Villeneuve Pleased with Ninth Spot

Jacques Villeneuve was pleased with his qualifying effort on Saturday, when the British American Racing driver equalled his best performance of the year with a ninth position on the grid for tomorrow's British Grand Prix at the Silverstone circuit.

The Canadian driver and his team are still looking for their first points of the 2002 season, and Villeneuve put himself in a good position to get his first top six of the year with his fourth row spot.

The BAR driver, however, believes he will have a better chance of scoring points if it rains on Sunday.

"I'm quite pleased with ninth today," said the Canadian. "The car has been working well all weekend in wet and dry conditions and, generally, it seems to suit Silverstone's high speed-corners. My quick lap wasn't as good as it could have been because the gearbox didn't work properly on some downshifts and I lost a little time.

"We're usually a little better off in the race so I think we'll be OK tomorrow now we've seen that the car can be good here whatever the conditions. I think we would be slightly more competitive in the wet, mainly because the Bridgestone tyres are better suited."

Villeneuve's teammate Olivier Panis qualified in 13th position with the second Honda-powered cars.