Race No. 11
Molson Indy Toronto
Toronto, Ontario
July 17-19, 1998
Friday Quotes from Toronto:| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | GIL DE FERRAN | CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | RICHIE HEARN | PAUL TRACY |
| AL UNSER JR | ALEX ZANARDI | BARRY GREEN |
 | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Qualified (provisional): 1st |
| ALEX ZANARDI | |
| I didn't want to go out [because of the light rain conditions]. I just went out to please Chip [Ganassi, team owner], and I found some grip that I was amazed was there. This circuit must be so unique that when it's hot and dry, it doesn't grip and when it's cold and rainy, it does. I just hope it's sunny and dry tomorrow. I woke up this morning and looked at my watch - in America you are superstitious about Friday the 13th, but in Italy, it's Friday the 17th - I looked at my watch and I thought I was going to have a very bad day, but I got my first provisional pole of the season, so obviously I'm very happy. | |
 | Marlboro Penske Mercedes Qualified (provisional): 9th |
| AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| The rain during our session slicked up the track which made me a bit more cautious, especially going into the corners. The Marlboro car is coming along great, and so far we are happy. We're in a good position going into tomorrow's session. We'll keep persevering and see what happens. | |
 | Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Walker Racing Reynard Honda Qualified (provisional): 2nd |
| GIL de FERRAN | |
| Goodyear is really helping us this weekend. Ever since we got on track this morning, we've been fairly quick. I was a little concerned about the slippery conditions. When Zanardi got a good lap in, we came in and put on a second set [of tires]. But I just got one lap in and that was it. We got some traffic and that was it. I didn't think we'd have been able to repeat that lap anyway, because we'd lost the tires. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford Qualified (provisional): 3rd |
| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| I'm very frustrated. Things got a little messed up because of the rain. I finally got a good one [lap] going and then Paul [Tracy] got in my way, and I think it cost us. I just have to hope the car gets better tomorrow. We were hoping, but [the tires] are always an unknown when you come to a place where you can't test. We were sort of optimistic that they would be good, now we just have to see how they hold up in the race. We're definitely in more of a competitive position [with the Goodyears]. Hopefully, they will help us get a good starting position and maybe we can win a race for them. This is a great track, one of the better street circuits we run on. | |
 | Budweiser/Ralph's Della Penna Racing Swift Ford Qualified (provisional): 7th |
| RICHIE HEARN | |
| I kind of got robbed by the late yellow, as far as getting a good lap on new tires is concerned. But there's nothing you can do about that. You can't get out too early, because you'll get beat. So, I went out with eight minutes to go and that should have been plenty of time. But I was on my lead-in lap to my hot-lap, so there she went. What can you do? The car has been running well all day. It's not as good as I would like it. But there's also no rubber on the track either. So it's really tough. New tires make a difference and they go off pretty quickly. The only thing about not getting to run my second set hard, is that I have a good set for the race. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco Havoline Newman/Haas Racing Swift Ford Qualified (provisional): 6th |
| CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| A top five start would be great for the race. We started to turn things around at Cleveland and plan to continue the momentum here in Toronto. I love coming here. The street course is really nice and Toronto is such a great city. The weather didn't really make much difference in the run to be honest. The track was fine and you could do a quick time if you had the car. We are still tuning ours to get the balance through the corners so that you can carry speed and not keep bouncing the throttle. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Qualified (provisional): 4th |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| I got a quick time in at the start (second lap) when it was half dry. Then it started to rain harder and I couldn't get another. We stopped early and saved a set of tires for the race. The car is pretty good and we'll try again tomorrow. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Qualified (provisional): 22nd |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| We're still fighting the setup. I just can't seem to get any grip in the car. The conditions were so weird. The first couple of laps mattered the most and we couldn't get a good lap in then. We'll try again tomorrow. | |
 | Team Kool Green Team manager |
| BARRY GREEN | |
| It's really hit and miss with the rain. If you're lucky and you're tires are hot, you do okay. If you miss that lap, then you're struggling a little bit. We went in today wanting to conserve one set of tires and we did just that. | |