Race No. 13
Miller 200
Lexington — Ohio
August 8 — August 10, 1997
Saturday Quotes from drivers and managers at Mid Ohio: |
Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
| Photo: Scott Hughes JIMMY VASSER | |
| "The car's better; it's more driveable than it was. I was never able to put a lap together. I thought I had one on the first set of tires, but I got held up in traffic. Some guys were playing tidally-winks out there. " | |
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Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes-Benz |
| GREG MOORE | |
| " I'm very happy, this is my best qualifying position to date on a road course. (On the off-track incident) Something broke or the car just got loose in Turn 1. When I got back to the pit, we realized that it was the left rear push rod. The Player's team did a superb job in fixing it. With 5 minutes left in the session, I went out but the car was not as good as before. Fortunately, the times were a little slower than yesterday and I kept my third position on the grid. For the race tomorrow we have excellent tires. I think that on the long run, my Firestone tires have a slight edge over Goodyear. In case of rain, Firestone will also supply us with a good tire. " | |
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Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
| AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| "My Marlboro car's balance is like a knife edge. It either falls off on one side (push) or the other (loose). Our continual problem is that we just can't get the car working through the corners. This (18th) is the farthest back I've ever started, so I'm going to have to really keep my focus on staying out of trouble and working my way through traffic. If we can accomplish that and combine it with some quick pit stops, we may wind up in pretty good shape at the end of the day. " | |
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PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes |
| MARK BLUNDELL | |
| "It's been a tough day. I'm carrying a little bit of a physical problem - a pinched nerve in my back -which is not allowing me to give my best to the team at the moment. Beyond that, we're still missing a little bit. But I've got a lot of confidence in the guys on the Motorola crew and the decisions we'll make for the race. The track did seem to be a little bit slower today. Really the only guy to put that theory out the window was Mauricio (Gugelmin), but thankfully he's within the same team as me. So hopefully we can learn a little bit about where he found some gains. In all, today was not one of our better days. But the law of averages says tomorrow will be better. " | |
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MCI Arciero Wells Reynard Toyota |
| MAX PAPIS | |
| " All morning we had boost trouble and the engine was not pulling strong. We changed the engine for qualifying and for the first time this weekend we could run properly. On our first timed lap we ran our fastest lap of the weekend and there was more in the car. I arrived in Turn 7 and I had a car that was going slow in front of me about four or five car lengths. I was committed to a very fast lap I went to brake for the turn and I misjudged the speed difference between our two cars, so I went harder on the brake and spun. That was the end of the day for us. I'm sorry because the car was very good and I think we could have had a decent result. " | |
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Pennzoil Special Reynard Ford Davis/Craig Racing |
| GUALTER SALLES | |
| "That was a good session for the Davis Racing team. I think the track was a little bit slower today; there were only a few guys who were able to improve their time today. The INDUSVAL-Marlboro Reynard- Ford Cosworth is improving in each session, but we're still struggling with understeer in the slow corners and the tires go off very quickly. We ran qualify-ing on the harder compound. I think we're the only Goodyear team doing that -- because I don't think the primaries will be able to last until the first pit stop. That may have hurt us a bit in qualifying, but I think the option tires are the better choice for the race. Of course, if it rains . . . " | |
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Shell Reynard Ford Team Rahal |
| BRYAN HERTA | |
| " I really figured that it would take a time in the 65-second bracket, but the track conditions weren't there today. I tried to run my fastest lap on my third lap of each set of tires. That was my last lap today. It was just off yesterday's time. I thought to myself, 'It's about time!' I saw the fans on the cool-down lap cheering and standing. That was very exciting. Then I saw the crew and Bobby (Rahal, Herta's team owner) cheering. I was ecstatic. After all that, I have to get my feet on the ground and worry about Sunday. That's what is important -winning the race. " | |
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Team Kool Green Reynard Honda |
| PARKER JOHNSTONE | |
| "We're battling a low-speed grip problem. The car is really good in the high-speed turns. In Turn 1, it's the best it's ever been. But in the low-speed areas, the car turns, but not nearly as much or as fast as I want it to. We made some big strides yesterday, but this is still a fairy new region for us in terms of changes. We started to gain some of the grip back at the end of the session, and we'll work hard tonight to make the car even better for tomorrow. " | |
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Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
| ALEX ZANARDI | |
| "I'm satisfied, second is better than third, but it would've been nice to go to bed with the pole in our pocket. There were a lot of red flags, and our (Firestone) tires take a couple of laps to come in before we can go for a time. After the last red flag, there was just a couple of minutes remaining and that wasn't enough time for us to make a run for the pole. " | |
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LCI International Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
| ANDRE RIBEIRO | |
| "We are still on a progressive learning curve. We are learning a lot but unfortunately we could not go faster. The difference in our time to the one's that have tested here is small, so that is positive for us. We have to concentrate now for the race. " | |
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Tecate Beer/Quaker State Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| "We had a huge amount of push we could not correct. The car was decent this morning but still on the push side. We tried a change and went too far. The car was extremely loose. I got on the power too early in Turn 2 and spun and that ended our qualifying run. " | |
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Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Reynard Ford |
| GIL de FERRAN | |
| "This was a difficult session for us. The car was sliding around quite a bit. I had a lot of understeer in the middle of the turns, and at the same time, not a lot of traction. I have a feeling that those two things may be due to the conditions, which are a little bit worse now than they were this morning, and as a result the car is moving around more. I guess these will be the conditions for the race, so we'll try to improve the car for the warmer temperatures and see what we are able to do tomorrow during warm-up. " | |
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Bettenhaused Racing Alumax Aluminium Reynard Mercedes-Benz |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| " The track was a little bit slower today because of the weather so we were unable to improve the time. We went backwards and that's unfortunate. Hopefully, we have a better race and score some points. " | |
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Miller Lite Reynard Ford Team Rahal |
| BOBBY RAHAL | |
| "We decided to run the
primary (harder Goodyear) tires because we've run longer stints
with these tires. The optional (softer) tire doesn't last very
long and we think those guys on the optionals will start
screaming for new tires after 12 or 13 laps. Of course, we
don't know the situation with the Firestone cars but we heard
it was similar to us. We have to plan to make longer runs for
the race. So strategy with the tires will be very important. I
think Paul (Tracy) and I were about the only guys to improve
our times in the first (slower) session today. I'm very happy for the team and Bryan. As hard as everyone has worked, I knew we could put together a good car for qualifying and the race. I'm pleased for our sponsors like Shell Oil Company, who have kept the faith with us. My (Miller Lite) team went a different direction for the race. We are running the hard primary tires and are concentrating on longer stints for the race. We'll have to see which strategy works on Sunday. " | |
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Hollywood Reynard Mercedes |
| MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| "I just carried a little too much speed into Turn 11. I was hoping to find a few more tenths, which would have put us in the top three. I went into it on the limit and when I came over the brow I ran out of luck on the steering. It wasn't a hard hit and the car doesn't look too bad. I'm not hurt at all. I pulled my hands away from the wheel. I may have a bit of a sore neck, but nothing serious. It was a great effort by the PacWest team today. We probably made the biggest jump in terms of anyone in terms of speed. The track was slower today, and I don't know why because it was a little cooler. So I was happy to have moved up under the circumstances. It's just too bad I didn't finish the session with all four wheels on the car. " | |
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Castrol/Jockey
AAR Racing Reynard Toyota |
| P.J. JONES | |
| " I think we have a pretty good race car. Our time was a little slower during today's qualifying session but I think we were a little better on new tires and that's a big gain. I think that whoever takes care of their tires tomorrow will have a good finish. " | |
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Castrol/Jockey
AAR Racing Reynard Toyota |
| JUAN MANUEL FANGIO II | |
| " The race track will slow down during qualifying. We keep fighting the set-up and the car seemed to lose grip during qualifying, but I think everybody did. We just need to keep working on the set-up and try to have a good finish. " | |
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Hogan Racing Reynard Mercedes |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| " We almost did the same time as we did yesterday. There is some problem with the gearbox, which is pretty frustrating. I thought we could have gone quicker, I'm a little upset with it, you know we have got to look towards the race. We are still fifth and we could have picked up a place or two, but if you look at the big picture that's not going to make much of a big difference come tomorrow I don't think. " | |