Wednesday, August 2 2006 16:46 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: The Super Aguri team were putting a brave face on what was a disappointing but not wholly unexpected end to the German Grand Prix and the maiden outing of their new car.

A start-up issue prevented rookie Sakon Yamamoto from initially leaving the garage. This was followed by a drive shaft failure, which forced him to retire on his first lap.

Takuma Sato's weekend came to an equally disappointing end when a gearbox oil leak forced him to retire on lap 38.

Team Principal Aguri Suzuki said, "I am very sorry that Sakon was unable to compete in his first race with the team. He showed encouraging progress in the SA06 all weekend so I hope that he will have a good Grand Prix in Hungary."

"Taku did a good job he was competitive and showed that he was able to fight with the Midland's, but unfortunately he suffered with an oil leak. Even with our result I am happy with the SA06's first outing because we were not been able to test the car before this race and I think that we have made an encouraging start," he said.

Sato was putting a positive spin on the team's performance saying, "The debut of the SA06 in Germany has been positive and the car performed very well in Qualifying. We were expecting a little bit more in terms of race pace, so we are a little bit disappointed, but it is a big step up from the SA05 so this will come in time. "

"Although it was obviously a disappointing race, overall it was a good weekend for us, not easy, but definitely a good weekend," he said.

Yamamoto was equally as philosophical adding, "I am disappointed not to have raced as I only completed one lap. On the positive side, we have collected more data than we had for the SA06, so we shall study this before we arrive in Hungary. "

"The SA06 is easier to drive than the SA05, so I hope that I can continue to adapt well and learn more about the car for the race in Hungary next week," he said.