Montagny: Car was not as slow as I had expected!

Franck Montagny made a solid start to his long-awaited Formula One race weekend debut by running team mate Takuma Sato close in practice for the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.

Indeed, it was an encouraging day all round for Super Aguri, with Sato getting the gap down to their nearest competitor, Tiago Monteiro in the MF1 Racing Toyota, to just three tenths, while Montagny belied his lack of experience in the car to emerge a further four tenths behind the Japanese driver.

Montagny, who tested for Renault up until the end of last year, was drafted in as a late replacement for the accident-prone Yuji Ide and having managed to also get within a tenth of Sato in the opening practice session, he has already made a convincing pitch for competing over the remainder of the season.

Indeed, the Frenchman was surprised by the car's performance and insisted that it was not as difficult to drive as he originally thought. "My morning session was not too bad, but unfortunately I had a hydraulic problem in the afternoon and made a small mistake on my fastest lap.

"Overall there was nothing to worry about and I think that the car was getting a little bit better as the track improved. The car was not as slow as I had expected so I was pleasantly surprised! I have spent today getting used to the car and team and I believe that tomorrow will be another good day."

"We completed our planned programme with no problems, which is a good start to the weekend," Sato added. "We have a further aero update for this race which worked well and has improved the balance of the car. We struggled with low grip at the beginning, but towards the end of the sessions both the grip and balance improved. Obviously looking at our lap times we will continue working to step up our pace, but overall it was a good day for the team."

Team principal Aguri Suzuki meanwhile continued to state his disappointment at having to drop Ide from the line-up, but praised Montagny all the same. "It is very regretful that Yuji is not driving with SAF1 Team in this Grand Prix, but Frank Montagny has shown a good performance today and he has provided some valuable information and feedback to the team on the car."