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TORO ROSSO STR4 - 2009 MONACO QUALIFYING

Scuderia Toro Rosso had an impressive qualifying session this afternoon in Monte Carlo with both of the Ferrari-powered cars making it into Q2 and Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais claiming the 11th and 13th spots on the grid.

Scuderia Toro Rosso had an impressive qualifying session this afternoon in Monte Carlo with both of the Ferrari-powered STR4 cars making it into the Q2 section with Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais eventually claiming the 11th and 13th spots on the grid for tomorrow's Monaco Grand Prix. It could have been even better for the Red Bull-owned, Faenza, Italy-based team as a mistake in the final bend on his best run for Buemi ended the near certainty of the young Swiss rookie making it through to Q1.

Sebastien Buemi (STR4-03)

“I am reasonably happy with my performance, although I could have made it into the top ten if I hadn’t made a mistake at the final corner. But there’s no point thinking about that anymore. Now we must concentrate on tomorrow, trying to find the best possible strategy. We have seen that our car is much more competitive than before and I think we can aspire to finish in the top eight and get some points. I am confident we can do well.”

Third Practice Session: Best lap 1.16.432, pos. 16th, 22 laps; Qualifying Session: Best lap 1.15.833, pos. 11th

Sebastien Bourdais (STR4-01)

“This morning I was pretty happy with the balance of the car, but this afternoon, I just could not get the car to turn and I don’t know why. I touched the barriers a few times, but there’s a big difference between touching and hitting! It’s disappointing because I think the car had the potential to get to Q3 today, but fourteenth is not so far back, so we will see what we can do tomorrow.”

Third Practice Session: Best lap 1.16.301, pos. 13th, 23 laps; Qualifying Session: Best lap 1.16.281, pos. 14th

Laurent Mekies (Chief Engineer)

“Overall our performance shows a bit of an improvement over the last few races. Buemi got very close to making it into Q3, but in some ways it’s quite nice to have a couple of hours to plan our fuel strategy for tomorrow. Both guys got into Q2 in difficult traffic conditions, keeping a cool head. We believe there is still more to come from our car and hopefully that will happen soon.”