Race No. 16
Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey
Monterey — Califirnia
September 5 — September 7, 1997
Sunday Quotes from drivers and managers at Laguna Seca:| Index of Quotes available | ||
|---|---|---|
| MARK BLUNDELL | PARTICK CARPENTIER | DARIO FRANCHITTI |
| MAURICIO GUGELMIN | HIRO MATSUSHITA | ROBERTO MORENO |
| MAX PAPIS | PAUL TRACY | AL UNSER JR |
| JIMMY VASSER | ALEX ZANARDI | CHIP GANASSI |
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Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
| AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| "We hung in there and did the best we could, but we picked up a major push in the car. I'm real proud of the guys (on the team). This has been a real tough year, and they're hangin' in there with me like no other team ever has. The fuel mileage was great, and we've got lots of power. Power isn't my problem. We'll keep on working on it." | |
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Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda 1st place |
| Photo: Scott Hughes JIMMY VASSER | |
| "
We were running super-duper lean at the start to go longer. I was able to go one lap
longer, and that gave us the distance to get ahead of Pruett. After that, the car was good, and
that was all I needed.
It's great to get back in the winner's circle. I've been waiting all year long. We had our chances early in the season, but we let them get away. I know how Alex feels and I'd much rather be in his shoes, but maybe we'll have that opportunity again next year. Hopefully, we can take the momentum we've been building later in the season and carry that into next year." | |
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Hogan Racing Reynard Mercedes |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| "The championship is great for Mercedes-Benz. I'm happy for Paul Morgan and Mario Illien and all the guys at Ilmor [Engineering, the race engine-building arm of Mercedes]. They deserve it. Along with the Formula One win this morning, it shows that Mercedes is really on top. As for my day, we just didn't ever get a handle on the car. It was really a disappointing weekend in that respect." | |
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Panasonic/DUSKIN Arciero/Wells Racing, Reynard Toyota |
| HIRO MATSUSHITA | |
| "It's been a frustrating weekend after such a good start on Friday. We ran good on Friday, then experienced fuel pump trouble on Saturday and an oil leak today. Today's race is unfortunate, but we have finished ten of the last 12 races." | |
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MCI Arciero Wells Reynard Toyota |
| MAX PAPIS | |
| "I had an excellent start," said Papis. "I was running
really, really strong. I overtook Parker Johnstone, and I was
holding back Al Unser Jr., and keeping pace with the Brahma car in
front of me [Raul Boesel]. The first pit stop there were no
problems. The second pit stop when I went to select first gear I had
an engine drop or something and it stalled and we had to restart it.
From there on the race was tough because I was conserving fuel." I have to thank my crew because they gave me a car that was really, really fast today," continued Papis. "Early in the race, when I could run wide open we proved that I could run with the top guys. We can build on this for the future of our program." [On the cool down lap of the race, Papis stopped and picked up race-winner Jimmy Vasser-who had stopped on course-to give him a lift to victory circle] "I visited victory circle as a guest today, but I hope to be there as a winner soon. Also, I want to congratulate my friend Alex Zanardi on winning the championship today." | |
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PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes 2nd place |
| MARK BLUNDELL | |
| "We certainly had the car. The guys did a fantastic job. The second [pit] stop was the edge for us. The guys turned me in and out really quickly and I'm very grateful for that. Jimmy had it today, and I don't think he was going to let it get away. It would have been very tough to get by him. For me, second place is valuable for the points because I want to move up in the championship." | |
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Hollywood Reynard Mercedes |
| MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| "We were running okay all day, but about ten laps to go the brakes started going soft. We were losing fluid. We don't know where, but we know we lost fluid. On the last lap, the pedal just went to the deck, and I didn't make it. I'm very happy for Mercedes, though. I'm happy we could be a part of their championship." | |
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Kmart/Budweiser Swift Ford Newman/Haas Racing 10th place |
| ROBERTO MORENO | |
| "The guys did a super job of bringing me up front. We had good pit stops and everybody did a great job when you consider how little time I got to be in the car prior to the race. My first set of tires -- the optionals -- went off early, but the primary tires did their job. Now I feel we are one step away from the optimum setup for this car on a road course." | |
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Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| "It's a real shame. The car was just starting to come around. We had caught up to the lead group, when we started having an intermittent misfire. Greg (Moore) and Andre (Ribeiro) got by, and we came in (to the pits), thinking we could pick up some more spots when we went back out. I'm really disappointed for the crew." | |
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Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda 3rd place Championship Winner |
| ALEX ZANARDI | |
| "If I could have chosen how to finish this race, I personally would have picked this order. I'm delighted. I never doubted in my talent or the talent of the whole Target/Chip Ganassi team. That is my family. I felt very confident that I had the capability to win some more races this year, and that Target/Chip Ganassi Racing was going to give me the equipment to do that. I may sound a little bit arrogant, but I believe Chip is pretty lucky to have a couple of drivers like me and Jimmy. " | |
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Bettenhaused Racing Alumax Aluminium Reynard Mercedes-Benz |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| "I did not want to miss the race, but it would have been unfair to the team and to Roberto to continue. The crew was making improvements to the car, but I was unable to drive it hard enough to take advantage of those improvements. And I knew if I went ahead and started the race, I would not have been able to have finish. So I needed to step out of the car and let Roberto get a little time in it so he could have a good race for our team." | |
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Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Team Owner |
| CHIP GANASSI | |
| "I've known a lot of you for many years, and you know how long I've been working at this. Certainly, it takes great people, great drivers and great partners, but what I saw this year on our team was that the types of teams that win championships at this level of motorsports are the people that are willing to make sacrifices for the betterment of the team, and you saw a lot of that this year. I'm fortunate to have people who are willing to do that. It's that simple." | |