Race No. 5
Rio 400
Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway — Rio de Janiero, Brazil
May 9-11, 1997
Friday Quotes from drivers and managers at Rio: | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
| JIMMY VASSER | |
| "We're just working with the chassis today, trying to make it better. Obviously, it's going to be a very tight grid tomorrow, there's at least 18 cars within a second of Andretti." | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes-Benz |
| GREG MOORE | |
| "No doubt we really improved the car. I ran my best lap with old tires so I'm happy with this result. It's a nice oval but very different from the others. There's a lot of downshifting and braking like a road course. All the ovals should be like that. The Brazilian fans really know this sport." | |
 | Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| ""We're fighting mid-corner understeer and still chasing our set-up a bit. We were able to pick up almost a second from the morning session but unfortunately that wasn't good enough-it got us closer in time but farther back in the grid. It's just another example of how competitive the series is-the first ten cars on the grid are only separated by six tenths of a second. We have our work cut out for us tomorrow." | |
 | Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford Cosworth XD |
| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| [after the morning practice session] "The car is really good. It's early though. We're miles ahead of where we were last year here. The car is running well and I'm looking forward to the next few races. They've made big improvements in the track this year. It's safer and smoother in the turns and braking areas. The car is good now but we're going to have to go much quicker if we want to stay No. 1." [after the afternoon practice session] "Obviously conditions at the end were as good as you can get. Maybe the speeds will be slower tomorrow. The safety is much better here this year. The track has done a commendable job. The surface in one and two is much better, especially in the braking areas." | |
 | Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
| AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| "We've got a little understeer through the corner, but other than that my Marlboro car feels pretty good. I think it's going to be tough to qualify on the front row, but we definitely have a good car for the race. We're glad to be back racing in Rio -- they've done a great job with the improvements that have been made since last year. The track is still bumpy on the back straightaway, but it's nothing we can't work through with our overall balance." | |
 | PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes |
| MARK BLUNDELL | |
| "We basically ran full tanks for the entire session and never tried new tires. So from that point of view I'm not really concerned. I'm basically pleased with the balance of the car and we should be in good shape when we take out some fuel and go for a time." | |
 | Kmart/Budweiser Swift Ford Newman/Haas Racing |
| ROBERTO MORENO | |
| [after the morning practice session] "We played with the suspension a little and the car was better. The promoters deserve high marks for the improvements to the track. Every oval should try to develop energy absorbing walls like they did here. It's a big improvement in the area of driver safety. The repaving is fantastic. It's very smooth in turns one and four." [after the afternoon practice session] "In my opinion, the Swift is one of the best chassis out there. I don't think it's even reached 100% potential yet. Michael and I worked together a great deal and swapped information. It was very important to work with Michael and develop the car. I hoped to have a good performance but I didn't expect to be here on the first day." | |
 | MCI Arciero Wells Reynard Toyota |
| MAX PAPIS | |
| "It was an unproductive day for us, we learned very little because we haven't been able to run a lot. We were working on the boost control in the car, trying to get a better response and working on the setup to get a good car for qualifying tomorrow. [About the circuit]: "It is like a road course, like a road course where you turn only left. I was actually thinking yesterday about how many miles I have driven without turning right. I think that would be an interesting calculation. Since I am new to ovals it is strange to only turn left and I have been doing that a lot lately. [About Brazil]: Besides being in Brazil for the race I have had the opportunity to see the country with my girlfriend Gabriella who is from here. We have had a fantastic welcoming from the people here. I think it is because the Brazilian people and the Italian people have the same heart." | |
 | Shell Reynard Ford Team Rahal |
| BRYAN HERTA | |
| "We didn't get a chance to run at the end of the session because we wanted to try a few changes on the chassis and we ran out of time. But I felt the car was capable of a 39-second lap. We used one set of tires over 60 laps and still ran a 40.3. So we are pretty close with our settings right now." | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda |
| PARKER JOHNSTONE | |
| "We didn't put a new set of tires on at the end of the session, and that definitely kept us down. I think we could've stayed in the top ten if we'd changed tires, but that's not what we were trying to do out here this afternoon. We did a couple of long runs to see how the car would react to lap after lap out here, and we're making progress in terms of building up reliability. "I'm definitely, as Barry would say, 'driving on the right rear', and that's a bad thing on an oval. But we know what's causing the understeer, and that's a good thing. So we can get that out of the way early tonight and figure out what else we can do to keep the reliability but add in the speed." [on this evening's track conditions]: "I don't think the positions after this session really reflect how we're all doing. The track really got away from us all this afternoon, and it won't be like this on race day. Plus, most of the quickest laps out there were everybody's last laps — with new tires and the will to move up on the chart — which doesn't necessarily show what the car can do on race day." | |
 | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
| ALEX ZANARDI | |
| "I think this is going to be a very competitive, exciting weekend. The circuit here is very challenging, almost a mixture of a road course and an oval. As a result, you get a lot of drafting, but also a lot of passing under braking, tires smoking, that sort of thing. It's a very challenging way to race and should be a great show for the fans on Sunday." | |
 | LCI International Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
| ANDRE RIBEIRO | |
| "We improved the car from this morning but it is still very sensitive. We have a lot to do but we are making progress. It is not comfortable to drive, but it is getting faster. When the car was comfortable to drive, it was slow." | |
 | Tecate Beer/Quaker State Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| "The car felt pretty good the first time out. Basically, we did not improve it from there. We tried a lot of things, but did not make any gains. Right now it is difficult to drive through the corners." | |
 | Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Reynard Ford |
| GIL de FERRAN | |
| "I feel like going to the beach now! The changes we made from the morning session were very good. We picked up a fair amount of speed and the handling remains very good. I'm expecting the pole speed to be around a 39.5 and there are any number of drivers who have a great shot at it. I'm just hoping to be one of them." | |
 | Miller Lite Reynard Ford Team Rahal |
| BOBBY RAHAL | |
| "I helped give Roberto (Moreno) a tow from my draft and then he beats me out of third (by one-thousandth of a second). The engine feels very good and you can see that three of the top four cars are Fords right now. That shows how they have improved their motor. I can't believe how close the field is here. There are 13 cars within a half-second and 12 of those broke the track record. I'd say our series is very competitive" | |
 | Hollywood Reynard Ford |
| MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| "We kept working on the balance and made some improvements. It's not perfect by any means, but it's looking good. The grid is very tight. I think a lot of people were really going for times and trying to catch a tow." | |
 | Panasonic/DUSKIN Arciero/Wells Racing, Reynard Toyota |
| HIRO MATSUSHITA | |
| "We continued working on the understeer in the two critical corners, adjusting the front and the rear wing to balance the downforce. This process went back and forth from better to worse until the right combination of minor changes worked. In the end we lifted the rear ride height and kept working the front wings. This cut nearly one second off our morning time and certainly there is more left in the car for tomorrow." | |
 | Team Kool Green Team manager |
| BARRY GREEN | |
| "I'm very disappointed that we're not a lot closer than 14th. We made some pretty big changes to the car between sessions, and we'll have to take a real hard look at what we did and why it didn't move us forward. Parker's been fighting oversteer - he's been running a little loose - and we put in a different rear suspension to try to help with that this afternoon. We'll just have to look at it again tonight. "We didn't try new tires at the end of the session, and that hurt us, too. We would've been a couple tenths [of a second] up on the chart, but really that's just part of the big picture." | |