By Vicki
September 1 2002

Jaguar Racing drivers Eddie Irvine and Pedro de la Rosa gave the team a much needed boost today by producing the best qualifying performances of the season so far. After qualifying a highly impressive 8th place, Irv said, ""We had a feeling going into qualifying that we could get it together and deliver a respectable performance. I had suffered no problems or hold-ups on any of my laps and while I could have got more time out of sector three, I don’t think it would have made any difference to the overall qualifying position." The Irishman hopes to build on his grid slot and maybe convert it to hard currency so to speak, "we have today earned the best qualifying performance of the season so far and we must now aim to capitalise on it. After such a difficult season, we now find ourselves at the sharp end and I will be looking to put on a good fight tomorrow. The car felt pretty well balanced throughout and felt like it could deliver the lap time almost immediately. The team must also be credited for doing a great job and let’s hope I can repay them tomorrow with a similar performance and who knows, maybe even a point."

Pedro de la Rosa was unhappy to have qualified outside the top 10,"if I am honest, I am a little disappointed in myself for not doing a slightly better job." He does however hope to at least be in a challenging position come the start of the race, "we are very well-placed to go racing tomorrow and that in itself is long overdue."