Race No. 8
ITT Grand Prix of Detroit
Detroit — Michigan
June 6 — June 8, 1997
Saturday Quotes from drivers and managers at Detroit: | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
| Photo: Scott Hughes JIMMY VASSER | |
| "We changed the whole set-up of the car, and it's a lot better than what we had before. I guess we're happy under the circumstances [a minor brush with the wall in morning practice and a switch to the backup car for qualifying]. We're ready to go race tomorrow." | |
 | Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford Cosworth XD |
| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| "I was on a fast lap and Bobby [Rahal] was slow on course. I came up on him and he slowed me down going into the corner. I lost the grip and went into the tires. It definitely didn't make me happy. Passing is tough here, but the race is always interesting. Anything can happen here. I just need to stay at the front and be there to cash in on someone's mistake or misfortune." | |
 | Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
| AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| "We found water in the oil and we think there was a problem with the heat exchanger. The water and oil run next to each other in the heat exchanger and if there's a slight crack, the water and oil mix together. It's really disappointing, because there's a strong importance on qualifying at this track and now we're starting so far back (16th) on the grid. We were really looking forward to improving our position today, because we really helped my Marlboro car this morning." | |
 | PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes |
| MARK BLUNDELL | |
| "That was a little bit of a hectic qualifying session. I had a lot of traffic to start with, and then I had a small scrape with the wall. That knocked us out for a minute, but my crew did a fantastic job to get me back out there before the end of the session. The guys did a great job...we did our best time after the repairs. We really needed one more lap, but we're in the top 10, so that's an improvement of late. I'm optimistic and entering the race with some confidence." | |
 | Ralphs/Food 4 Less Della Penna Racing Lola Ford |
| RICHIE HEARN | |
| "The only thing I knew about this track before yesterday was what I've seen on TV and what I've learned on my video game (IndyCar Racing II), but the last two days have been an incredible learning experience. It's a very difficult track to learn because it throws so much at you. Unfortunately, the car has had its limitations, as we've seen all year. But I worked as hard as I could … even brushed the wall a time or two, which means you can't try any harder than that! We tried really hard to save our tires the last two days. The way it's been going, you get about 2 or 2½ laps on good rubber before they're spent. And in qualifying, if you're on one of those laps and somebody gets in your way, you're out of luck. That's what happened to me after I did my 10.7. I had another good one going and traffic got in my way. We'll definitely go with the harder compounds for the race. I feel pretty confident in the car for tomorrow. It's a long race, and I think we're in good shape to stay close over the long haul." | |
 | Kmart/Budweiser Swift Ford Newman/Haas Racing |
| ROBERTO MORENO | |
| "Being third is close to the pole. I won't have the pressure of being on pole. This (driving for Newman/Haas Racing) was a great opportunity for me. It's helped me for the future of my career. We made a last minute change before qualifying, and it worked. Being with a top team has definitely improved me as a driver. It was the first time I've been on ovals in a competitive car. I'm a much better driver on ovals now and I enjoy them more. I always try my best. Yes, it would be important for me to close this with a golden key. Just imagine if I didn't get this break. People wouldn't know my full potential. Remember, I haven't been able to do any testing. I've shown people that I can fit in with a good team." | |
 | MCI Arciero Wells Reynard Toyota |
| MAX PAPIS | |
| "I just kept my right foot on the gas and slid the car a lot. We did a lot of improvement on the chassis and for the first time with the [new] 3.2 engine. We were able to run a higher boost set point and that helped us a lot. I'm happy for what we've done, we've improved a lot. We proved that with a little better boost we could have a better performance. I hope that we can take this engine to the end. I'm sure there will be a lot of action during the race and if I can stay out of the action and not run into any major problems we will be in good shape." | |
 | Pennzoil Special Reynard Ford Davis/Craig Racing |
| GUALTER SALLES | |
| [On morning practice] "That was much better today for the Indusval-Marlboro Reynard Ford Cosworth, and it showed we are going in the right direction. We made a lot of changes with the springs and dampers, continuing what we started yesterday, and it worked. The car was much better and continued to get better with every change. We finally switched to to new Goodyears for the last 10 minutes and the car just flew. It just shows that if we get time to test, we can do it." [On the Qualifying Session] "That was as much as I was going to get out of the car for qualifying. On my first set of tires I let Parker by when he was on a quick lap, but a couple of laps later he was going down the middle of the road and I lost a lot of time and the edge on my tires trying to get by. I had a good set of tires for my second set, and I got everything I could out of the car. It's going to be a difficult race for us tomorrow starting from 22nd. This track is difficult to pass on, so all we can do is our best and keep our nose clean. That should get us a good finish. Go Wings!" | |
 | Shell Reynard Ford Team Rahal |
| BRYAN HERTA | |
| "It's so tight out there with traffic and trying to find a clean lap. That's everything here at Belle Isle. It's critical because you only have a few laps with a new set of tires. After three or four laps, the tires aren't the same and, if you get blocked on a fast lap, you've lost your momentum and the grip of the tires. I think we have a pretty good race car but passing is extremely tough. You almost have to hope someone makes a mistake in front of you." | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda |
| PARKER JOHNSTONE | |
| "My quick lap was definitely not a perfect lap, especially with the car we have this afternoon. It was a very aggressive, heart-driven lap that really pushed the car beyond its limits in some places. I just wish it had.been worth more than a few positions." [On the eight-minute penalty for running out of fuel on the course] "The eight-minute penalty really hurt us. We wanted to get the ride heights right and do some damper adjusting, and we didn't have that opportunity. At the end of the day, you only have two shots, so we bolted on a new set of tires and gave it our best with what we had. Even though the car may be quite far from right, when you have a new set of tires, you have to try to do a time. We weren't able to make all the adjustments we wanted to, because after the penalty was up, I went out and hit a lap and a half of traffic before coming back in for the second set of tires." | |
 | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
| ALEX ZANARDI | |
| "The car was very good, I'm satisfied with the set-up. But it's frustrating, the traffic was terrible today. So many times I had a fantastic lap going only for someone to be in the way. But I can still do that lap [his quickest] for many laps in a row, so we should be in good shape for the race tomorrow." | |
 | LCI International Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
| ANDRE RIBEIRO | |
| "The car is getting better and the balance is better, but we are still a step behind. This was our fastest time of the weekend so we are improving. This is good especially with the hard time we are passing through, and I hope we can keep on improving like this for future races. It is really a tough time for us but, as a driver, I am learning things I wouldn't have learned unless we had these problems. I think the real issue for the race will be all the marbles on the track." | |
 | Tecate Beer/Quaker State Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| "I did the best I could do, but we are really off the pace. This has been a nightmare weekend for us. We haven't been able to balance the car at all. It's been very hard on everyone, but we are concentrating our efforts and working as a team. We have had some bright moments, like St. Louis where both cars finished in the top ten. The toughest thing is not to lose your motivation. We've made small gains and we just have to keep moving forward." | |
 | Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Reynard Ford |
| GIL de FERRAN | |
| "This was a difficult session because we has to sit and wait it out, but obviously it turned out in our favor! The team has done a fantastic job all weekend to give me a great car. We made some minor adjustments after the morning session, and then just went for it. We went out on the first set of new tires and I did a reasonably good time, but I felt that on the second set there was more to come, so we started the second set straight on and that was the pole-position time. I only did two fast laps the whole session. I think that tomorrow is going to be very tough race. Tire wear is going to be a huge consideration. Today we were able to run quicker times because not only did the weather cool down, but there is more rubber on the track. The track conditions are so much better today than yesterday, and you obviously saw that in the sessions today. I'm looking forward to a great race!" | |
 | Bettenhaused Racing Alumax Aluminium Reynard Mercedes-Benz |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| "After the results we have been getting lately, I am obviously disappointed today. We went quicker but not quick enough. This is a very narrow track so you really don't want to start in the back rows of the grid. We'll just have to be careful and hope for the best in the race itself." | |
 | Miller Lite Reynard Ford Team Rahal |
| BOBBY RAHAL | |
| "Qualifying at this place is hard. After a session, you've got two guys yelling at you for blocking them and three other guys coming over to apologize for blocking you. Hey, I never got a clean lap during the session but that's the way it is at this place. We try to time our pit exit and tire changes to get a clear track, but so does everyone else. So we end up running up on each other. We waited 30 to 40 seconds after the green flag to get a clean spot on the track but that didn't help us today." | |
 | Hollywood Reynard Mercedes |
| MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| "I felt like a hacker out there. We struggled a bit with the balance. If we improved traction, we messed up the entry to the corners, and if we fixed that, we had no traction. We tried many things. I almost put the car into the wall about three times today. The good news is that I have a pretty good idea what we need to do, and we ended the day with all four wheels on the car. It's going to be a busy race. A lot of guys will just eat up their tires. The key Sunday will be to conserve tires, keep the pressure on, and make good pit stops." | |
 | Panasonic/DUSKIN Arciero/Wells Racing, Reynard Toyota |
| HIRO MATSUSHITA | |
| "Finally we managed to sort out part of the handling problem and the car is better nearly everywhere. We picked up nearly two seconds in qualifying, but we still need another one. With the changes we made, I wish we had a few more minutes to make the next step. The car is much quicker around the horseshoe to the front, as we hit the right aero and suspension changes. Plus I could put a little more into each lap, once the grip improved." | |
 | Castrol/Jockey AAR Racing Reynard Toyota |
| P.J. JONES | |
| "We qualified on the harder tires because the primes seem to be a better race tire. We seem to be better on used tires then some of the other guys. The car handles good and I think we're in pretty good shape." | |
 | Castrol/Jockey AAR Racing Reynard Toyota |
| JUAN MANUEL FANGIO II | |
| "The chassis felt pretty good. There's only one problem, I will have to start the race with optional tires. [The CART rule book states that you have to start the race on the same tires you qualified with.] Optional tires are great for qualifying but not the race. During qualifying, Max Papis held me up and I wasn't able to get a clean lap. The first part of the race is going to be tough. I'm just going to hang in there and wait for the first pit stop. After I get the primes on I should be in better shape." | |
 | Team Kool Green Team manager |
| BARRY GREEN | |
| "I was certainly pleased with Parker's quick lap. I think Parker carried the car welland did a great job, and he certainly moved us up on the grid. You know, we'd like to be furtherup, but we just got lost. We were lost when we unloaded, and we haven't fully recovered. We'lldo what we can to make it a decent race car for tomorrow". "The only time this track feels good to a driver around here is when he's on pole position,because it's a really tough race track. You've got to be very, very aggressive, and thereare walls everywhere. I don't think anyone out here is really happy with his car unlesshe's on the pole or wins the race. It's that kind of race track." | |