Villeneuve Looking to Score Points

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve is looking to score his first points since the British Grand Prix after a strong performance in today's qualifying in Italy.

The British American Racing driver wound up ninth quickest and also was the fastest of the Honda runners, but claimed he could have been higher up the grid but for two mistakes on his fastest lap in the hour-long session.

Villeneuve, who has only scored three points this year thanks to a fourth place at Silverstone back in July, is hoping to be able to fight for the top six in tomorrow's race.

"After Ferrari, we are ahead of the other Bridgestone runners by a good margin so we're quite happy, considering the fact that we didn't get a good lap," said the Canadian. "I'm a little frustrated because we could have been 7th.

"There was a good three tenths left in the car but I made mistakes on the second run braking into Ascari and the last corner. The engine seems to be more reliable so hopefully we can have a good race tomorrow but we need to improve our start to make sure we don't lose out into the first corner. Hopefully it will be possible to get a point tomorrow."

Villeneuve's teammate Olivier Panis endured a disappointing session, finishing nearly half a second behind the Canadian in 16th positions.