TotalMotorSport All the latest Motorsport news, race reports and photographs from around the world. Alms, Touring Cars, Formula One & Le Mans 24 Hours

<body> <Table Width="550" border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" cellpadding="0"><TR><TD Width="35"><IMG SRC="//www.totalmotorsport.com/images/spacer.gif" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1"></td><td> <CENTER><Table border="0" width="100%"> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="5">F-1</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">04/04/2004</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">Jaguar Race Report</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">Klien Getting To Grips With Car And Webber</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><img border="1" src="Storage/jaguar-webber-r-bahrain-04.jpg"></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="1">  </FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">The inaugural Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix took place today with driver Mark Webber (27) finishing in eighth place to score the first official FIA championship point for the Jaguar Racing team. After an exciting race that saw numerous overtaking moves and a few spins off-track both R5s finished the race with Christian Klien (21) bringing the car home in fourteenth place. <BR> <BR> He suffered from a spin on lap 16, which lost him a couple of places, but he fought a good race and at one point was battling it out with the McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen. Overall a good and encouraging weekend for the team, which highlights the reliability of the R5 and its pace on track. The new circuit has been welcomed by the drivers and teams alike and the entertaining race on this contemporary track does credit to the country of Bahrain. <BR> <BR> <B>Mark Webber:</B> <BR> "It was really good to get our first point today. The team has worked incredibily hard towards this and it is well deserved. I started well and was up to tenth position on my first lap, which to be honest is where I should have qualified. During my first pitstop we made a slight flap change but it was perhaps too much and I had a minor off on turn 13. It made no real difference in the end but I was lucky to catch it. Michelin did a good job today as did Cosworth Racing, the R5 has been reliable all weekend and I am generally happy with how things have gone." <BR> <BR> "We know we still have a few areas to work on but we are making good progress and these days you need a perfect weekend to score points. We have learnt a lot here and we will be taking this with us to Imola where again we will be looking to challenge for points. All in all, I enjoyed the race on this new track made all the better by scoring a point." <BR> <BR> <B>Christian Klien:</B> <BR> "There was a lot going on in the race today and for me there were highs and lows. My start was ok and despite the difficult first two corners all was well until I has a slight coming together with the Renault of Fernando Alonso on the third hairpin. The car suffered only minor damage and I continued with good balance. I then enjoyed racing with the McLaren Mercedes of Kimi Raikkonen. The R5 felt really good and I was making the most of its pace." <BR> <BR> "I then made an error and I spun at corner 11. This cost me a few places and after this I was really just pleased to finish. The track was still quite dirty off-line although it was still good fun to at least try to overtake. I am now really looking forward to the next race in Imola as this is one of my favourite tracks and it's going to be good to be racing at a circuit where I have some experience." <BR> <BR> <B>Dr Mark Gillan -- Head of Vehicle Performance: </B><BR> "Both cars got reasonable starts here and I was pleased with their pace on track. Mark was up to tenth position at the end of lap one and his first pitstop was really good. Despite his slight off, he had a good race and to finish with our first point is just reward. We have been working towards this and thanks to the hard work of the team, Jaguar Racing, Cosworth Racing, Pi Research and Michelin we have achiehed it." <BR> <BR> "Christian has had a really good weekend here and despite his momentary off he has done a great job. He was lapping very fast near the end and he was enjoying his battles on-track. I am pleased with the weekend overall, we were not sure what to expect here and we have been happy with the results. We have learnt a lot over the three days thanks to our three drivers and we will now go to Barcelona next week to test in preparation for our first European race. Mark and Christian both know San Marino so we will be working towards a strong weekend." <BR> <BR> </FONT></TD></TR> </TABLE><BR> </CENTER> <BR><CENTER><font size="1" color="#808080" face="Tahoma">Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport</font></CENTER> </td> </tr> </table> </body>