Villeneuve confident after strong showing

The Canadian, who crashed out of the points during his home Grand Prix last weekend, showed the BMW team continue to make progress, qualifying in a strong sixth position for the Indianapolis race.

"I am quite happy because in the middle of the second qualifying session it looked like it would be tough to get into the top ten, but then it worked out," said Villeneuve.

"We are very close to Fernando Alonso, and just needed a few hundredths of a second to be in front of him.

"That makes it a bit frustrating, but there were a few mistakes on that lap. However, this weekend we concentrated on the set up for the race more than for the qualifying, so I am quite confident for the race."

Nick Heidfeld completed a strong day for the team despite being unable to run during the final 15 minutes of qualifying. The German's car stopped on track just five minutes into the third session.

Heidfeld is optimistic he will be able to keep his tenth position, as he believes the problem will not force BMW to change his engine.

"We were really quick here in qualifying. Most of the time I was ahead of Jacques so a good starting position would have been possible for me. Unfortunately my car stopped suddenly, and we don't know why yet.

"It didn't feel like an engine problem, so I think I will be able to start from tenth on the grid."