Team SAUBER PETRONAS driver Felipe Massa captured an impressive eighth starting position for the start of tomorrow’s inaugural Turkish Grand Prix while teammate Jacques Villeneuve spun in the dreaded turn 8 to start from 18th after this afternoon’s qualifying session.

Faced with an early qualifying run and a deteriorating track condition, Massa who only has six more races with Sauber PETRONAS before his move to Ferrari next year, made good of his promise to fight till the end by managing a composed flying lap to clock 1:28.419s.

Although the prospects of scoring more championship points seems bright, Massa is not discounting the heat factor which will make tomorrow’s race a tough affair.

He commented, “There was a lot of sand on the track so it would have been very easy to make a mistake, but I managed not to and had a good lap. Starting in the top eight is always very good for us, and I won’t deny the possibility that we can score some more points tomorrow. It’s going to be a tough race, because this is physically a hard track, but we can do well.

“I have six races left for Sauber before I leave, and I am really determined to do my best for the team to thank everyone here for all their efforts for me during my time here,” added Massa.

Meanwhile, world champion teammate Jacques Villeneuve became a victim of the demanding turn 8, which incidentally claimed yet another world champion when Michael Schumacher also spun after that corner.

Jacques said, “The track was very slippery, a lot more than this morning, and I just pushed too hard. My lap was faster than I thought up until I spun. Turn 8 is a real challenge, and the car got away from me there. I probably should have pushed a little bit less, I guess.”

Technical Director Willy Rampf commented on today’s incident filled qualifying: “Jacques was competitive in the first sector on his qualifying lap, but overall the grip level was poor this afternoon and unfortunately he spun in Turn 8. Felipe did a fine lap and given the poor track conditions was able to achieve a very good eighth place in difficult circumstances.

“As any new track, we have used our computer simulation programme to evaluate initial circuit characteristics and requirements; until track data became available from Friday practice sessions. The team has done a great job to find a well-balanced C24.”