Toronto 1996 PPG Indy Car World Series

Race No. 11

Molson Indy Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
July 13, 1996

Saturday Quotes from drivers and managers at Toronto:
Index of Quotes available
MICHAEL ANDRETTI MARK BLUNDELL RAUL BOESEL
JUAN MANUEL FANGIO II ADRIAN FERNANDEZ GIL DE FERRAN
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI EMERSON FITTIPALDI SCOTT GOODYEAR
ROBBY GORDON MAURICIO GUGELMIN BRYAN HERTA
STEFAN JOHANSSON PARKER JOHNSTONE P.J. JONES
JEFF KROSNOFF EDDIE LAWSON HIRO MATSUSHITA
BOBBY RAHAL ANDRE RIBEIRO PAUL TRACY
AL UNSER JR JIMMY VASSER ALEX ZANARDI
AL SPEYER

Vasser Pict #12 Target
Chip Ganassi Racing
Reynard Honda

JIMMY VASSER

"We didn't get everything out of the car. We changed one set-up last night and we didn't get a chance to dial in the car this morning with the rain. We should be further up the grid. I have high expectations. I'm not upset. I'm proud of my team."

Tracy Pict #3 Marlboro
Penske Mercedes

PAUL TRACY

"Today's qualifying was frustrating for me because the track deteriorated and got real slippery. We were able to pick up two tenths of a second, but it didn't help our position. We're still 13th. I was really hoping for a better start here in front of my hometown crowd. Now we're just going to have to work on our race strategy and try to have a good race tomorrow."

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

MICHAEL ANDRETTI

"We didn't improve on yesterday's time which is very disappointing. Tomorrow is another day. We'll see how the weather goes. Mother Nature could help us out tomorrow. You can bet I'm going to watch the Weather Channel tonight and again first thing in the morning. I think the rain would even us out a little. The track change might prove to be my friend tomorrow since I'm going to really need to use the area to get up front. Starting tenth will be tough but I guess we've got our work cut out for us. I won from ninth place in Detroit so I guess it's still a possibility. In qualifying, I wasn't able to get a clean lap without traffic. Even if we had, we probably would have only moved up two spots. [On blocking] I don't think it's done on purpose, they just want to get in their clean lap. [On an early move to the front] We'll just play it by ear when we get down to turn one."

Unser Pict #2 Marlboro
Penske Mercedes

AL UNSER, Jr.

"Because the sun was out today and the temperature was hotter, we had less grip in the car. We were able to get in a good lap yesterday with the cloud cover, so we're in pretty good shape on the grid. The Marlboro car is a good race car, and so far this year, we've pretty much been able to do better in the race than in qualifying. This is the best start I've had this year on a road course [seventh], so if all things go as planned, we hope to be where it counts at the end of the race."

Blundell Pict #21 PacWest
Reynard Ford Cosworth

MARK BLUNDELL

"Everywhere on the concrete, we couldn't get any grip. It was difficult to put any power down as well. That was the story of the session for us, basically."

Emmo Pict #9 Marlboro
Hogan Penske Mercedes-Benz

EMERSON FITTIPALDI

"The track was much slower for qualifying today than yesterday afternoon. Of all the Goodyear runners, only Bobby Rahal improved. We can hope for Goodyear weather tomorrow or try to find a way to set up our chassis to work better on this street track for this 95-lap race."

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

CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI

"We had absolutely no grip at all. We changed the car so much that it actually made it worse instead of better. We were desperate to find more grip. It was a hard day. This is my worst qualifying this season. It definitely bums you out. The best place to pass will be in turn one but it won't be easy. If it was easy, more people would be making great passes. The race will be long so anything can happen."

Lawson Pict #1 Delco Electronics
High Tech Team Galles
Lola Mercedes

EDDIE LAWSON

"What can I say? We made some changes from yesterday and we went backwards. We switched to the optional tires and obviously, that wasn't the right move. I guess you learn something new every time you run. All we can do now is change the set-up back and hope for the best tomorrow."

Krosnoff Pict #25 Arciero-Wells Racing
Reynard Toyota

JEFF KROSNOFF

"With the rain this morning, I think the track lost a little bit of grip. I think we improved the overall balance of the car, so that's good. We kept our 20th position and that's a positive step forward, to be another notch higher on the qualifying ladder. I think we have a pretty good race car, so I look forward to the race.

[On winning the Budweiser Accelerator Award, a $1,000 donation to Championship Auto Racing Auxiliary in the driver's name for improving the most from morning practice to afternoon qualifying] "I think it's great that Budweiser is supporting a program like this which gives a $1,000 donation to charity. I've said many times this season that in racing, you should be doing one of two things, winning or improving. If you're doing that, then you're doing your job. "


de Ferran Pict #8 Pennzoil Special
Reynard Honda
Hall Racing

GIL de FERRAN

"Yesterday, we suffered a lot. We tried something new with the car, and it didn't work out as well as we would have liked. I think we pushed the envelope as far as we could, plus my hitting the wall didn't help and we fell behind. We felt we could improve the car today and we did do that. The balance on the car is better today.

"Everybody got a jump on us yesterday but we caught up a bit. We still have some work to do, but I'm happy to be in the top 10."


Herta Pict #28 Shell
Reynard Mercedes-Benz
Team Rahal

BRYAN HERTA

"We improved nearly half a second from Friday's time. That's better than most of the cars out there. We tried a few things that worked on Bobby's car from Friday. The team [Rahal] has impressed me so much with the cooperation between the two cars [Shell and Miller cars]. The feedback has been outstanding and I think we're learning more and more about each other as drivers and teammates. I think our performances will continue to improve."

Johnstone Pict #49 Motorola
Reynard Honda
Brix Comptech Racing

PARKER JOHNSTONE

"We worked hard, and got everything there was out of the car today, but we're lacking in overall grip. The balance is good, I'm just a little bit disappointed. I was expecting some reward [qualifying improvement] for all the effort the team put in."

Zanardi Pict #4 Target
Chip Ganassi Racing
Reynard Honda

ALEX ZANARDI

"In some places, the track was more difficult except the last corner was much faster and you could make up some time there. Overall, I could have gone faster, the car was better but like yesterday [Friday] the traffic was bad and I couldn't put a good lap together."

Ribeiro Pict #31 LCI International
Lola Honda
Tasman Motorsports Group

ANDRE RIBEIRO

"I did not think we could match the times from yesterday [Friday]. Yesterday I was brushing the walls, but today I was trying not to take any unnecessary risks. By the middle of the session, I felt we were a little bit safer and we played with the setup and some other things on the car."

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

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ

"Yesterday [Friday] I was losing quite a bit braking and today I concentrated on braking without losing as much. With two laps to go Steve [Horne, team owner] called and I told him the car was pushing because I thought I was overdriving the car so I wanted to concentrate on being smoother and conservative on the braking. I was surprised [about the last-minute lap that moved him into third]. I knew it was a good lap, but I didn't know it was the fastest of the day."

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

ROBBY GORDON

"We were just having a hard time. You hear this saying a lot in Indy Car racing ‘pitch sensitive'. The car gets up in the front, bites, spins and it's very frustrating. Starting back is never good. If I had my choice to start up front every race, I'd take it. It's very difficult to pass when you have a second separating so many cars."

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

STEFAN JOHANSSON

"We had some problems with the popoff valve and the fuel pickup, but very few people improved their times from Friday in this session anyway. Unfortunately for us, we only ran half the qualifying session yesterday and then it rained in practice in this morning. So basically, we are kind of back where we started."

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

BOBBY RAHAL

"We didn't run this morning in the rain, but we learned a little towards the end of the session with the slicks. I thought we could improve and be the fastest Goodyear car. And we just missed [by one-hundredth of a second to Al Unser, Jr.]. I think today's conditions were a lot different than Friday. It was hotter and the car wanted to slide around, especially in Turn 1. But that was the case for everyone and we were one of the few to improve today."

Gugelmin Pict #17 Hollywood
Reynard Ford

MAURICIO GUGELMIN

"We improved just a little from where we were at this morning but not enough to effect our time or our position on the grid."

Hiro Pict #19 Panasonic/DUSKIN
Lola Ford Cosworth

HIRO MATSUSHITA

"Ten minutes into qualifying, the fuel line link cracked, spilling fuel right into the motor. Fortunately, I was stopped in the pits, and the crew team quickly dispensed with it. It was certainly not the improvement in grid position we had hoped to make. I believe we'll be at the end of the grid, but we also lost a chance to improve the car's handling. It has been difficult to get a rhythm going."

Goodyear Pict #15 Valvoline DuraBlend Special
Reynard Ford

SCOTT GOODYEAR

"We've actually improved the car in some sections. But, it seems to be worse in a couple of others. It seems to be a compromise. We obviously don't have it the way we want it. You can't sit out for four months and expect to come back and start knocking people off the grid I guess."

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

P.J. JONES

"I had some kind of clutch or drive train problem today during the qualifying session. There was nothing that we could really do, just go out and run. It cost us some time on the race track. At least we put in a decent lap yesterday. We still need to work on the car a bit for tomorrow's race and then we'll see what happens."

Fangio Pict #36 Eagle Mk-V Toyota

JUAN MANUEL FANGIO II

"I tried as much as I could, but we had very low grip during qualifying today. I'm push-loose, and there's not much you can do during the qualifying session to fix that. We need to sit down and talk about it with the team and come back Sunday with another setup for this type of weather condition. Right now, the qualifying session is too short, especially when I didn't run the day before and it rained for most of practice this morning. There is almost no time at all to make the necessary changes, but I have confidence in the team to make improvements in our AAR Eagle Toyota for tomorrow's race, and that's when it counts."

Boesel Pict #1 Brahma Sports Team
Reynard
Ford Cosworth

RAUL BOESEL

"We've made a lot of changes to the car, but we aren't making any progress. We've got a big oversteer problem, plus, from the beginning of a corner, the car is already loose, so I'm late on the power. This is where we're losing a lot of time."

AL SPEYER

Bridgestone/Firestone Motorsports Manager
"It's hard to describe the pride we feel in our program after just a year-and-a-half of competition. This is the fourth consecutive race Firestone-equipped cars occupy the front row. Firestone tires are on the fastest Reynard and Lola, and the fastest Honda, Ford, Mercedes and Toyota. It's very clear what the common thread is Firestone tires. Also, we have a Brazilian, Italian, Mexican, American and Canadian at the top. Firestone works on all combinations."