NURBURGRING, Germany (AFP) -- After an encouraging practice performance Ralf Schumacher is aiming to earn some much needed championship points at the European Grand Prix in Germany this weekend.

Schumacher has had a dismal season, consistently struggling for speed in his Toyota. But the Japanese team appear to finally be turning the corner and both Schumacher and Italian driver Jarno Trulli were competitive in Friday practice at the Nurburgring, especially in the afternoon when they were fifth and sixth fastest respectively. ""We had a good two sessions today,"" said Schumacher. ""It's good to be back driving in front of my home fans again and I am pretty happy with the work we did, and especially with our lap times. In the last few races we have changed a few things with our setup and that has helped."" Schumacher qualified in the top ten for the first time this season at Silverstone earlier this month and he feels a similar grid position in Germany will give him a chance to build on the measly two championship points he has earned so far this term. ""We are pushing very hard and my target for tomorrow is to get into the top ten again, which will give us the opportunity to fight for points. We will work on the car before qualifying and I am feeling optimistic,"" he added. Trulli was also happy with his day's work, but he refused to make any bold predictions for qualifying. ""It was a reasonable session for me,"" he said. ""You can see from the lap times that I was really competitive today."" ""It is important that we are going in the right direction and making progress. We want to score points in every race this year so we want a good result this weekend for everyone at the team, especially as this is a home race for us. ""As always, we are fighting hard but every race is a different story so we will have to see what happens in qualifying. I am aiming to qualify once again in the top 10, even though the competition is very tough. ""If we can improve the car a little bit before qualifying, we can have a good weekend.