Formula One news

Mid-grid slots for Toyota

The Toyota team placed itself in solid midfield grid positions at Yas Marina as Jarno Trulli and Kamui Kobayashi set times quick enough for sixth and twelfth ahead of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Pleased with a top six result, Trulli admits that the achievement required fair amounts of effort.

Kobayashi qualifies in a Finnish sandwich

Having featured more off the track this weekend - thanks mainly to his spat with Adrian Sutil on Thursday - Trulli quietly made his way to sixth, slower only than the championship-leading Brawn and Red Bull cars plus the rapid McLaren of pole winner Lewis Hamilton.

"It was a difficult session because it was an extremely hard fight in hot conditions," the Pescara man explained later. "The lap times were really close, despite it being a long circuit. I felt I got it right in each session and I am happy with sixth place - it's fun to be fighting at the front of the grid so it was a nice experience again for me."

Trulli's position would score him three points on Sunday

With Toyota looking likely to change its line-up for 2010, Kobayashi is pleased to be racing once again as Timo Glock remains injured. "I was hoping to be in the top ten here but it was my first dry Formula One qualifying so I needed to get used to it," Toyota's first Japanese F1 driver explained. "Free practice has gone well all weekend and the car felt good. Qualifying wasn't easy but in the end I was only a tenth or so away from the top ten so, for my first dry qualifying, it's not bad."

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