Race No. 10
Medic Drug Grand Prix
Cleveland, OH
June 28, 1996
Friday Quotes from drivers and managers at Burke Lakefront:
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#12 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
JIMMY VASSER | |
| "It [the pole] came down to the guy that could get the last clean lap in. But I'm not going to get overconfident. I was in this position last weekend [in Portland, where he ended up third on the final grid]. The track could get quicker tomorrow, as more rubber is put down and the race surface gets better." | |
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#99 Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes-Benz |
GREG MOORE | |
| "It's my first IndyCar race,
here at Cleveland, and I need some adjustment time to learn the track and
the bumps. We were almost two seconds faster than this morning's practice
and mostly because we made major changes to the car set-up. But now that
we're faster, new problems appear. Tomorrow, we'll be faster. "Three laps after the beginning of the qualifying session, we had a major problem with the engine, and I had to switch to the backup car. Fortunately, that car was ready with exactly the same setup as the primary car." | |
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#3 Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
PAUL TRACY | |
| "The Marlboro car is getting better. The balance is there, we're just struggling with the grip. We were running the harder tires because we feel they are the ones that will last longer in the race. Every session, we learn more and more and we're just creeping up on our set-up. I'm pretty happy with my initial qualifying time because we're only six-tenths off the front row. We're just going to have to dig deep and work on the car tomorrow morning, and hopefully pick up a little more speed for final qualifying." | |
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#6 Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Lola Ford Cosworth XD |
MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| "I didn't want to
waste the tires. I couldn't have done any better. We're slower down the
straightaway. "Vasser got a good one in. His combination is tough [to beat] here. We're getting there. We're losing a lot of time on the straight. We thought the provisional [qualifying time] would stick last year, but some went quicker on Saturday last year, so there's still hope. "I had to switch to my back-up car because they found a problem with my throttle position sensor. I didn't know there was a problem until the Cosworth engineer found it on his telemetry. The car wasn't handling right in the session. I think we can get another second out of the car if we can find a few positive changes." | |
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#2 Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| "This morning, we really had problems with our balance, and the car was too stiff over the bumps. In our qualifying session, we pretty much experienced an overall loose condition in the car. Obviously, Marlboro Team Penske has some work to do and we're all putting our heads together to come up with a better set-up so we can improve our position." | |
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#21 PacWest Reynard Ford Cosworth |
MARK BLUNDELL | |
| "I'm a lot happier with the car than I was this afternoon. At least, I feel now like the package and set-up has some potential. In the practice, I was a little despondent by where we were at, but we're definitely going in the right direction now. I just wish we were at that point after the first practice session. I haven't been feeling well the last two days [with flu symptoms] and physically, I wasn't 100 percent today." | |
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#9 Marlboro Hogan Penske Mercedes-Benz |
EMERSON FITTIPALDI | |
| "Just like Al Unser, Jr., my Penske Mercedes is very loose in the turns. In some instances, I would have spun if I had tried to go quickly, just as Junior did. The back end wants to go out on this bumpy surface, and the car moves up and down a lot. Tonight, the Hogan Penske team will have to review our set-ups so we can go quicker tomorrow." | |
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#11 Kmart/Budweiser Lola Ford Newman/Haas Racing |
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| "The car was pretty
sensible. I got held up on my quick lap. You have to be really lucky not to
be held up on a quick lap. We weren't lucky today but hopefully, we'll be
lucky tomorrow. We're still struggling with the setup, but will work hard
tonight. "The car wasn't bad at all in the session. Overall, the car is better than it was at Portland [finished third] compared to the others. As the monitor shows, the Honda-Firestone combination is again going to be the one to beat. You never know what is going to happen in the race though. Last year's Cleveland race was one of the best of the season." | |
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#8 Pennzoil Special Reynard Honda Hall Racing |
GIL de FERRAN | |
| "It was an okay run. The track is similar to last year — no real problems. What we've learned last year, combined with this year, is pretty good so far. The heat is a lot like it was last year. There's always improvement to be made as far as times. I expect to go faster [tomorrow]." | |
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#28 Shell Reynard Mercedes-Benz Team Rahal |
BRYAN HERTA | |
| "There was a lot of dust and dirt on the track today. Most of it on me and my car was from my boss [Bobby Rahal]. I was following Bobby for several laps and he would hit a patch of dirt and it would fly up. But the ultimate was when he hit an orange cone on the track and it flew into my car. I kept saying to the crew, Bobby's throwing things at me." | |
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#4 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda |
ALEX ZANARDI | |
| "For today, I'm satisfied. I'm happy. It's a bit difficult, but I'm finding my [racing] line out there. There are no real reference points, but there are certainly a lot of bumps! I came across traffic on the last lap, but I wouldn't have beaten Jimmy's time anyway. I knew that Jimmy would be competitive at this place, but it will be better tomorrow!" | |
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#31 LCI International Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
ANDRE RIBEIRO | |
| "The car was just as good
as it was this morning, but we didn't have a clear lap. We could not get a
good rhythm. Each time we tried to open a lap, a car was in front. "The car is very fast and very comfortable right now. The track looks much smoother and softer but we are running a different chassis this year so it is really difficult to compare. When the car is working well, everything looks perfect and the track is really fun to drive. We made a few minor changes to the set-up but the car was very good out of the box. I think we are ready for qualifying." | |
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#32 Tecate Beer/Quaker State Lola Honda Tasman Motorsports Group |
ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| "The car was better, but the main problem we are battling is looseness in the rear. The front of the car is better than the rear. We need to work more on the balance." | |
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#5 Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Reynard Ford |
ROBBY GORDON | |
| "We were loose on our entry. That's the biggest problem we have right now. We tried both tires [Goodyear primaries and options], but haven't decided which ones we'll use yet." | |
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#25 Arciero-Wells Racing Reynard Toyota |
JEFF KROSNOFF | |
| "I can't believe how unlucky we were in this session. We had a clutch problem with the first car. Then with the other car, I was just warming up the tires and suddenly, there was a lot of smoke. I immediately pulled over by the safety truck because the car was on fire. This circuit seems fairly easy, but you have to be confident to go quickly here, and with only a few laps under my belt, I'm just not there yet. I have to thank the crew for working hard so that I could run the last few minutes of the session." | |
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#18 Miller Racing Reynard Mercedes-Benz Team Rahal |
BOBBY RAHAL | |
| "This place always brings back great memories for me because it's the site of my first IndyCar win. It was only my fourth IndyCar race and we were a new team [Truesports] on the circuit. So, winning against the likes of Penske, Patrick and the other established teams was very special. I love racing on this track because it's so wide and passing is much easier than at the recent races like Detroit and Portland. Of course, getting through that infamous first turn at the at the start is always a key. The races here always seem to be wild." | |
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#17 Hollywood Reynard Ford |
| photo Mike Levitt | |
MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| "I'm having a lot of problems stopping in Turn One. I have oversteer on the exit and am lacking grip. But we're a little better than we were in practice. With the problems we had in practice [oil leak, exhaust leak], we didn't get many laps at all, so we were really haven't had the time to work on our set-up properly." | |