Jordan's Jarno Trulli restored some pride to the troubled Irish squad yesterday, taking fifth place and two crucial points at the French Grand Prix.

Since the Italian's three-point finish at the Spanish Grand Prix at the end of April, Jordan have been stuck in a deepening crisis of mechanical failures and bad luck, with only a slow slide to the depths plumbed during last year's long dark night of the soul in prospect.

But yesterday, blessed by a strong showing from Trulli and aided by a new Bridgestone tyre that this weekend reportedly cleared many of the handling problems the Italian had complained of in the run-up to this race, the team turned a significant corner.

Starting from fifth on the grid, Trulli was beaten to the punch at the start by Juan Pablo Montoya and, as gap began to open to the Williams, another day of disappointment began to hove into view.

But when Montoya retired with engine failure on lap 53, Trulli reclaimed his starting place. Too far back to challenge David Coulthard for fourth and with a lap in hand over sixth-placed Nick Heidfeld, all that was left for Trulli to do was count down the remaining 18 laps and pray that the EJ11 which has let him down in each of the last three races would hold together. It did. "You're always relieved after you go through a bad spell," "It's like anything in life. You ask 'when is it going to end'?

"Jarno drove a spectacular race all the way through. He was aggressive, he was tough and very disciplined in the way he raced. It's a nice result to take to Silverstone, the home race for most of the team and the closest race to Ireland. It gives us some relief, some consolation."

For team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen, though, the trough continues. Despite giving Jordan their first double-finish since Imola, the German could do no better than eighth as he suffered a succession of problems, starting with a poor start, continuing with a troubled first stop and ending in a late spin.

It was a difficult day too for Eddie Irvine. The Jaguar number one had driven a spectacular race to climb to seventh from a starting position of 12th. But on lap 50 the Irishman was cruelly let down by his Cosworth engine and was to pull over and retire.