Takuma Sato's Italian Grand Prix ended in frustration as his BAR-Honda team was unable to carry a promising qualifying result into the race.

Hopes of championship points fell victim to a fuel rig problem at Taku's first stop, and a general lack of pace hampered his attempts to make up lost ground.

Taku made a good start, quickly regaining fourth place by the end of the first lap. However, when he made his first scheduled pit-stop on lap 15, the fuel rig indicated that the delivery may have been unsuccessful, and the team was forced to exercise caution in bringing him in again on the next lap. The unscheduled stop completely threw what would have been a promising strategy, and Taku finished the race a disappointing 16th position.

　 "It was a disappointing race and a sad result for us. The start was quite exciting - I defended my position into turn one, but I was already side-by-side with Trulli and, at the end of lap one, I overtook him again and gained a position, which was an exciting moment. During the first stint, everything looked fine but, when I came to my first pit-stop, we had some trouble with refuelling and, when I went back out again after the second stop, the car became difficult to handle as it was very heavy and I lost a lot of grip. It's a shame as the weekend up to this point had been good for us, but we have to look forward to next weekend in Spa."

　 Takuma Sato will start the 53-lap Italian Grand Prix from the second row of the grid after a superb performance in qualifying. The Japanese driver will line up in fourth position after

the BAR team's engineers made a number of changes to his car's set-up, which resulted in a significant improvement through morning practice and during qualifying.

Taku moved steadily up the timesheets in the two morning sessions, ending the morning as the third fastest driver and providing a clear measure of the progress made overnight. Despite Kimi Raikkonen's engine penalty elevating him to the 'dirty' side of the grid, Taku is looking forward to a strong race at the legendary Autodromo Nationale Monza, where he finished fourth last year.

　 "I enjoyed the lap and I'm very happy to be starting fourth tomorrow. I was very pleased with the car's balance this morning, when we were very consistent through the longer runs during free practice. We have a strong package now, after making some changes since yesterday, and I hope, tomorrow, we can repeat the success that we had here last year. Traditionally, we always have a good race in Monza, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

　 Following a productive test at the Autodromo Nationale Monza last week, where the BAR-Honda team completed an intensive two-day development programme, Takuma Sato began his Italian Grand Prix challenge on a quiet note.

During the morning's first free practice session, Taku completed a total of just 13 laps whilst working through his usual tyre evaluation programme, and finished in an encouraging seventh position. He also completed his afternoon programmes without any technical issues, but will work with the team overnight to find a way of improving the overall pace of the 007.

　 "Today went smoothly and we completed all of our planned programme. The track conditions weren't much different from testing here last week and the car balance is good. We concentrated on tyre evaluation this afternoon, rather than outright performance, but it seems that we will still have some work to do before tomorrow to move further up the field in terms of pace. Generally, we have made a good start and we look forward to improving through the rest of the weekend."