Formula One news
Lots of problems for Jaguar on Thursday
20 May 2004 / Results / PhotosJaguar Racing drivers, Mark Webber, Christian Klien and Björn Wirdheim took to the street circuit of Monaco today to participate in the first two practice sessions of the Grand Prix weekend. Mark completed eight competitive laps before coming to a stop after suffering from an oil leak caused by a loose engine pressure hose. A fire broke out and as a result of extensive damage to the rear of the car he was forced to sit the second session out.
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"Not the start to the weekend that I had anticipated or hoped for," said Webber after the session. "I had my usual test programme to work through today but unfortunately I suffered a loss of engine oil pressure and had to come to an immediate stop on the track. The car caught on fire and I was forced to act quickly to try and limit the damage to the chassis and engine. The damage, despite my efforts was extensive enough for me to miss out on the second session. The team are working flat out to repair the car and at this stage the engine appears to be ok. However, until I get back out on track and actually put some miles on the car we won't really know. I would have liked to have completed more mileage today but that's the way it goes and we will be back out on Saturday ready for qualifying."
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Christian Klien had a good morning on track and managed to complete his planned test programme. The second session saw him clash with the barriers on corner three after an electrical box failure shut down the engine and then the hydraulics. "This was a completely new track for me today and I am pleased with how it is going," commented Klien. "I had a good morning session and I was getting quicker as I spent more time out there. The street circuit is very different to the other tracks but I like this challenge. As I started to work on tyre comparisons this afternoon an engine electrical box failed and it in turn affected my hydraulics. This caused me to hit the barriers at corner three which was not ideal but looking at the car I am fortunate that there was not more damaged caused considering the lack of run-offs. The team are now looking at the car to assess the damage but I know that the team are in a good position to ensure that my R5 is back up and running for Saturday qualifying."
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Björn Wirdheim was going well when he stopped just outside the tunnel with a wheel speed sensor failure in his first session. After running wide at corner ten in the second session he touched the barriers and damaged the right rear suspension and the front right suspension. A tough day for the team who will now work on the cars in preparation for Saturday's qualifying. "I could have done with some more running time out there but I managed to complete at least some of my programme before there was a wheel speed related problem that caused me to stop this morning," Wirdheim said after the session. "We got the car back out this morning and then this afternoon after running wide at corner ten I hit the barriers and damaged my rear right suspension and front right suspension. The team are working on this now but I would have liked to had kept the car on track and completed more miles."
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