Saturday March 2nd, 2002

The new Toyota Formula One team achieved the goals set by themselves before their first qualifying session at the Australian Grand Prix, according to team boss Ove Andersson.

The Japanese squad, who impressed in Friday's practice after Mika Salo posted the sixth quickest time of the day, saw their drivers qualifying in what Andersson described as a "respectable" 14th and 16th places, with Finn Salo outqualifying rookie teammate Allan McNish.

"I think we have done a respectable job for our first ever qualifying," said Andersson. "The session was cut short due to the rain, something we have to live with, but 14th and 16th on the grid is pretty good going I think. Our objective was to qualify within the 107% time and we achieved our aim without any problem."

McNish, making his Formula One debut this weekend, agreed with his team boss and was pleased with their performance despite the difficult weather conditions during today's session.

"The weather dictated a lot today in qualifying," said 32-year old McNish. "I wanted to get a lap in at the beginning of the session and we got a good base. Unfortunately it began to rain so we were limited to that one run, but I think overall the team should be happy for our first venture into Formula One."

Published at 04:24:54 GMT