Sakon Yamamoto is looking forward to his next outing in the
Super Aguri SA05 after completing a total of 49 trouble-free laps on his
Silverstone debut.
Drafted in to occupy the third Super Aguri earlier in the week, it is the first time that the team have run an additional car in the Friday practice sessions and although Yamamoto admitted that the car was a handful, he was encouraged nonetheless.
"It was my first time to drive the Super Aguri car and it was fun,” he said after getting to within 1.7secs of Franck Montagny. “I was able to feel the car and I think keep consistent runs during both sessions. The car is a little bit hard to control, but I enjoyed my first day very much. I was able to learn a lot from these two sessions and I am looking forward to the next Grand Prix."
However, while the newcomer was kept out of trouble, both
Takuma Sato and Montagny endured a tougher day after more reliability problems restricted their running to 36 and 25 laps respectively.
Fresh from setting the fastest time during testing for the Le Mans 24 Hour race, Montagny was down at the lower end of the field in practice for the British Grand Prix, the Frenchman admitting that he expects Silverstone to be a trial for them.
“We did not run this morning and this afternoon we encountered a few problems too. We had a lot of snap oversteer and it was very difficult to calm the car. We did not find a good set during the sessions, even though with new tyres the car was a lot better for sure.
“My attempts at quick laps were also not clear of traffic, so we unable to gauge the speed of the car here, but it is definitely a difficult track for us, so we have a lot of work to do before tomorrow.”
