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Jimmy Vasser's record ofsuccess at the Miami-Dade Homestead MotorsportsComplex continued Thursday when he posted the fastestoverall lap of Championship Auto Racing Teams SpringTraining.
Vasser (Target Reynard Honda) completed a lap of 212.039miles per hour on the 1.5-mile, continuous radius Homesteadoval during the second day of the two-day open test, whichhelped prepare teams for the 19-race FedEx ChampionshipSeries season. The series returns to Homestead March13-15 for its season opener, the Marlboro Grand Prix ofMiami Presented by Toyota.
Unofficially, 25 drivers bettered Paul Tracy's 1996 qualifyingrecord of 198.590 mph over the two-day session.Championship Car drivers completed 3,606 incident-freelaps during the two days.
Vasser's quick lap, which came during Thursday's morningsession, added further to Vasser's impressive resume atHomestead. He was fastest at CART's inaugural SpringTraining before earning his first career PPG Cup victory atHomestead in 1996, then claimed the fastest time of lastyear's Spring Training before finishing third in theseason-opening race here.
Vasser's top speed was recorded during the Thursdaymorning session, which took place in mild weather conditionsthat contrasted sharply with Wednesday's practices, whichwere slowed by gusts of up to 36 miles per hour.
"Our whole package still seems to be every bit as good aswhat it's been the past couple of years," said Vasser, the1996 PPG Cup champion. "We only used two sets of tires thewhole time we were here. In the afternoon, we changed oursetup around and went for long runs. I'm still somewhat happybut not totally happy. There's still some room forimprovement."
Michael Andretti (Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford) wassecond fastest Thursday and overall at 210.756 mph. He alsoposted the second-fastest time of Wednesday at 202.406mph. Both of his efforts came during morning sessions.
"It was a good two days for us," said Andretti, winner of the1996 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Presented by Toyota ."We didn't learn anything yesterday because of the wind. Butthis morning we unloaded and the car was great right away.We didn't make one adjustment to the car in the morningsession. Had we done a little more work to the car thisafternoon, we could have been right down there with Jimmy'stime."
Mauricio Gugelmin (Hollywood PacWest Mercedes) was thirdfastest at 210.682 mph. It was the leading time of theafternoon session and third best overall.
"Yesterday was pretty much a waste of a day, but I was happyto see that my car was reliable and running well," Gugelminsaid. "The engine behaved really well. It was very similar towhere we left off last year [when Gugelmin set a worldclosed-course speed record of 240.942 during qualifying atCalifornia Speedway], and there's the potential to grow fromthere, so I'm really happy.
"The circuit is a lot nicer to drive. I think we'll have very goodracing, even though we're more than 10 miles an hour fasterthan last year."
Source: CART News Service
