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©1998 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc. Alex Zanardi, who currentlyis on probation, will be excluded from today's provisional polequalifying by CART Chief Steward Wally Dallenbach forunjustifiable risk during this morning's practice session. Zanardi (Target Reynard Honda) made contact with Bryan Herta(Shell Reynard Ford) in the corkscrew section after thecheckered flag was waved to signal the end the session. Afterreviewing the tapes and interviewing both drivers involved,Dallenbach said that Zanardi's actions represented unjustifiablerisk, which is referred to in section 8:13 of the CART Rule Book.The penalty will be exclusion from provisional pole qualifyingwhich begins at 2:30 p.m. PT. Zanardi will be able to return to competition for Saturday'smorning practice at 9 a.m. PT and final qualifying which begins at12:45 p.m. PT. "After the checkered flag was displayed, the #1 car [Zanardi]attempted to overtake the #8 car [Herta] in the corkscrew and itresulted in contact," Dallenbach said. "It was a risky andunnecessary move by the #1 car and it resulted in damage toboth cars." Zanardi, who clinched the FedEx Championship Series crownlast week in Vancouver, was placed on probation Aug. 9 followingthe Miller Lite 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He wasplaced on probation and given a $50,000 fine for unjustifiable riskin two separate race incidents. This is the second time this season that Dallenbach has excludeda driver from a portion of the weekend's competition. Paul Tracy,who also was on probation at the time, was excluded fromSaturday's final pole qualifying at Portland after an incident withMichel Jourdain Jr. during the previous day's provisional polequalifying on June 19. Tracy's earlier discipline marked the firsttime in CART history that a driver was excluded from competitionby the Chief Steward for a rules infraction. Source: CART News Service | ||
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