Moreno Leads Rio Practice

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Moreno Leads Rio Practice
©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.
Substitute driver surprises with fastet practice lap of weekend
Roberto Moreno seems to be adjusting quickly to the Swift chassis heis driving for the injured Christian Fittipaldi. Maybe the boost ofracing in front of the home crowd in Brazil adds that littlesomething it takes to be on top. Moreno's second oval showing forNewman/Haas Racing couldn't be a better advertisement for his skillsas a driver, after having spent years in the back of the pack in CARTand Formula one.
Moreno's fastlap of the day was clocked at 39.227 seconds, more than0.4 seconds faster than Friday's fastest lap set my teammate MichaelAndretti. This puts him into the role of the favorite for today'squalifying for the Hollywood Rio 400 PPG CART World Series eventscheduled for tomorrow at the 1.864-mile trapezoidal oval EmersonFittipaldi Speedway at Autodromo Internacional Nelson Piquet. Whendid Pupo find himself in this position last?
Teammate Andretti ran in 7th position on Saturday morning with a39.466 second lap. His lap speed was topped by Brazilian Gil deFerran in second at 39.293 seconds, rookie Patrick Carpentier inthird with a 39.396 second lap, last year's pole sitter Alex Zanardiin the fastest Firstone-shod car in fourth at 39.431 seconds, ScottPruett in 5th with a 39.438 second lap, and Big Mo in 6th with a39.444 second hotlap.
The field is extremely competitive, with the top 12 cars within 1% ofMoreno's pace-setting lap. The first 19 cars in Saturday's practiceran within one second of the fastest speed. The qualifying set forearly this afternoon will be one of the most contested runs for apole position in many months.
Newman/Haas may be able to win the first pole for an American-builtcar since June 13th when Gordon Johncock won the pole at Milwaukee.Trivia question - what make was Johncock's car?
Qualifying order for today's qualifying at Rio:
CAR DRIVER 1 5 Gil DeFerran 2 40 Raul Boesel 3 24 Hiro Matsushita 4 64 Arnd Meier 5 8 Bryan Herta 6 34 Paul Jasper 7 3 Paul Tracy 8 18 Mark Blundell 9 21 Richie Hearn 10 19 Michel Jourdain, Jr. 11 2 Al Unser, Jr. 12 27 Parker Johnstone 13 20 Scott Pruett 14 32 Adrian Fernandez 15 25 Max Papis 16 9 Dario Franchitti 17 11 Roberto Moreno 18 7 Bobby Rahal 19 16 Patrick Carpentier 20 98 P.J. Jones 21 99 Greg Moore 22 6 Michael Andretti 23 17 Mauricio Gugelmin 24 36 Juan Fangio II 25 77 Gualter Salles 26 4 Alex Zanardi 27 31 Andre Ribeiro 28 1 Jimmy Vasser


		JUST RELEASED! — The Official Directory for CART Racing

		Moreno Leads Rio Practice ©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc. Substitute driver surprises with fastet practice lap of weekend Roberto Moreno seems to be adjusting quickly to the Swift chassis heis driving for the injured Christian Fittipaldi. Maybe the boost ofracing in front of the home crowd in Brazil adds that littlesomething it takes to be on top. Moreno's second oval showing forNewman/Haas Racing couldn't be a better advertisement for his skillsas a driver, after having spent years in the back of the pack in CARTand Formula one. Moreno's fastlap of the day was clocked at 39.227 seconds, more than0.4 seconds faster than Friday's fastest lap set my teammate MichaelAndretti. This puts him into the role of the favorite for today'squalifying for the Hollywood Rio 400 PPG CART World Series eventscheduled for tomorrow at the 1.864-mile trapezoidal oval EmersonFittipaldi Speedway at Autodromo Internacional Nelson Piquet. Whendid Pupo find himself in this position last? Teammate Andretti ran in 7th position on Saturday morning with a39.466 second lap. His lap speed was topped by Brazilian Gil deFerran in second at 39.293 seconds, rookie Patrick Carpentier inthird with a 39.396 second lap, last year's pole sitter Alex Zanardiin the fastest Firstone-shod car in fourth at 39.431 seconds, ScottPruett in 5th with a 39.438 second lap, and Big Mo in 6th with a39.444 second hotlap. The field is extremely competitive, with the top 12 cars within 1% ofMoreno's pace-setting lap. The first 19 cars in Saturday's practiceran within one second of the fastest speed. The qualifying set forearly this afternoon will be one of the most contested runs for apole position in many months. Newman/Haas may be able to win the first pole for an American-builtcar since June 13th when Gordon Johncock won the pole at Milwaukee.Trivia question - what make was Johncock's car? Qualifying order for today's qualifying at Rio: CAR DRIVER 1 5 Gil DeFerran 2 40 Raul Boesel 3 24 Hiro Matsushita 4 64 Arnd Meier 5 8 Bryan Herta 6 34 Paul Jasper 7 3 Paul Tracy 8 18 Mark Blundell 9 21 Richie Hearn 10 19 Michel Jourdain, Jr. 11 2 Al Unser, Jr. 12 27 Parker Johnstone 13 20 Scott Pruett 14 32 Adrian Fernandez 15 25 Max Papis 16 9 Dario Franchitti 17 11 Roberto Moreno 18 7 Bobby Rahal 19 16 Patrick Carpentier 20 98 P.J. Jones 21 99 Greg Moore 22 6 Michael Andretti 23 17 Mauricio Gugelmin 24 36 Juan Fangio II 25 77 Gualter Salles 26 4 Alex Zanardi 27 31 Andre Ribeiro 28 1 Jimmy Vasser