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Jean-Eric Vergne says he is confident that Toro Rosso can fight for the top 10 in qualifying on Saturday.
Vergne was fourth quickest during a rain-affected second practice session and believes that the pace of the STR9 is sufficient for the team to be able to progress through to the final shootout.
"It was a good day, I think the car is better than expected and it gives us confidence about the car and about myself, so we of course do not expect to finish fourth in qualifying – you never know! - but I think Q3 is the target," he said.
"Still not everything is perfect, a few things we need to improve on my side but hopefully we can do that for Saturday."
Vergne added that he simply wants a clean race weekend after being beset by issues across the past four races.
"So far I’ve been watching three races from TV, there is not much I can do – I am much more confident and more involved with the engineers, I know what I want and to direct them, but everything is just better," he said.
"I just want a clean weekend – I don’t really believe in luck – I just want a clean weekend."
