Sunday October 31st, 1999

Struggle for Arrows
Arrows Press Release

Despite this morning's problems, the Arrows team was able to bring one of its cars across the finishing line at the Japanese Grand Prix. After a heavy crash during the morning's warm-up session, Pedro de la Rosa was forced to use the spare car in the race, and, although it was originally set up for Tora, the team was able to change the set-up for him in time. Pedro managed to finish the race in 13th position, whilst team-mate Tora Takagi was forced to retire on lap 43 after his car developed a gearbox problem.

Pedro de la Rosa: "Of course I am very pleased that I was able to finish my race, despite this morning's problems. Although the car was reliable, I was suffering from a lack of grip. The team did a great job and I know we will use the wintertime to catch up on this year. We need to learn our lessons from this season and prepare ourselves for the new challenges ahead."

Toranosuke Takagi: "The car was running well until lap 40 when I started to have problems with my gears. It got gradually worse and I finally had to retire on lap 43. I really hoped that I would have been able to finish my home race, however, I am glad that Pedro was able to finish the race for the team.