©2000 SpeedCenter Publishing
CHICAGO (July 6, 2000) - With a best lap of 22.876 sec. (161.934 mph), Team KOOL Green pilot Dario Franchitti (KOOL Honda Reynard) was the quickest of 19 drivers to turn laps in the first day of a two-day open test at Chicago Motor Speedway. Franchitti topped defending FedEx Championship Series champion Juan Montoya (Target Toyota Lola), who turned the second fastest time of the day at 22.932 sec. (161.538 mph).
In other news from today's open test sessions in Chicago, the teams and drivers tested the original Handford Device Mk I, which had previously been used only at California Speedway and Michigan Speedway (both two-mile superspeedways), during the morning session. Between the morning and afternoon sessions, however, it was determined that the originally-planned Handford Mk II wing package will be used for the remainder of the open test at Chicago Motor Speedway, as well as for the Target Grand Prix Presented by Energizer on July 28-30.
"After a thorough analysis, we have decided not to change the wing package," said CART President of Racing Operations, Hal Whiteford. "We are going with the original identified wing package for Chicago. We appreciate the teams' cooperation in this test, which has resulted in important data which can be used in the future."
The choice of the Mk II wing package resulted in a substantial increase in speeds from the morning to the afternoon session, as Franchitti's quick lap was over eight miles per hour quicker than the quickest speed from the morning session turned by Cristiano da Matta (Pioneer/MCI WorldCom Toyota Reynard). Today's first and second quickest drivers welcomed the opportunity to test both wing packages.
"I thought it was a great idea to run both sets of wings, otherwise you don't really get a true judgement," said Franchitti. "I thought the downforce level was pretty good (on the Mk II), but for me, turbulence was still a bit of a problem. Overall, the car feels very good. We're not really going for times here. We're playing it reasonably conservative and trying to work through a few things, but overall, the team was happy."
"I thought it was good that the teams decided to use the big wing package," Montoya added. "Personally, I like that wing package a lot better. I thought the car was a lot more stable through the corners. Overall, we were only able to run about 20 laps on the wings that we'll use in the race, but you always try to learn a few things every time on the track."
The morning session was slowed twice due to contact, as Tagliani crashed between Turns 3 and 4 and de Ferran made contact with the inside wall on the backstretch. Neither driver was injured, and the afternoon session was incident-free.
Fernandez was the only driver to use two different cars in today's sessions, driving teammate and current FedEx Championship Series points leader Roberto Moreno's Visteon-sponsored machine for a short time this morning before climbing into his Tecate/Quaker State car for the remainder of the day.
The Chicago open test concludes tomorrow with a full day of on-track activity. Test sessions are scheduled to get underway at 9:00 a.m. and go until 5:00 p.m. with a one-hour break from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Chicago Motor Speedway is open to the public for tomorrow's test sessions.
Test Results for Day 1
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| pos | car | driver |
chassis engine tire |
laptime |
gap to leader |
gap to next |
mph | km/h |
110% rule |
| 1 | 27 | Dario Franchitti | Honda/RI/F | 22.876 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 161.934 | 260.552 | n/a |
| 2 | 1 | Juan Montoya | Toyota/LT/F | 22.932 | -0.056 | -0.056 | 161.538 | 259.915 | n/a |
| 3 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | Honda/RI/F | 23.048 | -0.172 | -0.116 | 160.725 | 258.607 | 100.63% |
| 4 | 97X | Cristiano da Matta | Toyota/RI/F | 23.056 | -0.180 | -0.008 | 160.670 | 258.518 | 100.66% |
| 5 | 26 | Paul Tracy | Honda/RI/F | 23.081 | -0.205 | -0.025 | 160.496 | 258.237 | 100.77% |
| 6 | 8X | Kenny Bräck | Ford/RI/F | 23.118 | -0.242 | -0.037 | 160.239 | 257.824 | 100.93% |
| 7 | 7 | Max Papis | Ford/RI/F | 23.199 | -0.323 | -0.081 | 159.679 | 256.924 | 101.29% |
| 8 | 96X | Oriol Servia | Toyota/RI/F | 23.420 | -0.544 | -0.221 | 158.173 | 254.500 | 102.25% |
| 9 | 34 | Tarso Marquez | Ford/SW/F | 23.649 | -0.773 | -0.229 | 156.641 | 252.035 | 103.25% |
| 10 | 17 | Mark Blundell | Mercedes/RI/F | 23.708 | -0.832 | -0.059 | 156.251 | 251.408 | 103.51% |
| 11 | 40 | Adrian Fernandez | Ford/RI/F | 23.797 | -0.921 | -0.089 | 155.667 | 250.468 | 103.90% |
| 12 | 19 | Takuya Kurosawa | Ford/LT/F | 23.913 | -1.037 | -0.116 | 154.912 | 249.253 | 104.41% |
| 13 | 5 | Shinji Nakano | Honda/RI/F | 24.258 | -1.382 | -0.345 | 152.708 | 245.708 | 105.91% |
| 14 | 33 | Alex Tagliani | Ford/RI/F | 24.585 | -1.709 | -0.327 | 150.677 | 242.440 | 107.34% |
| 15 | 2 | Gil de Ferran | Honda/RI/F | 24.728 | -1.852 | -0.143 | 149.806 | 241.038 | 107.96% |
| 16 | 10 | Norberto Fontana | Toyota/RI/F | 24.749 | -1.873 | -0.021 | 149.679 | 240.833 | 108.06% |
| 17 | 11 | Christian Fittipaldi | Ford/LT/F | 24.786 | -1.910 | -0.037 | 149.455 | 240.474 | 108.22% |
| 18 | 6 | Michael Andretti | Ford/LT/F | 24.818 | -1.942 | -0.032 | 149.263 | 240.164 | 108.36% |
| 19 | 20 | Adrian Fernandez | Ford/RI/F | 24.837 | -1.961 | -0.019 | 149.148 | 239.980 | 108.44% |
| 20 | 16X | Michel Jourdain Jr. | Mercedes/LT/F | 25.409 | -2.533 | -0.572 | 145.791 | 234.577 | 110.94% |
