November 03, 2004
This time yesterday, no-one at Simsoa thought they would score a point. Today, it'd be common knowledge!

As the grid set off for the final push for points, the Simsoas seemed to hold their own in the early laps before the track dried up enabling the leaders to pull away from the rest of the field - but the Simsoas held their own and came home to finish 5th and 6th: best of the rest! When the cars crossed the finish line, the team let out a joyous torrent of emotion that spread to the stands in which most of the Japanese fans from Suzuka were present!

Nazario Nuti, who had replaced Javier Aparicio this weekend had finished just 6 seconds ahead of David Brown, securing the team's first double points finish! The points tally means that Simsoa now end up 8th in the constructors', 4 points ahead of JTM!

Lawrence had this to say amongst the celebrations in the Simsoa garage, "Just amazed, the last thing we expected! I thought that Matt would take it all the way here and thrash us, but lap 10 seemed like a godsend to us all - [Maple had suffered a pneumatic pedal failure on his first stop] - so it was a nervous sense of delight, but we knew not to celebrate just yet. You never know what could've happened!"

Nazario had his own comments when he faced the world media later on in the day: "I would like to thank Lawrence for giving me this opportunity to race with Simsoa. I am extremely happy for helping them achieve their 8th place. My setup wasnt of the best, very little downforce to cope with the very long straights. Especially in the wet the car was all over the place.Nevertheless we achieved what we wanted to do."

Nazario, Nazario just one last question...Will you be racing for Simsoa next season?

"Well I dont know - we will see. I like it at Simsoa and definitly got a good feeling, everyone was fantastic, but I want to fight for the championship and need to think what is best for me."

Nazario does this mean you will race with your own team, is that why you dont want to commit to anything?

"Well - I have already said too much - see you all in Melbourne!"

Lawrence did clarify, "Naz is a great driver to work with, very vibrant and motivated. What I like in my drivers! But he wants to go for the championship and I don't want to stop him from achieving it. Besides, I already have my lineup; why would I want to disrupt the duet?"

With this, the team now can relax for the next couple of months as the 2005 car seems to be in the preliminary race-standard cosntruction period. But what will the new 'peppermint' improve on from the now retired SA-03V. We shall see.