©1998 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.
Team KOOL Green's Dario Franchitti (KOOL Reynard Honda) tested at two Florida venues last week, running at Homestead-Miami Speedway Monday and Tuesday before two more days of weather-abbreviated testing at Sebring on Thursday and Friday. Franchitti completed 280 miles at Homestead, recording a fast lap of 26.1 seconds on the reconfigured 1.517-mile oval. He added 161 miles at Sebring, where weather problems limited him to a quick lap of 54.9 seconds, sixth-tenths of a second slower than teammate Paul Tracy's (KOOL Reynard Honda) best time of the previous week in clear conditions.
"We never found a good balance," Frachitti said afterward, "and there wasn't time to fine-tune the car for the [Firestone] development tires. On the whole, though, it was a useful test. I worked with Paul's mechanics at Homestead and Sebring, and the whole engineering group was on hand for both tests - Scott Graves, John Dick and Don Halliday. So, we really are working as one team, not two. The guys are great. They work really hard, but at the same time, it's a good atmosphere. It's a lot of fun to be here."
Source: CART News Service
