Portland 1996 PPG Indy Car World Series

Race No. 9

Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200
Portland, OR
June 23, 1996

Saturday Quotes from drivers and managers at Portland International Raceway:

Index of Quotes available
MARK BLUNDELL RAUL BOESEL JUAN MANUEL FANGIO II
EMERSON FITTIPALDI ROBBY GORDON BRYAN HERTA
STEFAN JOHANSSON P.J. JONES GREG MOORE
BOBBY RAHAL PAUL TRACY AL UNSER JR


Moore Pict #99 Forsythe
Player's/Indeck
Reynard Mercedes-Benz

GREG MOORE

"I'd like to be on the pole, but considering where we qualified during the last races, I'm very happy to start in the top 10 [eighth]. Our times were constant during the entire session indicating the quality of our car for tomorrow's race.

"It will be important to stay out of trouble at the start because of that first right turn. After that, my plan is to be more aggressive. On this type of track, you need to stay close to the frontrunners, because it is very easy to quickly lose ground."


Tracy Pict #3 Marlboro
Penske Mercedes

PAUL TRACY

"The car is getting better – the balance is there. We made some good gains over yesterday and were able to move the Marlboro car up a spot on the grid. The competition is so close that we're only a half a second off the pole, and we're in seventh position. It's a long race, and fuel mileage is important. Fortunately, the Mercedes is good on mileage so we should be in good shape tomorrow."

Unser Pict #2 Marlboro
Penske Mercedes

AL UNSER, Jr.

"We had a new setup for today's qualifying and the car felt better. We're a half of a second quicker than yesterday, and we could have gone probably two-tenths of a second quicker. The setup came from Paul's [Tracy's] car, and I really liked it. My car has a little bit of understeer going through the corners, so we'll keep working on it and we'll go from there.

"Going into the Festival corner is the only downside to starting this far back, so we have to be a little bit careful at the start of the race. My advantage going into tomorrow's race is that I'm driving for Marlboro Team Penske."


Blundell Pict #21 PacWest
Reynard Ford Cosworth

MARK BLUNDELL

"We seem to have hit a brick wall. The strange thing is that we've made so many drastic changes on the car yet, it doesn't have any effect on our times. After all we've done, it seems like we're right back where we were yesterday after our first practice."

Emmo Pict #9 Marlboro
Hogan Penske Mercedes-Benz

EMERSON FITTIPALDI

"My Penske Mercedes is more consistent to drive today. Of course, I am feeling much better than I did on Friday [Fittipaldi had a stress headache and stomach pains Friday afternoon] which could account for some of the improvement.

"We changed the front wing and nosepiece twice during this qualifying session and that change gave us an improvement of nearly seven-tenths of a second. We should be in good shape tomorrow for the race."


Herta Pict #28 Shell
Reynard Mercedes-Benz
Team Rahal

BRYAN HERTA

"We thought we had a shot at the pole. But the track heated up a bit and there were cars everywhere [off the track] on the last couple of laps. So, I didn't get a clean lap. But, it feels good being the first Mercedes car, and the first Goodyear car. We've got the car balanced well, and I believe we have a good car for the race. I think the Hondas still have the horsepower over the Mercedes and Fords right now, but we're getting closer. Pit stops will be very important on Sunday, since I can gain a position or two in the pits."

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

ROBBY GORDON

"We were still sliding out there. And, we still need to find more straightaway speed. We went quicker, but so did everybody else.

[On his spin at the end of today's session]: "I got loose in Turn 4 and wasn't in the right position heading into Turn 5. So, I spun it.

"We really need to do well I the race here tomorrow. We're overdue way overdue and we've worked too hard this year. It'll be tough starting 14th, but a lot can happen during a race."


Johansson Pict #16 Bettenhaused Racing
Alumax Aluminium
Reynard Mercedes-Benz

STEFAN JOHANSSON

"We are still having the same kind of problems with handling we've been experiencing everywhere, although we did make some improvement with the changes they made to the car from Friday. Time wise, we picked up a bundle today, but theoretically, we should have been in the 60.5-second range. We still aren't where we want to be, but the car was definitely better than it was on Friday. I think it will be different for the race."

Rahal Pict #18 Miller Racing
Reynard Mercedes-Benz
Team Rahal

BOBBY RAHAL

"We had a brake problem this afternoon. I didn't get much time on the track. Bryan [Herta] and I were trying different chassis setups, and obviously, Bryan's worked and mine didn't. Coming from the back of the field is not what we wanted here."

PJ Pict #98 Eagle Mk-V Toyota
photo Mike Levitt

P.J. JONES

"We may have improved nine-tenths [from practice to qualifying] but we could use another nine-tenths. We are struggling with the car. I don't know what's wrong, but we'll get some data and take a look at it. The race is tomorrow, not today, so it will be a whole different picture."

Fangio Pict #36 Eagle Mk-V Toyota

JUAN MANUEL FANGIO II

"We improved our lap time [by six-tenths of a second], and I think the Eagle Toyota is running better right now. We could have run a little bit faster, but unfortunately, I over-revved the engine going into the fast chicanes, and so maybe we lost a little bit because of that. It is hard sometimes to look for the right time. Sometimes, traffic is a bit complicated, but we tried our best. We have to keep working tomorrow in the warm-up."

Boesel Pict #1 Brahma Sports Team
Reynard
Ford Cosworth

RAUL BOESEL

"We improved the car today, especially in the fast corners. Still, we are having a problem with oversteer coming out of the slow corners, and this is what really hurt our time.

"Starting 17th on the grid here is not very comfortable, especially in the first chicane. We'll need to be careful and have a good race strategy, and a good pit stop strategy, which, of course, Barry does so well."