Suzuka promises to be a thrilling race for DHL Jordan Honda as it is a favourite circuit for both Giancarlo Fisichella and Takuma Sato, the latter racing in his home Grand Prix for the first time.  Sato is delighted about returning to the circuit which inspired him as a child and later launched his career.

“For me this will be the most exciting Grand Prix of the year because it is my home circuit,” he said.  “It is the first time this has ever happened to me because until now my racing has been based in Europe.  Suzuka was the first place I ever saw a racing car or had any contact with motor racing.  The first motor race I saw was in 1987 at Suzuka. I was a 10 year-old boy and it was like a "Mega-Shock" when I first saw Formula One cars! It was an amazing experience and I wanted to do it myself, but unfortunately my parents had no idea about motor racing.”

The first free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix ran according to plan for Jordan overall, although the session was stopped for more than ten minutes after Jacques Villeneuve crashed his BAR.  Gary Anderson, Jordan's Director of Race and Test Engineering said, "We have been running race fuel loads and checking tyre durability this morning.  We have a small balance problem to fix, but nothing major.  There was also a little bit of movement with Takuma's steering rack, so we are changing that for the second session." 

Kimi Raikkonen and team mate David Coulthard headed the practice times in their McLarens after Friday's two one-hour sessions.  For DHL Jordan Honda Giancarlo Fisichella crept into the top 10, the fastest of the Bridgestone runners after Ferrari, while local hero Takuma Sato was 13th quickest.

Practice was marred by two significant accidents with Jacques Villeneuve crashing his BAR at the exit of Spoon corner during the first session and Juan Pablo Montoya going off in his Williams during the second.

Ferrari and Michelin dominated Saturday's first practice session this morning in Suzuka, with Giancarlo Fisichella in 9th place setting the quickest time of the rest of the Bridgestone runners.  Takuma Sato's engine blew on entry to the pit lane as the session closed, putting the team under pressure as they work hard to replace the rear of Sato's race car with the T-car rear, so that the local Japanese hero can do further set-up work within the second session.

Takuma Sato set a flying lap at the end of Saturday morning's practice at Suzuka, recording the quickest lap of the Bridgestone runners behind Ferrari.  The morning's track action was dominated by Michael Schumacher, although his younger brother was only three tenths of a second behind the Champion in his Williams.

Sato's mechanics saw a repeat of their Saturday morning task in Indianapolis and once again delivered an impressive result in replacing the entire rear end of his car in 30 minutes between the two sessions, following an engine blow at the close of the first session.

Gary Anderson said, "We lost a bit of time after Takuma's engine failed but he and the team recovered really well.  The car doesn't look too bad on new tyres for qualifying and if we pull it all together we might have a chance of getting both cars quite close into the top ten.  The midfield is just so tight though, with tenths of a second separating us, so if you just blink at the wrong time it can go wrong.  It can all come down to who has the most guts in the 'S' bends!"

Takuma Sato and Giancarlo Fisichella will start the final Grand Prix of the season from 7th and 8th positions on the grid after a superb peformance from DHL Jordan Honda in qualifying at Suzuka.  While World Champion Michael Schumacher stormed onto pole position for the 50th time in his career with a dominant performance, Fisichella showed very strongly throughout only to be beaten on the very last run by Sato to the delight of his home crowd.

Qualifying was delayed for one and a quarter hours following the stoppage caused by McNish's accident but resumed with DHL Jordan Honda dominating the battle behind Ferrari, McLaren and Williams.

Sunday warm-up in Suzuka went relatively smoothly for DHL Jordan Honda in Suzuka this morning.  Gary Anderson said, "We are looking reasonable today and I'm fairly optimistic.  Fisichella had a spin after running a bit wide, but he had already put in a few laps so we found out what we needed to know.  Takuma took his race car and the T-car out with no real problems.  We tried a lower downforce level but will probably go back to the orginal set-up for the race."

Takuma Sato was the star of today's Japanese Grand Prix, bringing his Jordan Honda home in a fighting 5th place during a race dominated by World Champion Michael Schumacher.  While the Ferrari driver cruised to his 11th win of the season it was Sato who captured the imagination of the huge home crowd and the media as he fought a battle with the Renaults, eventually overcoming them thanks in part to strong pit work by the mechanics.

Sato's result took DHL Jordan Honda from 8th up to 6th in the World Championship for Constructors in front of BAR Honda and Jaguar Racing, giving the entire team a boost at the end of a tough season.  For team mate Giancarlo Fisichella the day brought personal disappointment, a blown engine forcing him to race the T-car and a similar problem causing him to retire from the event.