Detroit 1996 PPG Indy Car World Series

Race No. 8

ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix
Detroit, MI
June 8, 1996

Driver Quote Index

Saturday Quotes from drivers at Belle Isle:
MICHAEL ANDRETTI ADRIAN FERNANDEZ GIL DE FERRAN
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI ROBBY GORDON SCOTT PRUETT
ANDRE RIBEIRO AL UNSER JR JIMMY VASSER

Vasser Pict#12 Target
Chip Ganassi Racing
Reynard Honda

JIMMY VASSER

"The car’s a lot more stable than it has been. The back end finally settled down and there’s a lot more grip with the new tires. But, I didn’t get a good lap at the end to take advantage of it. I came up on traffic, got balked big time, and couldn’t get a clean lap before the checker. [There’s] Nothing we can do about it now. We have to go racing from the back."

Andretti Pict#6 Kmart/Texaco/Havoline
Lola Ford Cosworth XD

MICHAEL ANDRETTI

"When he [Moreno] stuffed it, we had a really good lap going. We had to come in and then I lost the edge on my tires. By then they had two heat cycles on them. Iwas sliding around a lot more then. I think we could have been at least the highest Goodyear car with a fourth place. That isdefinitely better than ninth place here because its so tough to pass. We went the wrong way this morning and we had to do abig change in the middle of the qualifying session because the car was undriveable. We’ll see what tomorrow brings us. We’lldefinitely give it our best shot."

Unser Pict#2 Marlboro
Penske Mercedes

AL UNSER, Jr.

"My Marlboro car is pushing pretty bad right now, and in mid-corner, it’s jumping pretty loose on me. We’re still struggling with sidebite. The changes we made during the session gained us a little bit of grip, but not enough. We’re a full second off the pace for sure. We’re going to have to go with softer spring rates because the track is so bumpy. That’s what it’s going to take for us to be competitive tomorrow."

Pruett Pict#20 Firestone
Lola Ford
Patrick Racing

SCOTT PRUETT

"With the caliber of drivers and the quality of teams and qualityequipment, to put the car on the pole on any given weekend is substantial. It is a big task anytime you do it. The first one isalways the sweetest. The biggest thing in my favor was that I didn’t have to run in traffic as much. There were only a couple of time I got caught up. In the first qualifying [session], you don’t have a gauge. You don’t know how fast the fast guys will go. All you can do is goout and do your best."

C. Fittipaldi Pict#11 Kmart/Budweiser
Lola Ford
Newman/Haas Racing

CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI

"We are disappointed that we couldn’timprove our qualifying position from yesterday. It was a one-two-five-Firestone sweep. We struggled with grip the entiresession. I think we were a little off today but we will put all of our heads together now and work on the race set-up. Youdefinitely have to have a good balance in the race car. It’s definitely important to start up front here because of the lack ofplaces to pass. Pit stops can make or break the race tomorrow. The Kmart/Budweiser crew is really good at pit stops.Tomorrow the pressure will be on them. In some cases, they are under more pressure than the drivers are. They will practicepit stops before the race to sharpen their skills. Maybe I can encourage them to practice a few extra stops. A good stop, withfull fuel, would take about 13.5-seconds."

de Ferran Pict#8 Pennzoil Special
Reynard Honda
Hall Racing

GIL de FERRAN

"With the heat, we lost the balance we had this morning. The car understeered more than it had before, and had a lot of wheelspin. My last lap was a good lap, but I messed up and ran a littlewide through the chicane. The computer shows that I was on a pace three-tenths quicker than before, but I lost four-tenths inthe chicane. When I spun, the car started to go sideways, and I left the boot in it and did a ‘360’ and went on. I was tryingvery hard. Maybe our tires didn’t adapt as well as the Firestones did."

Ribeiro Pict#31 LCI International
Lola Honda
Tasman Motorsports Group

ANDRE RIBEIRO

"It is very good to be on the front row, especially for this race where it is very difficult to pass. I am very happy for Adrian and glad for the team. This helps to build our confidence and it’s good for our drive toward the championship. The risks on the track were bigger than the positions we could improve. This was not the time to make a mistake." The key today was the heat. The temperature was the main thing on our qualifying. It made a big difference on the car."

Fernandez Pict#32 Tecate Beer/Quaker State
Lola Honda
Tasman Motorsports Group

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ

"This was a team effort. We had been working very closely on our setup. Our engineers had been exchanging a lot of information. If Andre found a positive change, it went straight to my car. It is very good to have a teammate like Andre, who is very competitive. It helps to push me."

Gordon Pict#5 Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special
Reynard Ford

ROBBY GORDON

"We can’t get front grip. The frontis very unpredictable. Finally, I clipped the inside wall because it [the car] hops. Sometimes it would absorb the bumps andsometimes it wouldn’t. It depended on what bump you hit and where you were at hitting the bump. I misjudged and justclipped the inside wall and that shot me into the outside wall. You have to blame me for hitting the wall, but the car is difficultto drive."