Takuma Sato and the BAR-Honda team endured a gruelling return to racing, taking twelfth place in the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.

An incident-packed 59-lap race was a real test of endurance, due to the unexpectedly high ambient and track temperatures, but Taku - starting 16th - was caught up in a first corner accident that damaged his nosecone and required a first lap pit-stop for a replacement. The stop also forced the Japanese to adopt a three-stop strategy for the remainder of the race and effectively ruined his chances of a points finish.

Contrary to expectation, Taku's Honda engine proved reliable throughout the race, despite having sat dormant for five weeks since Imola, and at least allowed him to secure a much better qualifying slot in Montreal.

　 "We are pleased that we have come back and shown that we have a reliable package, and I really appreciate all of the hard work by everyone in the team - and at Honda - to get us back racing this weekend. After gaining a few positions braking into turn one, one of the two cars involved in the accident in front of me spun sideways and stopped, and so I unavoidably damaged the front wing. After that, we came back with relatively good pace, but we now need to find more speed during our test next week for the races in Canada and Indy."

　 Takuma Sato again had to pay the price for having an early slot in qualifying for Sunday's European Grand Prix, eventually lining up 16th for the Nurburgring event.

Because of the team's two-race absence from the world championship, Taku was the first car to qualify, running when the track was at its most slippery and certainly more difficult than during the morning's two practice sessions. According to the BAR team, the track improved by as much 1.4secs during the session, giving the later runners a big advantage.

　 "The track conditions were totally different to how they were when we finished free practice, so it was a very difficult qualifying session. I was the first car out on track and it was quite windy, with a lot of dust on the circuit, which made it very slippery. I had very low grip, which caused me to slide and run wide before the back straight, which cost me a lot of time. Apart from that, the car is performing well and we hope that we have a good package for the race tomorrow, which I'm looking forward to as I think we can be strong."

　 After five weeks on the sidelines, Takuma Sato and BAR-Honda returned to F1 action at the Nurburgring, recording the 16th fastest time in free practice for Sunday’s European Grand Prix.

Although the Japanese driver enjoyed a trouble-free day, limited mileage designed not to stress his Honda engine - which were last used at Imola on 24 April- meant that he did not have the chance to set a faster mark. Takuma did all of his running in the second one-hour session, after the track surface had been rubbered-in by other cars, completing 20 laps.

Unlike the pacesetters, Taku did not conduct a low fuel run at the end of session two, when the track was at its fastest, because the new qualifying format being introduced this weekend doesn’t require it.

　 "It was good to be back in the cockpit today. The team has done a great job and we were all very excited to be coming back to racing. This morning we only completed installation laps to check that everything was okay as the circuit was quite dusty and we needed to wait for it to improve. We were also taking it easy with the engine. The car feels good, with reasonable balance, but we still need to work on quite a lot for tomorrow's qualifying to improve our pace. But other than that, I just enjoyed the sessions and it is great to be back. We will be working hard for our race set-up."