Today’s Weather: Shower delayed start for 10 minutes, then drying track before further late shower. Air 24-27°C, track 24-30°C
Constructors’ Championship Points: 56 (5th)
Drivers’ Championship Points: Jarno Trulli 31 (9th) Timo Glock 25 (10th)
Timo Glock (Car 12, Chassis TF108-07)
Summary: From 10th on the grid he moved up a place on the first lap. Fuelled heavily, he made an early stop just for dry tyres on lap eight. He made up further ground, passing Giancarlo Fisichella for sixth soon after. Showed consistently good pace before making his only fuel stop on lap 36. When the late shower came he stayed out on dry tyres and held fourth but struggled for grip and lost two spots on the last lap.
Race Classification: 6th (+44.368s)
Qualifying Classification: 10th Lap Time: 1m 14.230s (+1.862s in Q3) Grid: 10th
“I was on dry tyres at the end of the race when it was raining quite badly and it was just impossible on the last lap. I was fighting as hard as I could but it was so difficult to just keep the car on the track and I lost positions right at the end of the lap. Finishing in the top six is a decent result for me because I’d been struggling with the car earlier in the weekend but we were very close to fourth place so I am a bit disappointed. It’s the end of my first season with Toyota and I’m happy with it as a whole. It was not easy for me early on but we improved the car a lot and I also improved myself during the year. Since Hockenheim it’s been positive for me; beating my target of 20 points and finishing on the podium as well is a good achievement. Now we have to work even harder for next year to make another step forward.”
Jarno Trulli (Car 11, Chassis TF108-05)
Summary: Made a strong start to hold second place into the first corner. He briefly led but dropped down the order after pitting for dry tyres on lap 11. He gained ground before his second stop on lap 43. Rejoined in ninth, stayed out on dry tyres during the late shower and took a hard-earned point.
Race Classification: 8th (+1m 08.463s)
Qualifying Classification: 2nd Lap Time: 1m 12.737s (+0.369s in Q3) Grid: 2nd
“It was an eventful race. We had a good start and the first laps were pretty good, when I was following Felipe Massa. It started to dry up and we went for dry tyres. Unfortunately I got stuck behind Fisichella who was much slower than me. I didn’t have the top speed to overtake him so I lost a lot of time over those laps. As soon as I got away from him I was one of the quickest on the track, I was recovering quite a lot and closing the gap to the guys in front but it was not enough. When it rained we took the choice to stay on dry tyres and we got a point. Having started second we missed an opportunity but overall we have done a good championship and I am pretty happy with that. Now we are aiming to make even bigger progress for next year. Finally I would like to say that my five years working with Richard Cregan has been fantastic and I wish him all the best with his new career.”
Tadashi Yamashina - Team Principal
“It’s good to finish the season with both cars in the points even if that was a mixed day for us. Timo drove very well and his strategy paid off in these uncertain conditions. He stayed out on dry tyres at the end but just failed to hold on to fourth place. Clearly we came in with high hopes for Jarno after his excellent qualifying yesterday but the weather didn’t work in his favour. There was a problem at his first pit stop and he lost some time, so that cost him position. He did well to score a point in difficult conditions. Overall it is good to finish a positive season for us with a double points finish. We are happy with the progress we have made but our ambitions are higher than this and we want to make more progress. Now we can head into the winter with confidence that we can take another step in 2009.”
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