Race No. 11
Molson Indy
Toronto — Ontario, Canada
July 18 — July 20, 1997
Saturday Quotes from drivers and managers at Toronto: | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes-Benz Qualified: 9th |
| GREG MOORE | |
| "I am comfortable with ninth place on the grid. In Detroit, we started seventh and we won. There are a lot more places to pass here in Toronto. We improved the car a lot and it looks good for tomorrow. I'm sure that it's going to be a slow race because it's slippery. The pace should be around the 61-second mark. With two minutes to go, I had a flat spot on one of my tires, so there was no way I could improve my time." | |
 | Marlboro Penske Mercedes Qualified: 17th |
| AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| "Just like yesterday, the track was slower in qualifying than it was in the morning session and the track was even more greasy than yesterday. We still have to get more balance out of our cars. That's what our problem has been this season. If we can achieve a better balance, the loss of grip we've been struggling with will automatically come with an improved balance. Even though we've had a tough time with road and street course set-ups this year, the Marlboro cars are competitive on race day. It's qualifying that has us in mid-field. We've got a long way to go (from 17th position) tomorrow. We moved up 14 places last weekend in Cleveland (to finish fourth), so we're going with the same plan--to stay out of trouble and keep moving towards the front." | |
 | PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 2nd |
| MARK BLUNDELL | |
| "It's a great day for the UK in Canada. I don't think there have ever been two Brits on the front row of a CART race. It's great to improve on my career-best starting position, though it would have been nice to get the pole. I guess the trend would indicate that we'll get that next week after going third and second the past two weeks. Basically we had a decent race car and I was able to hang it out there a little bit to get a good time. Tomorrow the key issue will be keeping the tires in good shape. There will be a lot of marbles, which will make passing difficult and make staying on line absolutely critical. We had no troubles with durability today, so I feel we'll be in good shape." | |
 | Kmart/Budweiser Swift Ford Newman/Haas Racing Qualified: 13th |
| CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| (On morning practice)"The car is much better than it was yesterday. We had the second fastest time in the morning session before we had to stop early to change the suspension." | |
 | Pennzoil Special Reynard Ford Davis/Craig Racing Qualified: 16th |
| GUALTER SALLES | |
| (On morning practice)"Oil pressure. The engine went with almost no warning. I came out of the third gear corner (Turn Six) and the engine went real tight, then it stopped. Until then) the car was a lot better. The grip we couldn't find yesterday was there and we had reeled off a couple of good laps. We just couldn't get a string of laps together because of the yellows early in the session. I wish I wasn't one of them." (On qualifying): "Where ever we start tomorrow, we owe that to the Davis Racing crew and their efforts. After our engine failure this morning, they put in the new engine and fixed every-thing within two hours. Obviously it worked. They did a great job to get the car ready. A lot of the session was still finding the setup, because we only did five laps this morning. Once we got the car dialed in we put on the final set of tires and were able to reel off two good laps. I did the best I could today; I hope for the guys that we have a good starting position." | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Qualified: 19th |
| PARKER JOHNSTONE | |
| "The changes we made before this session are definitely a step in the right direction. We've picked up more overall grip. The car has been nervous, and it's less so now. It's turning better. These cars require a lot of fine tuning, and I think we've made some good progress." | |
 | LCI International Reynard Honda Tasman Motorsports Group Qualified: 7th |
| ANDRE RIBEIRO | |
| "We made some good improvements to the car from yesterday and we were able to get some clear laps. I am feeling more and more confident and comfortable with the car." | |
 | Tecate Beer/Quaker State Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group Qualified: 22nd |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| "The car may be a little bit better but it doesn't change our position on the grid. We are so far behind that even little gains won't make up positions. The car is more driveable but still very nervous. My quick lap was the best I could get." | |
 | Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Reynard Ford Qualified: 10th |
| GIL de FERRAN | |
| (On the morning practice)"This was another productive session for the team. We were able to try some different things on the car, which helped us to improve from yesterday. Traffic was something to contend with, which is usual on a circuit like this. I'm confident that when the separate groups go out this afternoon things will open up and we'll be able to make a run to improve our provisional starting position this afternoon." | |
 | Bettenhaused Racing Alumax Aluminium Reynard Mercedes-Benz Qualified: 21st |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| "The car was a little better than it was yesterday and we went a little quicker as a result. Unfortunately, everybody else made a bigger improvement so that moved us back on the grid a bit. This morning in practice, we did our best lap on an old set of tires because we were trying to save some sticker sets for the final qualifying session. In qualifying, I could get one good lap and then we would have the problem of the rear end of the car wanting to come around. However, this car has always been good with full tanks so we should have a good car for the race." | |
 | Miller Lite Reynard Ford Team Rahal Qualified: 3rd |
| BOBBY RAHAL | |
| "The car was really awful on Friday. We sat down last night and went over everything on the car. And right off this morning we ran 360 (seconds). There's a half a second better than we qualified on Friday. The heat seems to be our nemesis. So I'm pleased we improved in the heat today. Being the first Goodyear car and the first Ford car is important for us. The tires are a key here and we ran this morning on older tires to get ready for the race. Grip level is important and, of course, fuel is an issue in strategy. Who keeps their tires the freshest will be up front at the end. I don't know why I do so well at Toronto. I can't put my finger on it. I enjoy the city, the track and the people. guess I know what the car needs here." | |
 | Hollywood Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 10th |
| MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| "I'm a little bit frustrated. We improved the car quite a bit and things were fine in the morning session. In the afternoon, the car was very unsettled under braking. I never put together a good lap, which is disappointing because grid position is so important here. We'll just have to give it our best shot tomorrow and make something positive happen." | |
 | Panasonic/DUSKIN Arciero/Wells Racing, Reynard Toyota Qualified: 27th |
| HIRO MATSUSHITA | |
| (On the morning practice)"We went softer on the front springs to make the car turn-in better. There is less understeer, but the back end is still a little loose. However with a good front, I can control the rear. I think we are quicker in the slow comers while making slight progress in the high-speed comers. We stopped a few minutes early to save engine mileage for today's qualifying." | |
 | Castrol/Jockey AAR Racing Reynard Toyota Qualified: 20th |
| P.J. JONES | |
| "The track is really slippery, but the car keeps getting better and better. It's pretty tough the first few laps on cold tires I think we're in good position for the race tomorrow We just need to find something that the others haven't found yet. We learned a lot about the car and worked on our race setup. We were trying to find the perfect balance with the front end. We didn't get the best lap together today, but we are getting to know the chassis and that is important for the future. At the moment my goal is not fighting between 23rd and 18th my goal is to fight for a top ten. We have to learn and become stronger for the day when everything is ready and today we learned a lot." | |
 | Castrol/Jockey AAR Racing Reynard Toyota Qualified: 25th |
| JUAN MANUEL FANGIO II | |
| "The car was pretty good this morning. We were able to get into the 60 second range. During qualifying, I brushed the wall coming out of Turn 1, and as I went down the straight away the tires didn't hold the air. I lost the tire completely and went into the wall in Turn 2. The car has heavy damage, and now we need to decide what to do about tomorrow." | |
 | Hogan Racing Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 1st |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| (On morning practice)"From a development point of view, we did a lot of adjusting this session. Just a little more before the qualifying run and we are in good shape." | |
 | Team Kool Green Team manager |
| BARRY GREEN | |
| "We're certainly disappointed, because it seemed as if the improvements we'd made to the car since this morning were good. We'll be changing the engine on schedule tonight, so the problem we had this afternoon won't be a factor tomorrow. We won't know more about the problems with this engine until they can get a closer look at it." | |