Historic first point for Super Aguri

[davewilson]

Ferrari won the Spanish Grand Prix, but Super Aguri had the biggest cause for celebration in Barcelona on Sunday, as Takuma Sato finished eighth to score the fledgling team’s first ever championship point.

After an excellent qualifying performance put him 13th on the grid, Sato drove a solid race, gradually moving up the order before taking advantage of an unexpected third stop for Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella. He successfully fended off the Italian in the closing stages, crossing the line just 1.2 seconds ahead.

“I was fighting with Giancarlo, but I could not see him ahead of me and my race engineer kept saying ‘we're fighting with Renault’ and I just put my foot down,” said Sato. “When I saw Giancarlo coming down the pitlane and I was a fraction ahead of him, it was just fantastic.

“I'm really deeply proud of the work the team has done back in Leafield and all the team at Honda Tochigi, our sponsors, fans, families, all the people who support us. I just cannot describe how happy we are and a point means much more than anything else for us and this is an absolutely fantastic result.”

It was a strong race all round for the Honda-powered squad, with Sato’s team mate Anthony Davidson coming home in 11th place to split the works Hondas of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button. Team principal Aguri Suzuki was delighted with the result, the best since they joined the championship at the start of last season.

"The team did a perfect job today,” he said. “We were lucky, but the drivers and team maintained our very good positions through out the race and the first championship point is very important for us."

Super Aguri now lie eighth in the constructors’ championship standings, ahead of Honda, Spyker and Toro Rosso, all of whom are yet to score in 2007.