|
jarno trulli uk fan club |
|
|
Contents |
31st October 2004 karting
in rome Jarno was in Rome for
the Champions Cup Roma Kart 2004 street race. Jarno loves any opportunity to
get into a kart and drive, and before the actual racing started, Jarno did
some exhibition laps to raise money for charity. 29th October 2004 monument
at coppa acerbo Jarno Trulli was present at 11am on 29th
October 2004,when a monument was unveiled dedicated to the circuit of Coppa
Acerbo, near the legendary corner of Occhi Bianchi, between Spoltore and
Cappelle sul Tavo. The monument represents the victory of Enzo Ferrari with
an Alfa Romeo RLSS, in the first performance of the famous Pescaran race
which took place in 1924. By coincidence, the first performance of the Coppa
Acerbo was on the 13th July 1924 and exactly 50 years after, on 13th
July 1974 Jarno Trulli was born in Pescara! 4th October 2004 brazilian
gp. race. Awkward Brazilian weather! It made for a difficult race for
Jarno, but it was worse for native Barrichello, who did manage to finish the
race this year, but not on the top step of the podium as he craved. It began
to drizzle before the race, and all drivers except the Renaults and Coulthard
began the race on intermediate tyres. When the track dried after a few laps,
Alonso and Villeneuve were able to stay out while the others dived into the
pits for a tyre change. The Renaults were also two-stopping, which enabled
Alonso to finish 4th, but Villeneuve could only manage 10th
somehow, just two places ahead of Jarno. On the first lap, Raikkonen and
Massa both passed Montoya, and Raikkonen passed Barrichello at one point,
only to be overtaken back. Michael Schumacher spun on lap 3 as he made his
way through the field, and like most others, he pitted for a tyre change soon
afterwards. Button’s car started smoking on the grid and expired for good on
lap 4. The lead changed between Barrichello, Massa, then Alonso, until Alonso
pitted on lap 18, to give Montoya the lead. Heidfeld’s Jordan gave up the
ghost at about the same time. Only other retiree was Mark Webber, who
collided with his team mate Klien in Jaguar’s last ever race. Klien had to
pit for a change of nose, and eventually finished 14th. Montoya
and Raikkonen swapped the lead through the pit stops, and Montoya came out on
top. Jarno was lapping faster than either Renault in the third stint, as the
track dried, but no one else retired and he could do no better than 12th
place, with Ricardo behind in 13th. Sato was overtaken by Ralf
Schumacher on the last lap for 5th place. Top 8: Montoya,
Raikkonen, Barrichello, Alonso, R. Schumacher, Sato, M. Schumacher, Massa. Toyota Racing Press Release Jarno
Trulli (Car 16, Chassis TF104/10B) ITV Watch: Something new
to talk about today…..the new regulations, including aggregate times. Of the
few driver interviews they showed……Mark and Jense, of course, and two Renault
drivers for some reason……most didn’t like it, which was good to see. They got
the Rubens interview in early, in an assessment of his chances of his winning
the race. Maybe his chances of an ITV contract for next year depend on
it…..or maybe they pay him a retainer over the winter. Next came a re-run of
the Jenson/BAR/Williams situation. After all parties saying they are making
the best of it, Grimbo is still trying to stir things up…. “but where is
Jenson’s heart really?” Still in his chest, mate. Then there was the usual DC
‘Gissa Job Appeal’, a bit more detailed than usual. His manager Martin
Brundle, who has failed to secure DC a drive for next year, wasted precious
minutes on the grid interviewing the two reprobates who make up The Max and
Bernie Show. Eccle$tone is always facetious and got Brundle to plug his book
rather than answer any difficult questions like ‘why are you so greedy?’
After the start of the race, Louise was able to interview Jenson rather
quicker than they hoped, as he retired on lap 4, and he didn’t sound too
pleased about it either. They could have done the same for Mark Webber if he
could have managed to get back after his altercation with his team mate’s
car…..or maybe he just didn’t want to show his face in the garage! The TV
coverage was poor once again, which wasn’t ITV’s fault. What was their fault
was deciding to interview Connie Montoya in the closing stages of the race,
with pictures of her rather than the cars on the screen! What WAS she doing
near the McLaren garage anyway……moved her stuff in already? Or was she
waiting outside because they wouldn’t let her in yet? James Allen told us
that McLaren will celebrate because their 2005 driver won, even though their
current driver was only second; don’t think so, somehow. Good ol’ Grim didn’t
let us down either…..he reckoned Alonso had a good first half of the race.
It’s a race of two halves, Grim, you should know that, being a football ‘expert’.
I predicted that the press conference would be cut short because of
Coronation Street following, but even I didn’t expect it to be cut short
after the winner’s speech to go to a DC interview. You would have thought
there would have been some interest in a driver who changed teams for the end
of the season……oh yes, there was, Villeneuve. ITV failed to interview Jarno
at all since he was in a Toyota. They have their favorites lined up for next
season….. Jenson, Mark and Rubens….and maybe a little Fernando if he has a
good half of the season; they are probably gonna have to drop DC now….. or
will we see him in the commentary box? Now there’s a thought….. he could be
better than James anyway…..how about GOOOOOOOOOOO in a Scottish accent? 23rd October 2004 brazilian
gp.qualifying. Michael Schumacher has changed engines after his morning crash
so will drop 10 places after qualifying. In the first session he was 4th
quickest, while Barrichello took top honours. The top 13 drivers were covered
by less than 0.9 seconds in a competitive session. Jarno was 10th,
Zonta 15th, Alonso 12th and Villeneuve 13th.
Top 6: Barrichello, Montoya, Massa, M. Schumacher, R. Schumacher, Sato. It was Barrichello’s day, as he took pole position, two tenths ahead
of the nearest place driver, Montoya. Michael Schumacher qualified 8th,
which becomes 18th on the grid. Jarno was 10th, moving
up to 9th, just behind Alonso. Zonta was 15th (14th),
just behind Villeneuve in 14th (13th). Top 6:
Barrichello, Montoya, Raikkonen, Massa, Button, R. Schumacher. Toyota
Racing Press Release
Jarno
Trulli (Car 16, Chassis TF104/10B) ITV Watch: Qualifying took place at a time when ITV are
entertaining their early evening audience with such gems as Harry Hill’s TV Burp,
so we don’t normally get to see it until later. But ITV have remembered that
they have ITV2 available, maybe because the Coronation Street Omnibus found
itself on there today, while they showed The Planet’s Funniest Animals, and a
film Young Sherlock Holmes (don’t ask me why) in its usual place. Of course,
putting F1 qualy on ITV2, was no help at all to those of you who don’t have
Sky, cable or some kind of set top box. If you didn’t get to see the replay
later, this is what happened. Naturally ITV have an interest in ‘the legend’
Jenson Button, so their first item was a report on JB’s contract shenanigans
and the decision from the CRB that he must stay at BAR. Grim Rosenthal took
it quite well, considering he and the boys were so excited before about Our
Jense driving for Williams. It was a close call, according to ITV, and judged
only on a procedural error by JB’s manager, John Byfield, when he didn’t tell
BAR they hadn’t taken up the option properly. Or something like that.
Providing the prompts, Grim got Mark Blundell to praise Jenson for still
getting results while this was all still going on. All this automatically led
to the question of who will take the spare Williams seat, which enabled DC to
give his CV on air for about the third race weekend running. Another
candidate in ITV’s opinion, is SuperAnt Davidson, who reckons everyone knows
his good Friday performances are not due to low fuel. Ahem. Also on the list
of candidates were Nick Heidfeld and the most likely, Antonio Pizzonia, who
also got interviewed. This was followed by the first of a series of Mark
Webber interviews, saying why he doesn’t think Antonio should get the job
(they have history from 2003). Then Grim interviewed an annoying little
hobbit, who was talking about the possible loss of the British GP and trying
to sound very reasonable, while blaming everyone else for it as usual. He
tried to distract Grim by throwing up the subject of TV not being allowed to
show F1 next year if the cars have tobacco advertising on them, because the
government is introducing a European law which bans it. He’s a little
troublemaker, isn’t he? This has not been mentioned yet in relation to F1.
Maybe they can just show the cars not sponsored by tobacco, hey? Or the races
that already ban it? Next came a report on the demise of Jaguar, also
requiring the second Mark Webber interview. They were quite keen to show
Michael Schumacher’s crash, and also DC’s dodgy spin in the pitlane. There
was the smallest glimpse of Jarno winning Monaco on their collage of important
clips from the season. This doesn’t make up for the fact they haven’t
interviewed Jarno since he joined Toyota. But the Renaults have been ignored
lately too. They can hardly fit it in with Jenson and Mark taking over. And
then there is ITV presenters’ Rubinho fan club, which has already been in
evidence this weekend. James Allen and Martin Brundle very kindly talked
about Jenson for half of Jarno’s flying lap, then declared Jarno would be
unhappy with it: he later said he was extremely pleased and couldn’t have
done any better, so that’s how much they know. Over someone else’s lap
they then did another Mark Webber interview! What is going on? Are
they practising for when he is at Williams next year? James reckoned it was
an exciting qualifying session. Er, no. Not in this house, it wasn’t. James
got very excited, true, when Rubens got pole, but that’s not the same thing.
After the session, Louise interviewed DC, presumably so he could give his
excuses about his poor qualifying lap, but he wasn’t playing ball and denied
it was fuel load. ITV showed loads of the press conference for a change, even
allowing time for the second question to the pole sitter….but it was
ITV favourite, Rubens Barrichello. He blotted his copybook though, by rudely
turning and chatting to Montoya when Kimi was being interviewed. Then……an ITV
scoop! The details of the new qualifying system just voted in by the teams….
“you heard it here first!” Well, you did if you had ITV2. If not, by the time
you heard it, it had been all over the internet for several hours! 23rd October 2004 brazilian
gp. saturday practice. After only 5 minutes in the first session, two stray dogs
appeared to have a death wish as they ran onto the track. The session was
stopped and only re-started after 25 minutes when “every access point had
been secured”, according to the FIA. This is F1, so schedules can’t be
flexible and the first session was reduced to only 20 minutes. In the ensuing
panic, Villeneuve spun and failed to set a time. Button was the quickest man
and his team mate was second. Jarno was 11th, Ricardo 15th.
Alonso was 13th. Top 6: Button, Sato, Raikkonen, Barrichello, R.
Schumacher, M. Schumacher. With a couple of minutes to go in the second session, Michael
Schumacher lost control over the bumps into turn 6 and crashed heavily into
the tyre wall. There was even a small fire in the back of the Ferrari. He had
still set the second fastest time behind his team mate Barrichello. The two
McLarens were next on the time sheets, although Coulthard experienced a
strange spin at the entrance to the pitlane. This was later put down to a
technical problem. The Toyotas were 14th (Zonta) and 15th.
Villeneuve actually managed 12th in this session so maybe he is
improving. Top 6: Barrichello, M. Schumacher, Raikkonen, Coulthard, Button,
Alonso. 22nd October 2004 brazilian
gp. friday practice. It was dry, which is a good start after the last GP weekend!
Notching up 15 laps in the first session, Jarno was 7th quickest, faster
than a whole bunch of drivers, including both Ferraris, both BARs , and
especially both Renaults. Montoya was fastest and Ralf third for Williams,
sandwiching Toyota’s Friday test driver Briscoe, who was P2. Jarno is
partnering Brazilian Ricardo Zonta in this race. Minardi’s Friday man
Leinders was unable to set a time. Top 6: Montoya, Briscoe, R. Schumacher,
Raikkonen, Davidson, Coulthard. The Ferraris found their way back to the top in session 2, with
Barrichello the faster. The BARs lined up together from P4 to P6, and the
Williams nestled together in 10th (Ralf) and 11th.
Robert Doornbos, Jordan Friday tester did something magical in a Jordan to be
P13. This was ahead of 11 other drivers, including Jarno (16th) and Ricardo
(14th). Top 6: Barrichello, M. Schumacher, Raikkonen, Button,
Davidson, Sato. Toyota Racing
Press Release
Ricardo Zonta (Car 17, Chassis TF104/09B) 18th October 2004 brazilian
gp. preview. Jarno
Trulli - Race Driver, Car Number 16 8th October 2004 japanese
gp. race. Jarno got a good start overtaking Webber as the Jaguar got
bogged down, and ran in fifth place for the first stint. Through the stops
the car lost ground as the tyres affected the car balance, but Jarno brought
the car home with no mistakes in 11th place. Interestingly, he was
one place and only 6.5 seconds behind the ‘superior’ Renault of Jacques
Villeneuve. Meanwhile Villeneuve’s team mate Alonso came 5th, but
he did benefit from the retirement after a collision of two cars in front of
him, Barrichello and Coulthard. BAR brought both cars home in third (Button)
and fourth, establishing their strong second place in the Constructor’s
Championship. Renault are now 16 points behind, needing a win and a third
place (or a miracle) to overtake BAR again. Panis, in his last race was
slower than Jarno all day and finished 14th. Mark Webber had to
retire with a bizarre problem on lap 21: something in the cockpit under his
seat heated to burning temperature and Mark could not continue without
getting blisters on his bottom. Baumgartner’s sad weekend culminated on his
retirement on lap 42. Michael Schumacher led from start to finish and that
was that. Top 8: M. Schumacher, R. Schumacher, Button, Sato, Alonso,
Raikkonen, Montoya, Fisichella. Toyota
Racing Press Release
Jarno
Trulli (Car 16, Chassis TF104/10B) ITV Watch: There was no qualifying programme because qualy was
cancelled so ITV decided not to bother and showed some repeat programme about
Murray Walkeron Saturday instead. On race day, they squeezed the qualifying
report into about 3 minutes of their half hour pre-race programme, which was
a shame as Jarno was on provisional pole in first qualy and barely got a
mention. All we got to see was Rubens making a mistake and a tiny piece of
Sato’s lap from Q2. They didn’t show us a list so we had to guess the rest.
Grim Rosenthal and Fony Jardine moved on to a discussion about the British GP
problems, interviewing Ecclestone, Brundle, DC, and Jenson, the comments
demonstrating how Ecclestone moves the goalposts all the time. Bernie the
Bolt described the BRDC as run by ‘gentlemen.’ Is he sure? That includes
Jardine himself and Mark Blundell! Takuma Sato was interviewed with some
cuddly ‘labbit’ mascot. As we only had half an hour before the start,
naturally there was no grid walk, so it was rather weird as Grim and Fony
chatted their way through the grid. The Japanese TV director missed loads of
action….Sato passing Button (more on that later), Alonso being allowed to
pass Villeneuve, Montoya on Raikkonen, and rather more importantly, the
Barrichello/Coulthard clash which led to both retiring. There didn’t seem to
be any pictures of that in retrospect either! But at least it was an excuse
to get the Rubens interview in. We had to watch Villeneuve trundling round on
his own for ages, then there was the interminable shot of Taku’s helmet from
the side. Well, I suppose we were in Japan. The ITV commentators and ‘pit
crew’ kept us amused though. James Allen: “Toyota are waiting for one of
their drivers…..what can you tell us Ted?” Ted: “Well, I’m down here in the
Jaguar garage….” James: “ …some big names in grand prix racing are in this
little scrap…and Ralf Schumacher is in there as well…..” James also got very
excited about Jenson’s good getaways from his pitstops….that’s what he’s
supposed to do James, you’re just used to him having a problem with the
anti-stall. Fony treated us to a nice description of Mark Webber’s ‘burning
bum’ problems that caused his retirement, and told us that Mark has suffered
in that area before….when he had boils on his posterior due to cycling in
Tasmania…..Fony seems to be an expert on Mark’s bottom. Our Grim was outraged
that ‘his’ Jenson had been asked to let Sato past early in the race and was
convinced the 4 seconds involved cost his boy second place. Fony explained
that the two BAR drivers were on different strategies, but there was no
placating Grim. He even asked David Richards about it. But he must have been
pleased that Fony Jardine reckons that Jense is now among the top 3 drivers
on the grid, and he was also referred to as ‘the top British driver.’ Poor
ol’ DC. 10th October 2004 japanese
gp. qualifying. Qualifying took place on Sunday morning before the race. First qualifying
went rather well for Jarno, considering he only had a few practice laps in
the Toyota on Friday. Going out at the end because he didn’t take part in the
last race, Jarno took advantage of the drying conditions to set the fastest
time. Team mate Panis was fifth. Baumgartner spun and didn’t complete his
lap. Top 6: Trulli, M. Schumacher, R. Schumacher, Webber, Panis, Sato. Jarno maintained his good form in second qualifying, finishing 6th
in the order. Fastest was Michael Schumacher, ahead of brother Ralf and Mark
Webber hauling the Jaguar up to third place. Baumgartner didn’t re-appear and
Massa spun and abandoned his lap. Top 6: M. Schumacher, R. Schumacher,
Webber, Sato, Button, Trulli. Jarno
Trulli (Car 16, Chassis TF104/10B) Qualifying:
6th (1m35.213s / +1.671s) Olivier
Panis (Car 17, Chassis TF104/09B) Qualifying:
10th (1m36.420s / +2.878s) 9th October 2004 japanese
gp. saturday practice. Cancelled! 8th October 2004 japanese
gp. friday practice. Japan is in the grip of a typhoon that is working it’s way north
through the country. The worst day is Saturday and qualifying is in jeopardy,
and today’s practice was affected by
heavy rain. 8 drivers did not set a time at all in the first session,
including Jarno’s team mate, Olivier Panis. Jarno did run, attempting to
assess the car and get to know it in the wet. Michael Schumacher set the
fastest time, with Fisichella just behind and Barrichello third. Jarno was 14th
quickest. Top 6: M. Schumacher, Fisichella, Barrichello, Button, Heidfeld,
Raikkonen. There was a brief respite in the rain during the second session
and only 4 drivers didn’t set a time, once again including Panis. Massa spun
into the gravel and hit the barriers. Glock had a few incidents, and Alonso
and Michael Schumacher also had spins. Baumgartner also ended up in the
gravel. Jarno was again 14th fastest. Top 6: M. Schumacher,
Fisichella, Raikkonen, Barrichello, Coulthard, Glock. Toyota Racing Press Release Jarno
Trulli (Car 16, Chassis TF104/10B) 8th
October 2004 japanese
gp. preview. Jarno
Trulli - Race Driver, Car Number 16: 3rd October 2004 toyota
event in tokyo. Jarno took part in
his first PR event for Toyota in Tokyo today. A presentation in Toyota’s
large showroom was followed by a demo run by Olivier Panis in the TF104. Toyota’s
Director of Technical Co-ordination, Keizo Takahashi, said that Jarno had
given them some useful hints regarding the race car. Talking about Suzuka,
Jarno said: “I would like to finish the race. It is important for me to run
until the last lap.” 1st October 2004 Jarno
to race in Japan and Brazil Panasonic
Toyota Racing has today announced that Jarno Trulli will race for the team in
the last two races of the season, the Grands Prix of Japan and Brazil. |
|
|
|