The Panasonic Toyota Racing had a sort of a déjà vu when racers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher both raced the home race today. Trulli was able to hit 13th while Schumacher did not have the chance to finish. The same thing happened back in the first World Championship Japanese Grand Prix at the track in 1976 and both racers experienced difficulty on the Fuji Speedway when they were attacked by rain making it difficult for them to race.Although the racing action was attacked by rain, Jarno Trulli who is wearing a specially designed helmet for the Panasonic Toyota Racing team managed to make it to the 13th leaving another racer Ralf Schumacher two places back than Trulli. Both drivers may not be wearing a Ford Mustang fuel pump as part of their racing car but both of them are using Bridgestone Potenza tires to take on the wet race track. Trulli was able to make the 19 laps when he made his stop for the fuel on the lap 18. Ralf stopped at the lap 28 but was able to continue the race on the wet race track. On lap 43, Ralf experienced an accident until the race resumed 5 laps later. Ralf finally made his decision to stop.
Ralf had to stop the race when the water on the cockpit called for repair on the 53rd lap. The auto experts that fixed Ralf's racing car did the quickest repair but as soon as he went back on the track, Ralf lost several laps and it ended his race to a slow puncture. He failed to make it to two more laps on the flag.
Both racers are heading to the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit for another race of the season.
Jarno Trulli was quoted by Motorsport saying, "It was a very difficult race from the beginning. Even behind the safety car the conditions were really bad - there was a lot of spray and it was hard to see anything on the straight. Behind the first safety car unfortunately I made a mistake in the hairpin. While I was warming up the tires I shifted down and this caused a shift down of one gear too much and the car spun."
"Because of that I lost several positions, then when the safety car came in the race was very wet and visibility was really, really poor. They were difficult conditions and I was suffering with lots of aquaplaning and poor grip. I think it was a tough afternoon for everyone out there and obviously I am disappointed with this result."
He was able to attain this record score:
Jarno Trulli
Chassis: Chassis TF107/04
Race Classification: 13th (+1 lap)
Ralf Schumacher also commented and said, "We've had a tough time all weekend and today that continued. Unfortunately my radio stopped working midway through the race but then with all the rain, water got into our electrics and that forced me to pit again. My crew fixed the problem but we had a puncture so that was that."
"It wasn't a very enjoyable race because of the rain, which made the track really slippery and meant there was pretty much zero visibility when we were running under safety car at the start. It was a real challenge to drive with all the spray but the conditions improved a bit as the race went on. There's not much more to say about this weekend - I just hope we can get a better result next week in China."
He also attains this score at the end of the game:
Ralf Schumacher
Chassis: TF107/05
Race Classification: DNF
The Team Principal Tadashi Yamashina was also quoted by Motorsport saying, "Today it was very difficult for us. Towards the end of the race, on Ralf's car, the main electronics box failed because of water in the cockpit but the team did well to fix the problem so Ralf could continue and race in front of our Japanese fans. Then we found the new set of tires had a slow puncture, we think this was because of debris. For Jarno, we still have to analyze what happened because obviously the car wasn't competitive."
"We need to focus our energy on improving mechanical grip and aerodynamics. We must push very hard to make improvements. Our car was not competitive in these conditions but now we will do our best for the Chinese Grand Prix. I would like to say congratulations to Fuji Speedway for hosting this race for the first time in 30 years. The facilities here are excellent and the race was well organized. It is a shame we could not get the result we wanted in this race."
Ralf had to stop the race when the water on the cockpit called for repair on the 53rd lap. The auto experts that fixed Ralf's racing car did the quickest repair but as soon as he went back on the track, Ralf lost several laps and it ended his race to a slow puncture. He failed to make it to two more laps on the flag.
Both racers are heading to the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit for another race of the season.
Jarno Trulli was quoted by Motorsport saying, "It was a very difficult race from the beginning. Even behind the safety car the conditions were really bad - there was a lot of spray and it was hard to see anything on the straight. Behind the first safety car unfortunately I made a mistake in the hairpin. While I was warming up the tires I shifted down and this caused a shift down of one gear too much and the car spun."
"Because of that I lost several positions, then when the safety car came in the race was very wet and visibility was really, really poor. They were difficult conditions and I was suffering with lots of aquaplaning and poor grip. I think it was a tough afternoon for everyone out there and obviously I am disappointed with this result."
He was able to attain this record score:
Jarno Trulli
Chassis: Chassis TF107/04
Race Classification: 13th (+1 lap)
Ralf Schumacher also commented and said, "We've had a tough time all weekend and today that continued. Unfortunately my radio stopped working midway through the race but then with all the rain, water got into our electrics and that forced me to pit again. My crew fixed the problem but we had a puncture so that was that."
"It wasn't a very enjoyable race because of the rain, which made the track really slippery and meant there was pretty much zero visibility when we were running under safety car at the start. It was a real challenge to drive with all the spray but the conditions improved a bit as the race went on. There's not much more to say about this weekend - I just hope we can get a better result next week in China."
He also attains this score at the end of the game:
Ralf Schumacher
Chassis: TF107/05
Race Classification: DNF
The Team Principal Tadashi Yamashina was also quoted by Motorsport saying, "Today it was very difficult for us. Towards the end of the race, on Ralf's car, the main electronics box failed because of water in the cockpit but the team did well to fix the problem so Ralf could continue and race in front of our Japanese fans. Then we found the new set of tires had a slow puncture, we think this was because of debris. For Jarno, we still have to analyze what happened because obviously the car wasn't competitive."
"We need to focus our energy on improving mechanical grip and aerodynamics. We must push very hard to make improvements. Our car was not competitive in these conditions but now we will do our best for the Chinese Grand Prix. I would like to say congratulations to Fuji Speedway for hosting this race for the first time in 30 years. The facilities here are excellent and the race was well organized. It is a shame we could not get the result we wanted in this race."