Canadian GP preview - Jordan-Ford.

With a successful history for Jordan at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit, the Canadian Grand Prix is a cheering prospect for the team, augmenting the motivation from Nick Heidfeld's points finish in Monaco and a solid result at the European Grand Prix.

In its debut F1 season Jordan finished fourth and fifth in Canada, scoring the team's first ever Formula One World Championship points while one of Jordan's two double-podiums came in Montreal in 1995 when Rubens Barrichello and Eddie Irvine finished second and third.

Since then the team has had a further six top-ten finishes in Canada, including another podium with Giancarlo Fisichella's third place in 1997.

"Montreal is a fantastic city and it has a very exciting race track," commented Jordan's head of race and test engineering, James Robinson. "This is our first chance to run the EJ14 with medium downforce configuration which is an interesting prospect.

"The circuit is hard on brakes and hard on the heat durability of the tyres so we have been testing with Bridgestone and are confident that the tyres we are taking will stand us in good stead for the race.

"Part of the enjoyment of the weekend is the location as Montreal is such a great place, they love motor racing and the fans there are well-educated and knowledgeable. They follow Formula One very closely and know what they are watching so hopefully it will be a thrilling race for all."

Jordan carried out a two-day test at Silverstone last week with Heidfeld and Giorgio Pantano. Eight teams participated in the last test session at the Northamptonshire track before the British Grand Prix and Jordan completed over 1000km of test mileage.

Robinson added: "We had a good two days of testing at Silverstone and got through a fair amount of work, mostly Bridgestone's tyre testing and looking at aerodynamic and chassis set-ups for the Canadian Grand Prix. It went quite well other than a few technical glitches, which is usual for a test, so overall it was productive."

So what do the drivers' expect this weekend?

"I'm looking forward to the Canadian Grand Prix, not only because of the race track but especially because I like the city of Montreal very much," revealed Heidfeld, who finished tenth at the European GP two weeks ago.

"I am flying out a few days early to spend some time there, getting used to the time zone and enjoying the city. The circuit is a bit of a stop-go circuit with long straights so it's important to have good top speed and good engine reliability.

"Our test at Silverstone was productive and although much of it was general work including British Grand Prix tyre testing, we did some specific preparations for Canada and that was positive."

Pantano meanwhile will once again be facing the 'unknown', the rookie has never been to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, so like the earlier races in the season, he will have to learn the track and get up to speed as quickly as possible.

"This will be my first trip to Canada and I'm really excited about it as I hear from everybody that Montreal is a very nice place with a good race circuit," he noted. "For me it will be like Australia, Malaysia and Bahrain and I will have to learn the track quickly.

"At this point in the season I was hoping to have done a little bit more but we have had a few problems and that is just motor racing.

"It's a little bit frustrating but each race is a new chance for us. I have had two days of testing at Silverstone which has been really good, not only for the track time but also because it's given me the opportunity to visit the factory. I like that because this team is like a family, and we are all in it together. We all want to see our efforts improving on the track and we are working so hard to improve in every respect."