By Huw Alban (28/05/03)
May 28 2003

In the official team preview Toyota are keen to make clear that they are up for the Monaco challenge despite an up-and-down season so far. The team were competitive in the principality in 2002 and are hopeful that they will be again. Ove Andersson, Team Principal:

"I said after the race in Austria that I am not going to make any predictions for Monaco, and I have not changed my mind. In the six races so far this season, we have seen some discrepancy in our overall performance, but we are still a young team and we are still learning valuable lessons. Monaco offers all teams and drivers a unique challenge, and I am confident that we are up to this challenge, as we were last year. I think we have all the pieces of the puzzle to get a strong result - it's again about putting them all together - and I am hopeful that Monaco will be the place where we can do just that."

Olivier Panis - Car Number 20:

"The Monaco track is very special. Obviously, I have good memories of my win in 1996, and you simply cannot compare this track to anywhere else on the calendar. It is very important to have a good balance on the car, especially for the one lap qualifying. Qualifying is important on all circuits but it is absolutely essential at Monaco because it is impossible to overtake. This will lead to interesting strategies in second qualifying for the race. The swimming pool is one my favourite parts of the lap and is very fast. It is also worth noting that the corner of the tunnel is one of the quickest corner in the championship - we take it flat-out. We have worked so hard this season, I can't think of a more fitting place than Monaco to score a good result - and my first points of the year."

Cristiano da Matta - Car Number 21:

"Although this weekend will be the first time I get to race in Monaco, I have lived here for the past few months and I have driven on the track many times in a road car. It looks like a fun track and everyone tells me it is great to drive. I hope that my experience of the street tracks in CART will be useful to get to grips with the circuit quickly this weekend. I had a highly productive day of testing at Paul Ricard last week, where we replicated some of the technical pressures that Monaco will serve up, so I am quite hopeful that we can reproduce the kind of points-scoring performance we had in Spain two races ago."