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©1998 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc. During the first day of track activities, Michael Andretti clocked the fastest lap around the 1.864-mile Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway in Riode Janeiro, Brazil. Andretti's fastest lap at 169.656 miles perhour is about 2.3 miles per hour behind last year'spole speed set by Mauricio Gugelmin at 171.912 miles per hour. Gil de Ferran recorded the second fastest lap of the day at 168.981 mph. Third was Brazilian Christian Fittipaldi at 167.613 mph lap in the secondNewman/Haas Swift. The top three cars were all on Goodyear tires. Fourth was Adrian Fernandez, who ran a167.567 mile per hour lap. Last year's winner Paul Tracy was fifth at166.950 miles per hour. The morning practice session lastedonly 16 minutes, then rain stopped all action on the track. Sunny skies returned for the afternoon session, duringwhich several cars spun or made contact with the wall.Patrick Racing saw both of its drivers hit the 'soft' wall inturn 1. 1996 Rio 400 winner Andre Ribeiro also made contact with the wall in turn 4, just minutes afterPaul Tracy contacted the same stretch of concrete. Later in the session, Jimmy Vasser damaged his Reynard inthe same corner, contacting the wall in turn 4. No driver was injured in the incidents,but valuable practice time was lost. Kanaan, Fittipaldi, and Gugelmin spun in the same session without contacting the wall, yet adding to the stop-and-gonature of the afternoon. | ||
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