Race No. 8
ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix
Belle Isle
Detroit, Michigan
June 5-7, 1998
Raceday Quotes from Detroit: | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Finished: 1st |
| ALEX ZANARDI | |
| I decided that instead of trying to make a move on Greg [on the track], I would try to run longer than him. When Greg pitted, we knew we had the fuel to go for another two laps, so I pushed very hard and tried to do my two fastest laps. It worked out. I was able to pit and get out about four seconds in front. The point is to make no mistakes and drive to the checkered flag, and that's what we did. I'm obviously very happy. My day didn't start very well. This morning for the warmup we made a lot of changes to the car from yesterday. On my second flying lap, I ran out of talent and hit the wall and that was it for the warmup. I decided that for the race we would keep this setup, and that turned out to be the right call. | |
 | Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Walker Racing Reynard Ford Finished: 3rd |
| GIL de FERRAN | |
| All the credit for the podium finish has to go to my team. Every time I came into the pits, I came out one or two positions ahead of where I went in. I never drove so hard in my life. At the end, I was trying to pressure Adrian into a little mistake, but he drove very well and I never had enough to get by him. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford |
| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| Something wasn't working in the fuel mechanism and we couldn't get a full load of fuel. On the first stop, we planned to put in 25 gallons and we only took on seven. They changed the nozzle after I went back out. We had to come back in for an extra stop and we only took on 18 of the possible 35 gallons that time. They worked on the mechanism more and we planned to make a long stop the last time. We got in a full load. We aren't sure if the problem is in the fuel equipment or the car. This was the same car we raced with in St. Louis. Zanardi got out of the pits one-second quicker than us there because we were waiting for the fuel to go in. We're going to take the car and equipment apart to investigate the problem. Everybody was running the same speed so it was impossible to pass. When I was in 20th place, it was impossible to pass 18th or 19th place because they were running the same speed. The last few years the competition has grown more intense and the depth of the field has improved so much that the race is all about track position. Unless something happened to you, you pretty mush finished in the order that you qualified. The line was too narrow because of the marbles that came off the tires. We were definately disappointed with the result. We wanted to win one for Kmart and Ford in their hometown. | |
 | Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford Finished: 11th |
| BOBBY RAHAL | |
| Well, I'm sore. The pace on this track is so hard that it beats you up. Today was a disappointment. We lost way too many positions on the pitstops. But the car ran reasonably well. It's just disappointing to end up on this note, but having said that, we've had a lot of great days here too. I'll look forward to coming back and winning this race as an owner next year. | |
 | Budweiser/Ralph's Della Penna Racing Swift Ford Finished: 23rd |
| RICHIE HEARN | |
| We were running fine. I had good lap times, so I was able to hold my own out there. I didn't really have any indication that the engine was going to go. It just let go. The track was littered with marbles from the tires. Even to pass on the straightaways, you'd have to get out into the marbles. The new track configuration at least gave us another option for a place to pass. The longer the race went through, the tougher it got to pass because of the marbles. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco Havoline Newman/Haas Racing Swift Ford Finished: 17th |
| CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| It seems like every race Paul (Tracy) and I are having incidents. Maybe it's just coincidence, but I'm getting tired of it. I understand putting the pressure on someone in front of you to try and force a mistake to take a position, but he hit me again. I don't think he is racing as safely as he could and I think we suffered for it today. | |
 | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Finished: 6th |
| JIMMY VASSER | |
| We need to start a little further up, especially for these street races, no doubt about it. The car wasn't that good on the first run, there was understeer and we grained the front tires a bit. But we made it better and better, and my guys gave me great stops again today. We were quicker than Greg at the end, I think that when I ran my quickest laps of the race, but couldn't find a way by. | |
 | Bettenhausen Racing Alumax Aluminium Reynard Mercedes Finished: 12th |
| HELIO CASTRO-NEVES | |
| I had a problem with the car first wanting to understeer and then oversteer during the race. I'm not sure what happened when I went from 10th to 13th, but when I was braking for turn 3, the tail tried to break away. I might have even hit a bump there. Regardless of what happened, I am happy to have scored a point. I know how important each point is, especially since I lost the Indy Lights championship by only four points last year! | |
 | Herdez Competition Payton/Coyne Reynard Ford Finished: 13th |
| MICHEL JOURDAIN | |
| It was a hard race. I thought that we were going to have more caution flags and I basically saved my car to the end. It seems to be that it was the same strategy for the most of the field... Happily, I finished the race on the leader's lap. My car had understeer and this problem was worse today in comparison with our yesterday's settings | |
 | Visteon Reynard Ford Finished: 9th |
| SCOTT PRUETT | |
| While the crew did a great job in getting an electrical problem solved before the green flag, I think the real story is that on a track like this having started seventeenth and finishing ninth, that's a pretty good step forward. I think Adrian did a great job finishing second for the team. We just didn't hit on the setup. Even during the race we were making big changes every pitstop trying to improve the setup. There were some small gains, but at least for this weekend we missed the setup and made the best of a bad situation. If you miss it by a little bit it comes out as a lot. (On the new track section): There was more passing her than years gone by. You could see where guys could get setup and get the run up the inside. All in all it was an improvement. | |
 | LCI International Tasman Motorsports Group LCI Reynard Honda Finished: 8th |
| TONY KANAAN | |
| We didn't have the fastest car on the track but the car was competitive. I made a mistake at the braking point in Turn Three. Actually, it was very bad. I lost three positions and I caught up one when Bryan's (Herta) engine broke. We learned a lot and I am happy to finish in the top 10 again. It's more points so let's see what is going to happen in Portland. | |
 | Arciero/Wells Reynard Toyota Finished: 14th |
| ROBBY GORDON | |
| We are leaving Detroit with a whole car and that's the best I can say right now. We are getting more competitive. This is my first road course race in a couple of years and the first road course I've done with Kenny Anderson as my engineer since 1993. We are getting used to each other again. I'm just getting back into the groove. | |
 | Panasonic/DUSKIN Arciero/Wells Racing |
| HIRO MATSUSHITA | |
| He (Gordon) made up a good four or five positions during the race.He was running really hard the entire race and the Panasonic Duskin/MCI team did great pit stops both times. The team is getting better and the driver is getting better, and the engine is getting more powerful with better reliability. I'm looking forward to our next race in Portland and finishing even higher. I miss racing a little, and watching sometimes makes me frustrated. | |
 | MCI Arciero Wells Reynard Toyota |
| MAX PAPIS | |
| We were running consistently today and the MCI car was good all weekend. I think we had a problem with the fuel rig and it put us out of the race. I'd like to thank Iain Watt and the entire engineering staff for giving me a good car, but an unfortunate situation. This weekend showed Toyota and MCI especially with the pole on Friday we are ready to be successful. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Finished: 4th |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| It was a good race; it was a very demanding race. I had a good car, kept up my concentration and just kept pushing the whole way. The car was good, especially once the tires heated up. My second pit stop was great -- my guys are amazing. It’s a pity that we didn’t qualify better because it was very difficult to overtake. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Finished: 7th |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| Overall it was a good race. We had a good start and made up some positions. I think we were one of the only teams to move forward. But we need to work on our qualifying. If we can start up front, I think we can stay there. I was stuck behind Christian (Fittipaldi) and I knew I was quicker. I got close enough to make a dive down the inside. He moved over on me and we touched tires. He did a light spin and I was able to get past. It’s tough racing on these street courses. There’s no easy way by. | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Finished: 15th |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| We were having problems with handling early on in the race. We tried different tires, but we still had a bad push. I’ve learned a lot from Greg in our road testing sessions, but we weren’t able to show it today. I’m looking forward to Portland because we had great test there earlier this year. All I can say is, we’re going to be fast. | |
 | Castrol/Degree AAR Racing Reynard Toyota Finished: 20th |
| ALEX BARRON | |
| The chassis was much better than it was this morning. We had a good racecar but it's important to start closer to the front here. It's difficult to stay with the lead pack once the cars begin to spread out. This weekend was a difficult one for us, but we stuck with it and were able to bring the car home. We learned a lot here and hopefully it will show at the next street circuit. | |
 | Tecate Beer/Quaker State Patrick Racing Reynard Ford Finished: 2nd |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| It was a very strong pace at the beginning of the race with no yellow flags which is unusual for Detroit. But I think the new configuration helped that. Just a great job on that by the organizers. But the pace was a little bit too strong in the beginning for my car and I just paced myself a little bit. At the end we came back a little bit and were catching them. The tires held up good, even though at the end they were a handful with the car. The marbles of course play a big role in the race again. There were just too many marbles, and if you got out of line it was just very difficult to drive around the track. So that made the passing a little bit more difficult. And also your lines for racing. The second pitstop was very good. That's when my guys did an outstanding job of putting me ahead of Greg Moore in second place. After that Gil was pushing really hard and at one stage gave me a big run into Turn Three. I held on, but you couldn't rest at anytime. Unfortunately at the end Andre (Ribeiro) was in the middle between Alex and myself. I thought we could push Alex at the end. (But) it was just because of the marbles and coming through (Turns) One and Two with the aerodynamics that you couldn't get that close to the other guy. And unfortunately we just couldn't pass Andre. We are doing our best race by race. The championship, I think, is still wide open. A lot can happen. You have to concentrate on each race as it comes. I think we have a chance to fight for the championship, but we have to work very hard at each event. We just need to make sure that bad things don't happen | |
 | Castrol/Degree AAR Racing Reynard Toyota Finished: 25th |
| P.J. JONES | |
| The car was handling pretty good today. I was just taking my time and working my way through traffic until I experienced an electrical problem right before the first pit stop. I left the pits after the first stop and the problem proceeded to get worse, so on the next stop the crew changed the boxes. As I left my pit box, I broke the transmission and was forced to retire from competition. | |
 | Forsythe Player's-Indeck Reynard Mercedes Finished: 5th |
| GREG MOORE | |
| It’s very disappointing we didn’t capitalize on what we had, the pole. We ran really good on new tires, but as they started to wear we developed a huge understeer problem. Then we had a bad pit stop which put us down two laps. We’re not sure what happened, but we used more fuel than we thought. If I had to look back and say what was good about today, we got 10 points. The bright side of this weekend is that we proved to everyone that we’re fast on street courses. I think we surprised a lot of people. | |