By Phil Giles
July 10 2004

In an absolutely enthralling qualifying session for tomorrows British Grand Prix. Jordan drivers Giorgio Pantano and Nick Heidfeld finished in 16th and 17th places on the road.

Day two of the Grand Prix weekend saw a near capacity crowd invade the Northamptonshire circuit to watch two 45 minute free practice sessions and later, the two Grand Prix qualifying sessions. 

Rain was threatened for the end of the second session and as such, many of the drivers on the grid attempted to avoid the rain by setting deliberately slow qualifying times. Some teams even taking to the gravel to slow themselves up.  Nick's pre-qualifying session ended with a trip across the grass at Vale (Just in front of me!) which bounced the car about and kicked up loads of dust.  Nick aborted his qualifying run and as such was the first car out onto the circuit for the second session.

The final qualifying session saw Giorgio run 4th from last as he posted the 4th fastest time in the pre-qualifying session.  Giorgio's grid position improved after Olivier Panis' best time was taken away after he blocked Felipe Massa's Sauber.  Nick was effectively demoted one grid slot after Fernando Alonso lost 10 places for an engine change during yesterday's practice sessions. 

Giorgio said: “I’m kind of pleased with my lap but I made a mistake in the second sector at Abbey and if it wasn’t for that I would have been a bit quicker. I was slightly nervous about the weather before going out as I went out late and we were concerned about rain - but I was fortunate. We have done quite a lot of testing here so I’m confident with the track and also with the car. Tomorrow we have a good set-up for the race, I think. It would be good for the team and the fans if we got a good result here. Last night I went to the Jordan fan village at the factory and it was fantastic to see how much support we have and I really enjoyed meeting fans. I’m going back for another quick visit this evening.”

Nick commented that he wasn't really pleased with his qualifying lap, despite a great time set in the earlier practice.  “I’m not really satisfied with my lap: I got some graining on the tyres towards the end and therefore missed the apex on one of the corners, losing quite a bit of lap time. Our forecast said there was a high chance of rain during qualifying and I was hoping it would, as I went out early in the session. We are in good shape, definitely better than Magny Cours. We did a long run yesterday and a few weeks ago we tested and sorted out our tyres. We are better prepared and happier with the tyre choice.”

James Robinson said: “It was an exciting qualifying session with the threat of rain looming throughout. In the first session we chose to cover all options with our strategy - one car going at the beginning and one at the end to include the possibilities of rain showers arriving either early or late and maybe with the track drying out towards the end. Some rather ‘interesting’ driving was demonstrated in the first session which I assume was part of other team’s strategies. As it panned out, it stayed dry and we were 16th and 17th although with Alonso losing 10 places following his engine change and the exclusion of Panis's time, Giorgio and Nick both move up. We had no problems except the high cross winds in the session and it was just about watching the skies and seeing if and when the rain would come.”

Here's to a bit of moisture on the track for the race tomorrow and a great chance for more World Championship points.