Local hero Takuma Sato endured a tumultuous Japanese Grand Prix to finish a frustrating 13th in front of his home crowd. He ran wide at the first corner and was unable to avoid touching Rubens Barrichello as he tried to get back on track. Having rejoined the race way down in 18th position after taking on more fuel during repairs, Taku was fighting his way back through the field when he was involved in a further incident with Jarno Trulli. The BAR driver managed to continue, but was restricted to a 13th place finish.

　 "This is a very disappointing result for me after the incredible support that I have experienced here from the fans. The start was difficult and, through the first corner, I was side-by-side with Klien and ran wide. Rubens came from behind, ran off in front of me and we made contact, which damaged the front of my car and then both of us went into the gravel. We changed the strategy, but it didn't work well for me and then I had the coming together with Trulli, which was another blow to my race. I'm hugely disappointed for the myself, the fans, the team and Honda, but I will be back here racing at Suzuka."

　 Japanese star Takuma Sato will start from the third row of the grid for his home grand prix, having fifth fastest in tricky conditions in front of an adoring crowd at Suzuka.

The forecasts for qualifying proved to be pin-point accurate as the circuit saw rain showers throughout the morning and the predicted downpour arrive in time for the latter stages of the decisive session. Taku completed just 13 laps across the two morning practice sessions as progressively more rain fell, but was able to continue fine-tuning his race set-up.

He was then the eleventh driver to leave the pit-lane for his qualifying runs, just minutes before the heavens opened...

　 "I am very happy to have qualified in fifth position for my home race. The weather has been kind to us today, and has given us a great chance for tomorrow. Although it started to spit with rain as I went out, it did not affect me that much. However, having not run the intermediate tyres today, I had very big understeer, so I think I did a good lap. I really hope I have a great race tomorrow as the support from the fans has been fantastic."

　 The BAR team made a promising start to its second home grand prix of the season at Suzuka, where Takuma Sato is waiting to play his part in the team's celebration of 100 races with Honda.

The usual army of Japanese fans were already trackside to provide Taku with enthusiastic support on the first day of running, and their hero did not disappoint, securing a top eight place in first free practice. Taku enjoyed a productive morning, working through his planned programme and racking up plenty of miles with no problems.

Overcast skies, and a shower late in the afternoon session, gave an indication of the weather expected at Suzuka over the rest of the weekend, and Taku consequently set about fine-tuning the set-up of the BAR-Honda 007 to the demands of the unique figure-of-eight circuit, as well as finalising a programme of tyre comparisons between the Michelin options available.

　 "We've had mixed weather today, but we forecast that well and did a lot of work on the morning session in preparation for the rain. Today, we focused more on long runs and tyre comparisons and, of course, the rain gave us the opportunity to try out the wet tyre. It looks like it will be a wet practice tomorrow, so the work we did today was very important for that. We have obtained lots of good data, so we have plenty of work ahead of us, but it's looking promising. It was fantastic to see so many fans on the first day of running and to feel such a great atmosphere."