Some 120,000+ fans cheer both Super Aguri F1 Team drivers home in 15th adn 17th places at the Japanese Grand Prix, as the small team ensured that it made its first appearance at Suzuka as a close rival to Spyker MF1 and Scuderia Toro Rosso.

　 "This is an absolutely fantastic result for the team-we could not have asked for anything more. Our performance at the beginning of the weekend was not as it should have been, but I believe that we have done everything that we could for the race. The start was very exciting. I overtook a few cars into turn one, but then I got held up and re-overtaken. At the Esses, I re-overtook Scott Speed, which was an exciting moment. Unfortunately, my pace then was not enough and I was overtaken by Speed again. But, after I settled into the race, the car worked very well and the Bridgestone tyres gave superb performance, so I was able to run competitively. The boys in the team did a tremendous job - I think that the pit-stops were the best we have done all season, very quick and very accurate. And the fans were incredible! We had great support and, at the end, I could see all of the flags shining through the sunlight. For me, counting down the laps to the last lap at Suzuka is a very special feeling, but also very sad as the race is ending, and especially as this may be our last race here for a while. I think that the team is really satisfied with our two-car finish today."

　 Warm temperatures and dry conditions welcomed the Super Aguri team to qualifying at Suzuka, only for the team to suffer a difficult day. After team-mate Sakon Yamamoto spun out of the timed session, Takuma Sato found his SA06 lacking pace compared to the rest of the field.

　 "We were quite happy with our progress during the morning's free practice session and felt prepared for qualifying this afternoon. However, during qualifying, we were just not quick enough, so I am quite disappointed. We shall now just have to see what happens tomorrow and hope that we have a strong package for the race."

　 The Super Aguri F1 team made its first home apeparance on a wet Suzuka track, with all three drivers on track during both hours. The weather conditions improved in the afternoon as the sun came out and the track started to dry, allowing the team to complete most of its planned Friday test encouraged by the SA06's performance.

　 "Basically, we completed our wet and dry runs during the changing weather conditions, which made it very difficult to evaluate the different car set-ups and meant that we could not do our back-to-back tyre test. However, we were able to collect a lot of useful data. The car was working well with no problems today, so it has been a good start and it is great to see the incredible support from our fans from day one."