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©1999 SpeedCenter Publishing Greg Moore of Player's Forsythe Racing succeeded teammate Patrick Carpentier at the top of the time charts Wednesday as a two-day Championship Auto Racing Teams Open Test concluded at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The test was scheduled to help FedEx Championship Series drivers and teams preparefor the Aug. 15 Miller Lite 200 at Mid-Ohio, the 14th of 20 rounds in the championship. Moore (Player's Forsythe Racing Team Ltd. Mercedes Reynard) recorded a lap of 125.15 milesper hour (1 minute, 4.952 seconds) on his fastest circuit of the 2.258-mile permanent roadcourse to top a parade of nine drivers who posted unofficial times under the existing trackrecord of 123.766 mph (1:05.679) established by Dario Franchitti last year. Although track records can only be set in qualifying or racing conditions, Moore waspleased with the performance of his car and team Wednesday. "Yesterday [Tuesday], we broke an engine and only got about 30 laps of running in,"explained Moore, whose Player's Forsythe Racing teammate, Carpentier (Player's ForsytheRacing Team Ltd. Mercedes Reynard), topped Tuesday's speed charts at 123.3 mph (1:05.927)."We didn't have the mileage we needed to put in a good time, plus, we only ran on one setof tires. "Today, the Player's Forsythe team did a really good job. We were in a position towin this race last year [Moore led 23 laps before a pit incident relegated him to a22nd-place finish], and we were better out there today than we were here last year,so we're really looking forward to coming back in August." Moore, who stands fifth in the FedEx Championship Series with 69 points, recorded hispace-setting speed in the morning practice session. Fastest in the afternoon was TonyKanaan (McDonald's Championship Racing Honda Reynard), at 125.09 mph (1:04.983). Kanaan,whose Forsythe Championship Racing Team is based in nearby Hilliard, Ohio, recorded thesecond-fastest time of the test with Wednesday afternoon's clocking. FedEx Championship Series points leader Juan Montoya (Target Honda Reynard) of three-timedefending champion Target/Chip Ganassi Racing was third-fastest overall at 125.02 mph(1:05.016). Montoya takes a 112-87 points lead over Gil de Ferran (Valvoline/CumminsSpecial Honda Reynard) into Round 10 of the championship, the July 11 Texaco/Havoline200 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. (2 p.m. ET, live, ABC-TV). De Ferran did not participate in the Open Test. Franchitti (Team KOOL Green), the defending pole-sitter, was fourth-fastest Wednesday at124.96 mph (1:05.048), followed by Carpentier at 124.79 mph (1:05.138). "Things went really well for us until we developed a bit of a water leak [in the afternoon]and had to call it a day," said Franchitti, third in the championship with 85 points."But we've had a couple of good days here. We're almost a second under our track recordfrom last year, and the track is in fantastic shape. It's rubbered in better than it'sever been since I've been coming here." Rounding out Wednesday's time sheet were Jimmy Vasser (Target Honda Reynard), sixth at124.56 mph (1:05.258); Christian Fittipaldi (Big Kmart Ford Swift), seventh at 124.47 mph(1:05.303); Bryan Herta (Shell Ford Reynard), eighth at 124.08 mph (1:05.510) and MauricioGugelmin (Hollywood PacWest Mercedes), ninth at 123.77 mph (1:05.674). The top nine driversposted times faster than Franchitti's track record. Wednesday's remaining participants included defending Miller Lite 200 champion AdrianFernandez (Tecate/Quaker State/Patrick Racing Ford Reynard), at 123.73 mph (1:05.693);JJ Lehto (Visteon Ford Reynard), at 123.08 mph (1:06.040); Helio Castro-Neves (Hogan MotorLeasing, Inc. Mercedes Lola), at 122.96 mph (1:06.106); Memo Gidley (Alpine Special HondaReynard), at 122.61 mph (1:06.295) and Gualter Salles (AAR/Denso Castrol Toyota Eagle), at121.51 mph (1:06.898). SpeedCenter will post an additional report from this test. Some photos are alsoexpected this weekend. Source: CART News Service | ||
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