It was a disappointing end to the Canadian Grand Prix weekend for the Super Aguri F1 Team. SAF1 Team driver Franck Montagny suffered an engine failure on lap two whilst team-mate Takuma Sato drove a fantastic race ahead of the Midland F1 car of Monteiro and would have come home in 14th position had he not clipped the wall at turn nine on the final race lap.

　 “I am very disappointed not to have finished the race today, particularly as the start went really well for me and under braking into turn one I overtook both the Midland cars. Unfortunately, after the first safety car came out, David (Coulthard) squeezed past me, damaging my front wing at the second chicane and I had to come into the pits. I then pushed really hard for the entire race, very keen to finish in front of Monteiro, and after the last safety car went in I had to keep pushing the car to keep position. But by this time the circuit was so difficult to drive - the track was covered in marbles and dust - and as I had to continue to push so hard to stay in front of the Midland I went slightly offline and had no grip at all, so unfortunately could not finish the race.”

　 The bright sunshine brought a change of fortune for the Super Aguri F1 team today. The team completed its race day preparations without any issues this morning and is now ready to compete in its first Canadian Grand Prix in the glorious setting of the Gilles Villeneuve circuit on Ile Notre Dame tomorrow.

　 “This morning’s practice session went well, however I am a little bit disappointed with my lap times from the qualifying session compared to our rivals as I was expecting to be closer to their times this weekend. Having said that, I think that we did everything we could in our preparation for tomorrow and I believe that I have a good set-up for the race, so I am looking forward to it.”

　 Changeable weather and track conditions in Montreal contributed to a difficult start to the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix weekend for the Super Aguri F1 team. The team also encountered a number of issues with the SA05 cars, however Takuma and Sakon were able to complete their respective scheduled programmes whilst Franck struggled to find a good set-up for his car.

　 “It was a good first day although we were struggling to find good car balance and suffered quite a lot with oversteer. The cars’ aero specification is very different from what we used when we were in Europe so this morning’s session was spent testing the balance and starting our tyre programme. The cold temperature this morning was not favourable for our tyre runs and although the weather improved in the afternoon we continued to struggle a lot with the balance. We will work on that and hope to have a better day tomorrow.”