Zanardi Claims Third Pole of the Year in Cleveland

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Zanardi Claims Third Pole of the Year in Cleveland
©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.
Betters provisional qualifying time on his last lap
Alex Zanardi made his last lap his best Saturday while claiming the pole position for Sunday's Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland at Burke Lakefront Airport.
Zanardi pushed his Target Reynard Honda to an average speed of 133.048 miles per hour on the 2.106-mile temporary circuit to collect his series-leading third pole position of the PPG CART World Series season. Zanardi will lead 28 qualifiers to the green flag today at 2 p.m. ET (live, ABC-TV) for the 10th of 17 races in this year's series.
The pole position earns Zanardi the $10,000 Marlboro Pole Award, with the chance to earn an additional $90,000 in rollover bonus money with a victory Sunday. The rollover bonus has accumulated at a rate of $15,000 per race since Paul Tracy (Marlboro Penske Mercedes) won the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Presented by Toyota from the pole April 27 at Nazareth, Pa.
Zanardi held the provisional pole position after Friday's qualifying at 132.031 mph. He bettered his time on his final lap Saturday after crossing the start/finish line for a final trip around the course with just one second remaining in the session.
"Our time was safe at the beginning of the session," said Zanardi, who had claimed earlier pole positions at Homestead, Fla. and Surfers Paradise, Australia. "Obviously, as everybody kept getting closer and closer, it was not so safe. I was lucky enough to cross the start/finish line with one second left and that was it. I had nobody in front of me and was able to turn a good lap."
Defending Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland champion Gil de Ferran (Valvoline/Cummins Special Reynard Honda) qualified second at 131.822 mph for his third consecutive front-row start. The run consists of a pole at Detroit, followed by outside pole positions at Portland and Cleveland.
"It's been quite a tough weekend for us," said de Ferran, who, along with Zanardi, gave Honda its first front-row sweep since de Ferran won the pole and Zanardi qualified second at Long Beach. "We had quite a good balance in the car, but it has been very nervous. For this afternoon, the car was really greatly improved, particularly on the second set of tires."
Mark Blundell (Motorola PacWest Mercedes) qualified third at 131.767 mph. He makes his best PPG CART World Series start one race after posting his first career victory June 22 in the Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200 Presented by Texaco/Havoline at Portland International Raceway. His previous career-best qualifying effort was fourth at Laguna Seca last season.
"It's nice to see that we can have a good day on Saturday," Blundell said. "So far this year, our luck hasn't been the best in qualifying. We got the car handling very well, and the track improved. We could tell from the times in the first [qualifying] group [Friday's slower cars] that we'd have to go faster just to maintain our [11th] position from yesterday, and fortunately, we made a bigger improvement than most people."
Newman/Haas Racing teammates Michael Andretti (Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford) and Christian Fittipaldi (Kmart/Budweiser Swift Ford) qualified fourth and fifth, respectively. Andretti averaged 131.541 mph while Fittipaldi was at 131.251 mph.
Tracy, the PPG Cup points leader, qualified 10th at 130.760 mph. He enters today's race with a five-point lead, 100-95, over Greg Moore (Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes), who qualified 13th at 130.369 mph.
Qualifying for the Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland will be broadcast 9:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN2 and will re-air 11 a.m. Sunday. ESPN2's "On the Grid" program will air 1:30 p.m. Sunday, 30 minutes prior to ABC's live race broadcast.
Source: CART News Service


		NOW AVAILABLE! — The Official Directory for CART Racing

		Zanardi Claims Third Pole of the Year in Cleveland ©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc. Betters provisional qualifying time on his last lap Alex Zanardi made his last lap his best Saturday while claiming the pole position for Sunday's Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland at Burke Lakefront Airport. Zanardi pushed his Target Reynard Honda to an average speed of 133.048 miles per hour on the 2.106-mile temporary circuit to collect his series-leading third pole position of the PPG CART World Series season. Zanardi will lead 28 qualifiers to the green flag today at 2 p.m. ET (live, ABC-TV) for the 10th of 17 races in this year's series. The pole position earns Zanardi the $10,000 Marlboro Pole Award, with the chance to earn an additional $90,000 in rollover bonus money with a victory Sunday. The rollover bonus has accumulated at a rate of $15,000 per race since Paul Tracy (Marlboro Penske Mercedes) won the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Presented by Toyota from the pole April 27 at Nazareth, Pa. Zanardi held the provisional pole position after Friday's qualifying at 132.031 mph. He bettered his time on his final lap Saturday after crossing the start/finish line for a final trip around the course with just one second remaining in the session. "Our time was safe at the beginning of the session," said Zanardi, who had claimed earlier pole positions at Homestead, Fla. and Surfers Paradise, Australia. "Obviously, as everybody kept getting closer and closer, it was not so safe. I was lucky enough to cross the start/finish line with one second left and that was it. I had nobody in front of me and was able to turn a good lap." Defending Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland champion Gil de Ferran (Valvoline/Cummins Special Reynard Honda) qualified second at 131.822 mph for his third consecutive front-row start. The run consists of a pole at Detroit, followed by outside pole positions at Portland and Cleveland. "It's been quite a tough weekend for us," said de Ferran, who, along with Zanardi, gave Honda its first front-row sweep since de Ferran won the pole and Zanardi qualified second at Long Beach. "We had quite a good balance in the car, but it has been very nervous. For this afternoon, the car was really greatly improved, particularly on the second set of tires." Mark Blundell (Motorola PacWest Mercedes) qualified third at 131.767 mph. He makes his best PPG CART World Series start one race after posting his first career victory June 22 in the Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200 Presented by Texaco/Havoline at Portland International Raceway. His previous career-best qualifying effort was fourth at Laguna Seca last season. "It's nice to see that we can have a good day on Saturday," Blundell said. "So far this year, our luck hasn't been the best in qualifying. We got the car handling very well, and the track improved. We could tell from the times in the first [qualifying] group [Friday's slower cars] that we'd have to go faster just to maintain our [11th] position from yesterday, and fortunately, we made a bigger improvement than most people." Newman/Haas Racing teammates Michael Andretti (Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford) and Christian Fittipaldi (Kmart/Budweiser Swift Ford) qualified fourth and fifth, respectively. Andretti averaged 131.541 mph while Fittipaldi was at 131.251 mph. Tracy, the PPG Cup points leader, qualified 10th at 130.760 mph. He enters today's race with a five-point lead, 100-95, over Greg Moore (Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes), who qualified 13th at 130.369 mph. Qualifying for the Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland will be broadcast 9:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN2 and will re-air 11 a.m. Sunday. ESPN2's "On the Grid" program will air 1:30 p.m. Sunday, 30 minutes prior to ABC's live race broadcast. Source: CART News Service