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Takuma Sato was a superb 7th in qualifying at Suzuka
Sato shines as Schumi dominates

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.

Sato was determined to produce a strong performance not only in front of his home crowd but also for Honda in its last Grand Prix with Jordan.  His morning practice was badly affected by a blown engine, the mechanics replacing the entire rear end of his car in 27 minutes!  In qualifying he was slower than Fisichella over the first three runs, setting progressively quicker lap times of 1.34.398, 1.34.033 and 1.33.599, but in the dying seconds of the session he produced a stunning lap of 1.33.090 to knock a full half a second of his previous best and claim 7th position.  To cheers from the grandstands Sato was naturally delighted with the result.

"I'm so happy," he said.  "That was my best qualifying result all season and one of my best moments in a Formula One car. The team made a great recovery after a difficult morning with my engine problem. The mechanics did really well and James (Key), my engineer, did a brilliant job. The car was good, I was comfortable and drove exactly as I wanted to. I just nailed it! The fan support here is superb, they reacted as if I had won the race and it was just qualifying. Realistically the race is still going to be tough, but my target is to score points."

Fisichella had been in strong form throughout, his successive laps of 1.34.266, 1.33.828 and 1.33.276 keeping him in front of his nearest rival at that point, the BAR of Jacques Villeneuve.  On his last run, however, he did not improve due to a gear shift problem allowing Sato to nip in front, but he retained an excellent position on the 4th row of the grid making it an all Jordan Honda affair.

"It’s very impressive," said Fisi afterwards. "I wouldn’t have expected us to be 7th and 8th so it's really good for the team.  I'm happy for Takuma because it's his home Grand Prix he did veryy well.  Unfortunately on my last run the automatic downshift went completely mad and I couldn't improve my time.  I think there was the possibility to be even better year but unfortunately that little problem happened.  Anyway it's been a good day."

At the very front of the field Michael Schumacher was never really troubled, taking pole position with apparent ease.  Much more lively was the battle for second position with Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher edging into that position before Rubens Barrichello claimed it for Ferrari and the McLaren's of David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen pulled ahead of the Williams pair.

Behind the DHL Jordan Hondas, in 9th position, came Villeneuve while his team mate Oliver Panis had gearbox problems and will line up in 16th position after a frustrating day.  The top ten was completed by Jarno Trulli's Renault with team mate Jensen Button 11th ahead of Nick Heidfeld's Sauber and Mika Salo's Toyota.  Eddie Irvine was 14th after a difficult session which saw him pull off with what seemed to be an engine failure, team mate Pedro de la Rosa back in 17th position in front of the lucky McNish and the two Minardis.

Pos Driver Team Time
1 MSchumacher Ferrari 1.31.317
2 Barrichello Ferrari 1.31.749
3 Coulthard McLaren 1.32.088
4 Raikkonen McLaren 1.32.197
5 RSchumacher Williams 1.32.444
6 Montoya Williams 1.32.507
7 Sato DHL Jordan Honda 1.33.090
8 Fisichella DHL Jordan Honda 1.33.276
9 Villeneuve BAR 1.33.349
10 Button Renault 1.33.429
11 Trulli Renault 1.33.547
12 Heidfeld Sauber 1.33.553
13 Salo Toyota 1.33.742
14 Irvine Jaguar 1.33.915
15 Massa Sauber 1.33.979
16 Panis BAR 1.34.192
17 De la Rosa Jaguar 1.34.227
18 McNish Toyota 1.35.191
19 Webber Minardi 1.35.958
20 Yoong Minardi 1.36.767

Jordan Grand Prix