moments, which hampered the last runners.

Verstappen's rookie teammate Nicolas Kiesa got his best qualifying result so far, 18th place, after neither Ralf Schumacher or Jarno Trulli set a time. The Danish driver, however, finished more than two seconds behind Verstappen.

"I feel I did a good lap on my qualifying run, bearing in mind the fuel I had on board and my lack of experience of this circuit," Kiesa said. "I made a mistake at turn eight, when I selected too low a gear, but fortunately, it didn't cost me too much time.

"The car was handling well, and with the package we've got, I think it looks good for tomorrow."