Worst of Typhoon Misses Suzuka

By Jamie Makin
October 9 2004

The Suzuka circuit was shut down Saturday and Japanese governement officials urged teams to stay in their hotels as Super Typhoon 22 made landfall on Japanese shores. Named "Ma-On", it is the worst typhoon to hit the island country in the last decade.

Teams secured their equipment at the track and hoped to escape major damage. Their prayers were answered as the worst of the typhoon has missed the Suzuka Circuit now and the rest of the weekend will take place as scheduled. Pre-qualifying has been moved to Sunday 9:00 am local time with qualifying to follow at 10 am. The race will remain at 2:30 pm. There is still the possibility of a wet race though, as remnants from Ma-On linger.

SAUBER and their Bridgestone tyres have proven to be a competitive force in the rain, with Fisichella finishing 2nd in both wet practice sessions on Friday. Massa struggled by spinning in both sessions without setting a time. The last wet race was held at Indianapolis in 2003 and saw SAUBER teammates Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Nick Heidfeld finish 3rd and 5th respectively. The team will be hoping for rain and a similar result today.

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