Wilson Enjoys First Day with Jaguar

New Jaguar driver Justin Wilson was delighted after making his competitive debut with the Milton Keynes-based outfit in today's first qualifying for the German Grand Prix.

Briton Wilson, who switched from Minardi to Jaguar last week, was seventh fastest - rocketing from his regular place at the back of the grid to record a quicker lap than both the Ferrari drivers.

The rookie, who is yet to score a point, was very happy with his first day at Jaguar.

"That was awesome," said the Briton. "It's very unusual to see yourself in P7 having outqualified Michael Schumacher on what is my first full day on the job with Jaguar. The car felt fantastic over that one flying lap and I must congratulate the team for the excellent preparation in the build up to that lap.

"I did feel the pressure, yes, but you've just got to go out there and do the best job you can. I was under enough pressure to begin with but when Mark Webber went out and recorded P4, it changed the goal posts completely. That was an excellent lap from Mark and given that I had only done two fast laps on low fuel before that session, I didn't think P7 was possible.

"We still have some work to undertake tomorrow morning and I'm sure there is still time left in the car to extract. The big test is tomorrow's session but suffice to say that I am very pleased with how my first weekend with Jaguar has begun."

Jaguar enjoyed a very promising day, with Australian Mark Webber posting the fourth fastest time, some three tenths of a second ahead of his new teammate.

"I enjoyed that," said Webber. "The car felt very good and the balance works well on this circuit. I made a small mistake at Turn 6 and that prevented me from taking P3 from Jarno Trulli. It is impossible to do these one-lap qualifying shoot-outs and not make tiny errors along the way.

"It must be said that Justin has started off very well and has done a good job today. For me, however, it doesn't matter who is in the other car. My job is to keep pushing to the limit and help take the team forward. Jaguar has come a long way since last year and we will keep the momentum going through to Japan.

"There are still a lot of potential points on offer over the next five races."