“I am really happy to be on the third row of the grid.” Said Jarno, “It was very exciting and reminded me of the feeling I had when I put in a good lap at the end of Monaco’s qualifying session last year. I pushed hard to get the best out of the car and myself. The car was very competitive and well balanced and I believe we can work well with this car to develop it even further throughout the season. I felt confident we would be able to do well in either the wet or dry but the important thing for me was to keep calm. In the wet this morning I was quick, but didn’t push as hard during the second session as we were waiting for the track to dry. During qualifying the track got better and better and the team and I made a smart choice to wait until the last few minutes for my final run. Let’s hope that tomorrow will be another good day for me and the team.”

Heinz-Harald was not so lucky though, coming across traffic at critical times. ““Of course I’m not very happy with being ninth on the grid.” Heinz confirmed, ““I had to abandon my second run due to traffic - I had a hairy moment with a Minardi. The track got faster all the time but on the last lap I suffered with massive understeer. We will have to look into what caused this, but ultimately Jarno was able to achieve a very good result for the team. This morning, I think we found the right set-up and fine tuning needed for this afternoon’s qualifying though.”

Eddie Jordan was overall satisfied with the team's work. "After the three long-haul races, it's good to have the convenience of our trucks and motor homes at the circuit," the Irishman said. "And I'm delighted to see Jordan Grand Prix on the third row, in amongst the Williams and the Ferraris, particularly with the field being so competitive. Jarno did a great job and it's really unfortunate that HeinzHeinz was blocked by Marques, otherwise he would have been right up there too. Now we have to translate this into more points tomorrow."

Times from Qualifying for Imola
Pos.	Driver	Team	Tyre	Time
1	Coulthard	McLaren	B	1:23.054
2	Hakkinen	McLaren	B	1:23.282
3	R Schumacher	Williams	M	1:23.357
4	M Schumacher	Ferrari	B	1:23.593
5	Trulli	Jordan	B	1.23.658
6	Barrichello	Ferrari	B	1:23.786
9	Frentzen	Jordan	B	1.24.436