Best Toyota Finish of Season for Papis/Arciero Wells

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Best Toyota Finish of Season for Papis/Arciero Wells
©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.
Team pleased with progress
Max Papis and the Arciero-Wells/MCI Racing team scored their bestfinish of the season today by placing 13th of the 28 drivers whostarted the Hollywood Rio 400 in Brazil today. The finish also marksthe best Toyota finish of the 1997 PPG CART World Series season.
As the top Toyota qualifier, Papis started the 133-lap race from the21st position and immediately moved up to 17th place on the first lapafter barely missing a multi-car accident in turn four at the start.
"I saw big smoke and four or five cars turning right and left. Then a side pod from a car just passedover my head. It was a tough moment but Mark (Mark Johnson who wasPapis' spotter) gave a good call and I was ready for the problem."
Papis continued to move up through the field and avoided trouble forthe rest of the race which included seven different yellow-flagcaution periods. He also struggled with an poor handling car earlyin the race, but this problem was resolved with set-up changes duringthe pit stops.
"We really struggled when the leaders were coming up because we chosea low wing configuration, maybe a little too low. We were right on the edge with theback-end of the car. That caused us some problems early in the raceand unfortunately we lost a lap. The guys made some changes duringthe pit stops and the car changed a lot and we ran much, muchstronger in the second half of the race. My guys did a very, verygood job on all the pit stops."
"At the end I was catching PJ (Jones) and at the same time I wasdriving to save fuel. It was tough but I justremembered my days with the sports cars and I just did the same job Idid in the past. It has been a good race because we took the car tothe end. I hope that this will give Toyota some data to progress."
Team owner Cal Wells III was pleased with Papis bringing thecar home in the team's best finish this season:
"I think Max did a very disciplined job of bringing the car home. With this development program we need to be carefulwith how much of the motor we use throughout the race and make surewe can learn as much as possible by going the distance. I think Maxmanaged this tremendously well. He managed his fuel and he was ableto make up places when we really did not give him the kind of car weshould have at the beginning of the race. He was able to come backand do a hell of a job."


		JUST RELEASED! — The Official Directory for CART Racing

		Best Toyota Finish of Season for Papis/Arciero Wells ©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc. Team pleased with progress Max Papis and the Arciero-Wells/MCI Racing team scored their bestfinish of the season today by placing 13th of the 28 drivers whostarted the Hollywood Rio 400 in Brazil today. The finish also marksthe best Toyota finish of the 1997 PPG CART World Series season. As the top Toyota qualifier, Papis started the 133-lap race from the21st position and immediately moved up to 17th place on the first lapafter barely missing a multi-car accident in turn four at the start. "I saw big smoke and four or five cars turning right and left. Then a side pod from a car just passedover my head. It was a tough moment but Mark (Mark Johnson who wasPapis' spotter) gave a good call and I was ready for the problem." Papis continued to move up through the field and avoided trouble forthe rest of the race which included seven different yellow-flagcaution periods. He also struggled with an poor handling car earlyin the race, but this problem was resolved with set-up changes duringthe pit stops. "We really struggled when the leaders were coming up because we chosea low wing configuration, maybe a little too low. We were right on the edge with theback-end of the car. That caused us some problems early in the raceand unfortunately we lost a lap. The guys made some changes duringthe pit stops and the car changed a lot and we ran much, muchstronger in the second half of the race. My guys did a very, verygood job on all the pit stops." "At the end I was catching PJ (Jones) and at the same time I wasdriving to save fuel. It was tough but I justremembered my days with the sports cars and I just did the same job Idid in the past. It has been a good race because we took the car tothe end. I hope that this will give Toyota some data to progress." Team owner Cal Wells III was pleased with Papis bringing thecar home in the team's best finish this season: "I think Max did a very disciplined job of bringing the car home. With this development program we need to be carefulwith how much of the motor we use throughout the race and make surewe can learn as much as possible by going the distance. I think Maxmanaged this tremendously well. He managed his fuel and he was ableto make up places when we really did not give him the kind of car weshould have at the beginning of the race. He was able to come backand do a hell of a job."