Race No. 16
Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey
Laguna Seca Raceway — Salinas, California
September 6-8, 1996
Friday Quotes from drivers and managers at Laguna Seca Raceway: |
#12 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
JIMMY VASSER | |
| "We had a bit
of a problem early. A gasket blew on the popoff valve and that cost us some
time in the pits. But the track is good, maybe a little slicker than this
morning, but really not too bad. We'll work on the balance a little bit and
should go quicker tomorrow."
[Is the championship battle adding any pressure this weekend?] "We, the whole team, we're trying to treat it like just another race. All of our guys give 110 percent every weekend and this one isn't any different in that respect. But, just to be included in a championship battle with Michael Andretti and Al Unser, Jr. — this is what I've been working for my entire career. I mean, what driver wouldn't want to be included with those guys?" | |
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#99 Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes-Benz |
GREG MOORE | |
| "This morning we had a
very bad session because we tried to improve the setup we used during our
testing here before Vancouver. For the qualifying session, we came back with
those testing setups and it was a lot better. On this track, tires are good
for about four laps. The second set of tires was the same as the first one,
but we improved the aerodynamic of the car a little bit, and that's why a
did a quicker lap." "It's a very nice track, with three or four good places to pass. The track should be faster tomorrow, and I think it's also possible for us to move up on the grid." | |
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#3 Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
JAN MAGNUSSEN | |
| "We're still chipping away at the setup here and we've got a long way to go. The Hogan Penske car is better now than it was when we tested here a couple of weeks ago, but we're still nowhere close to the balance we need to run up front. We need to work on both balance and grip. About the only place the car feels good is in the pits." | |
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#6 Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Lola Ford Cosworth XD |
MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| "It's still early. I have too much understeer to go any faster. It's the same way in all of the corners. It hurt us when the differential went this morning. We would have had a lot more knowledge on how to make the car better. Peter Gibbons is one of the best engineers out there and I'm sure he'll figure it out. The Goodyear's are out front so we know the tire is good. Everyone is pushing hard because so much is riding on this race. Like I said, it's still early." | |
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#2 Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| [On his qualifying incident] "I was catching Christian [Fittipaldi], and the closer I got to him, my car was pushing more and more. I was coming the hill at Turn 6 and I was just trying too hard. Unfortunately, I damaged the car's rear wing, both sides of the rear suspension and the gearbox. My crew is checking it over now to see if it's reparable. Obviously, Marlboro Team Penske has a lot of work to do tonight. I feel bad for the crew, but the one thing this team is the best at is putting situations like this behind us and moving forward." | |
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#21 PacWest Reynard Ford Cosworth |
MARK BLUNDELL | |
| "Mauricio [Gugelmin] did a lot of work here last week during the testing, and it was very conclusive. I only completed one day of testing. I've got an ice pack on my hand because after the incident at Road America, I ripped the tendons. I took painkiller injections to race last week and will probably need to visit the medical center for more injections before this race." | |
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#11 Kmart/Budweiser Lola Ford Newman/Haas Racing |
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| "I didn't get to put a good lap together. The car is pretty consistent but I need overall grip. I have a lot less overall grip than this morning. We definitely want to finish the season on a high note so we're going to give it all we've got." | |
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#25 MCI Arciero Wells Reynard Toyota |
MAX PAPIS | |
| "I think the effort we put into the test last week, and the work put in by the TRD guys over the last month has really paid off. Today we worked a lot on the chassis trying to get rid of some understeer we had in the test. And actually the track conditions are a lot different than the test so we had to go back to our basic set-up this morning. We still need to do some work to improve the set-up, but we are moving in the right direction. I am confident for tomorrow we will do better." | |
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#8 Pennzoil Special Reynard Honda Hall Racing |
GIL de FERRAN | |
| "We're struggling today. We need
to work on the balance of the car. It just isn't very good right now."
[On today's announcement that he will be joining Walker Racing in 1997, with Honda power]: "I have been looking forward to today. Derrick and I started talking back in June and the more we talked, the more I felt that he and I have a lot in common. We see a lot of things in the same way. So, I am very happy to be able to announce this agreement and stay in Indy Cars with Walker Racing and Honda next season." | |
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#28 Shell Reynard Mercedes-Benz Team Rahal |
BRYAN HERTA | |
| "We need to be here after the race. The car has been just great the last six races. It's so competitive out there, it's unbelievable. After [winning the provisional pole at] Road America, we got a little conservative, and on Saturday, they just ran by us. Tomorrow, we'll work hard to be here again, and again on Sunday." | |
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#49 Motorola Reynard Honda Brix Comptech Racing |
PARKER JOHNSTONE | |
| "We're not in too bad of shape, just a hundredth [of a second] off a guy who won five races this year. Plus physically, this is the best I've felt since Michigan [when he crashed on the final lap]." | |
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#4 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
ALEX ZANARDI | |
| "We made a couple of changes today, but I'm not completely satisfied with the balance. We're not desperate. The Honda engine is working very well, and we're not too far off the pole." | |
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#31 LCI International Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
ANDRE RIBEIRO | |
| "This morning we were able to make the car quick but not consistent. This afternoon it was much more consistent and we definitely have the potential to improve the car even more. We were only able to run with one set of tires because we flat-spotted the other set when Al Unser Jr. went off. I believe that for tomorrow, with the qualifying being a little earlier, we will be able to improve our time." | |
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#32 Tecate Beer/Quaker State Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| "Today was a tough day. We didn't have a good session this morning. We couldn't really find the level of grip we wanted and the car was a little bit off. We checked some things in telemetry compared to Andre and thought we were going to have a better car for qualifying. Unfortunately we had some brake problems and we really lost almost 20 minutes in qualifying. At the end we developed a fuel pick-up problem. Hopefully we will be stronger tomorrow. Today was really rough." | |
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#5 Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Reynard Ford |
ROBBY GORDON | |
| "Throughout the session, we worked on trying to find a better handle on it. We did towards the end of the session. I'm pretty happy with that because it gave me half a second just in this session. We have some work we can do. I think we can find some speed and be in good shape tomorrow." | |
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#16 Bettenhaused Racing Alumax Aluminium Reynard Mercedes-Benz |
STEFAN JOHANSSON | |
| "The car was not too bad. We kind of missed out on a couple of laps because of traffic. There was one lap where I really got held up and when you look at how closely so many drivers bunched with their times, it obviously affected our grid position. We ran 11th in the morning practice so hopefully we can get back up there in final qualifying tomorrow." | |
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#18 Miller Racing Reynard Mercedes-Benz Team Rahal |
BOBBY RAHAL | |
| "Qualifying in this series is so competitive now that it's almost a crap shoot. You have to hit the track at just the right time. I kept sliding through dirt that was knocked up onto the track by other cars. And then, the tires weren't as good because of the dirt. But with Bryan's [Herta, Rahal's teammate] time, I think we've got a good chassis setup. I really love the track and the new improvements. This track is now one of the finest road circuits in the world." | |
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#17 Hollywood Reynard Ford |
MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| "I'm not too concerned about today. I'm concerned about getting a good race car for Sunday. We're doing very well here, and this is a major step forward for the PacWest team. It's a good way to end the season, and things are looking good for next year." | |
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#15 Valvoline DuraBlend Special Reynard Ford |
SCOTT GOODYEAR | |
| "We're dealing with a couple of issues right now just on the balance of the car. And we're certainly paying for not coming here on that two-day test that they had before Vancouver. But, we'll keep plugging away and see if we can't get higher up the grid for tomorrow." | |