In the last two Free Practice sessions, Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro continued their preparations for the afternoon qualifying and Sunday’s race and set reasonable times, having found a better chassis balance for their cars. In qualifying, Karthikeyan was the third driver to start, and did a good job to qualify in 19th position with a time of 1.13.776. Monteiro made the most of a cleaner track and will start tomorrow's 73-lap race in 17th place. The team will now head into Sunday's Grand Prix with the intention of getting both cars to the chequered flag as it bids to maintain the good reliability record of this season.

TEAM QUOTES ON THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING SESSION

NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN (EJ5/01)
“I had to start quite early in this qualifying session and the track was still a bit dusty. Therefore, I am pretty satisfied with my time and the balance of the car we have found. I think it was, as a whole, a decent lap. The wind was also a bit stronger compared to this morning but generally everything went ok. I now hope we will be able to get to the Finish line tomorrow and maybe score a point.”

TIAGO MONTEIRO (EJ15/03)
“My lap was very good and clean so I am very happy as I pushed really hard to make a good time here. The balance of the car was much better than yesterday and I would like to thank my engineers and team for that. I am quite confident about our race pace for tomorrow. Our Bridgestone tyres seem also to be working very well on long runs; therefore I hope we will have a good race tomorrow. I am also enjoying more to drive on this circuit now that I am used to it. It is really nice to race in front of such enthusiastic fans.”

ADRIAN BURGESS, SPORTING DIRECTOR
“Tiago had a clear and clean circuit and managed to set a reasonable time. Narain did a good job in the first and third sector but was a bit over-cautious in the middle. Overall we are looking good compared to our immediate competition and we are happy with our knowledge for the race tomorrow.”

2005 United States Grand Prix - Main Page
2005 United States Grand Prix - Team and Driver Qualifying Reports Page

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