Fittipaldi Makes Remarkable Return at Portland

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Fittipaldi Makes Remarkable Return at Portland
©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.
An impressive performance on the road to recovery
Nearly as amazing as the record finish of this past Sunday's Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200 in Portland was the performance of Christian Fittipaldi (Kmart/Budweiser Swift Ford), who drove to a fourth-place finish just 77 days after sustaining a broken right leg at the Sunbelt IndyCarnival Australia. Fittipaldi, running on rain tires, stood as high as second with two laps remaining, but was overtaken by winner Blundell and Raul Boesel (Brahma Reynard Ford), both of whom were on racing slicks, in the race's closing stages.
"I had a big lead on Blundell near the end, but he had faster, slick tires on," said Fittipaldi, who qualified a career-best third for his return to the series. "It was the same deal with Raul. I was pushing it to the limit, because I wanted, by all means, to win the race. I'm pretty surprised that I feel as good as I do. I was born to race, and it's good to be back racing for the win."
Brian Lisles, Fittipaldi's chief engineer, was delighted with Christian's effort. "We're very impressed with Christian's performance," Lisles said. "He came straight back to competitive racing. The guys he out-qualified have been out here every race and have been testing. It shows you how much talent Christian has. Top racing drivers are a special breed. I think Christian has shown everyone that he is in that category."
Source: CART News Service


		NOW AVAILABLE! — The Official Directory for CART Racing

		Fittipaldi Makes Remarkable Return at Portland ©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc. An impressive performance on the road to recovery Nearly as amazing as the record finish of this past Sunday's Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200 in Portland was the performance of Christian Fittipaldi (Kmart/Budweiser Swift Ford), who drove to a fourth-place finish just 77 days after sustaining a broken right leg at the Sunbelt IndyCarnival Australia. Fittipaldi, running on rain tires, stood as high as second with two laps remaining, but was overtaken by winner Blundell and Raul Boesel (Brahma Reynard Ford), both of whom were on racing slicks, in the race's closing stages. "I had a big lead on Blundell near the end, but he had faster, slick tires on," said Fittipaldi, who qualified a career-best third for his return to the series. "It was the same deal with Raul. I was pushing it to the limit, because I wanted, by all means, to win the race. I'm pretty surprised that I feel as good as I do. I was born to race, and it's good to be back racing for the win." Brian Lisles, Fittipaldi's chief engineer, was delighted with Christian's effort. "We're very impressed with Christian's performance," Lisles said. "He came straight back to competitive racing. The guys he out-qualified have been out here every race and have been testing. It shows you how much talent Christian has. Top racing drivers are a special breed. I think Christian has shown everyone that he is in that category." Source: CART News Service