2004 San Marino GP

After three fly away races, the teams look forward to returning to Europe and Imola for the San Marino Grand Prix. The return to Europe means teams are able to use their own trucks and motorhomes, rather than working out of freight cases and make-shift offices. Imola isn't actually in San Marino, but just over the border in Italy about 25 miles south-east of Bologna. Imola is the only circuit, other than Brazil, to run in an anti-clockwise direction. Opened in 1952, the then fast track underwent revisions following the race in May 1994 when Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger tragically died. The fast corners have been slowed by chicanes, making this circuit heavy on braking with good acceleration power needed out from the many second gear corners. Imola is therefore one of the higher downforce circuits, with the track gradients making it a race for the fittest.

Giorgio Pantano made a good start to the San Marino Grand Prix however he and team mate Nick Heidfeld had to retire from the race with respective hydraulic and transmission problems, a frustrating conclusion to Jordan Ford’s weekend in Imola. The drivers both reported performance improvements in the car, but ultimately reliability issues prevented them from realising the car’s potential in the race, so the team looks to the next opportunity with the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

Giorgio Pantano and Nick Heidfeld qualified 15th and 16th for the starting grid of the San Marino Grand Prix, with Pantano leading Jordan Ford’s qualifying results for the first time, in only his fourth Formula One race. Both drivers were generally satisfied with the car’s balance today and hope recent improvements to the EJ14 package will further their chances of success in the race.

Nick Heidfeld said "I feel that we have made a lot of improvements on the car itself recently although I did hope to be even closer to the people ahead of us. I still feel that the balance of the car is not really as good as it could be and I'm confident we can improve it for tomorrow."

Jordan Ford approaches the first European race of 2004 with renewed optimism after a productive test at Silverstone in which the team’s three drivers completed more than 2000km of test mileage. Promising work on Bridgestone’s tyre programme, some incremental developments with the car and the drivers’ satisfaction with their first test opportunity since the season began some eight weeks ago, have all contributed to the team’s hope for improvements in performance. The return to Imola this year marks the 10th anniversary of Ayrton Senna’s fatal accident in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix and in memoriam, Jordan and Bahrain will display an emblem of the Ayrton Senna Foundation on the engine covers of the EJ14 cars this weekend.

The San Marino Grand Prix this year marks the 10th anniversary of Ayrton Senna's fatal accident at Imola in 1994. Eddie Jordan, Chief Executive of Jordan Grand Prix, has emotional recollections of the legendary Brazilian driver and the weekend of his death. “In September 1982, I gave Ayrton da Silva, as he was known before he changed his name to Senna, his first F3 test at Silverstone - and he was staggeringly quick,” he said.