| 2nd September - A very welcome point for Jean. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A commendable drive to a sixth place finish for Jean Alesi in today�s Belgian Grand Prix continued the Jordan Honda team�s run of success at Spa. The long overdue points finish now elevates the team to joint fifth in the championship with their arch-rivals, BAR.
Chances of scoring further points were dashed when the engine failed in the ever unlucky Jarno Trulli�s EJ11 just four laps from the end of the race, while the Italian was running strongly in fifth place. Another very positive sight was Jordan's driver for the next three years, Giancarlo Fisichella taking on both McLarens head-to-head in his underpowered Benetton and finishing an amazing 3rd. Eddie will be delighted with his signing. �This is such a good result for me and the team,� said a delighted Alesi. �When I came to Jordan, I knew that the team really wanted to increase its points and I put myself under a lot of pressure to achieve this for the team. It was really motivating to see the pit board with my name and position on it with drivers such as Rubens and Ralf behind me. To score points in Formula One at the moment is very hard, but the team has made a good step forward in terms of reliability and I hope that my first point here today for Jordan is only a starting point. It has been a positive weekend overall, despite our disappointing qualifying positions, but now I just want to score more points and help the team to finish higher in the championship.� �I made a very good start at the re-start and really enjoyed the race,� commented Trulli after the race. �It was great to be able to overtake two cars, Jacques (Villeneuve) and Jean (Alesi), on the first lap under braking on the back straight and I was able to pull away from the cars behind me and achieve competitive lap times. Unfortunately the engine failed just four laps from the end when I was set to finish in fifth place. It is great though that Jean was able to bring home a point for the team and I am happy that today the car�s performance provided me with the opportunity to race competitively.� Kazutoshi Nishizawa, Technical Director with Honda Racing Development, was happy to come away with a point, but knows it could have been more. �I'm very pleased that Jean has scored his first point with a Honda engine. We all enjoyed watching him battle towards the end - he did a good job. We don't know what caused Jarno's engine failure but we will find the problem and resolve it for the next race. �To come away from this race with a point is incredible and far more than I could have expected given our poor qualifying performance," commented Eddie Jordan. �Jean made a brilliant start in the first part and Jarno did the same at the re-start. We were strongly holding fifth and sixth positions overall for the majority of the race so looking very strong for both cars to finish in the points. For Jarno�s race to be over just four laps from the end was frustrating but Jean drove a very commendable race to hold off Ralf to the finish line, and both Jarno and Jean did a great job for the team today. With the exception of Michael, who was in a league of his own, the outstanding drivers today were Jean, Jarno and Giancarlo. It was great to see Giancarlo on the podium, proving his true racing talent, and we hope that he can achieve plenty more podiums next year. I�d like to say well done to Michael as well, for making history ten years on from his debut Grand Prix at this race.�
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