Race No. 10
Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland
Burke Lakefront Airport
Cleveland, Ohio
July 10-12, 1998
Friday Quotes from Cleveland: | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Qualified (provisional): 4th |
| ALEX ZANARDI | |
| It was a little nightmare out there today! On my first set of tires I kept encountering traffic. Then I went out on my second set behind Michael (Andretti). He hit a cone and sent it flying and it hit me on the head. Then there were some other cones knocked out onto the track. I was pretty happy with my lap, but I think I could’ve gotten a little bit more out of the car today. | |
 | Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Walker Racing Reynard Ford Qualified (provisional): 9th |
| GIL de FERRAN | |
| We had a slight problem with the throttle mechanism, the linkage was hanging up, and that held us back a little bit today. But the car doesn’t feel too bad at all. I’m satisfied with our position so far. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford Qualified (provisional): 7th |
| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| I got about all I could out of the car today. Perhaps we can squeeze another tenth or two, but I have the feeling we did the best with what we had. The engine ran well and with a track this size, you don't want to give anything away while trying to hold positions. | |
 | Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford Qualified (provisional): 12th |
| BOBBY RAHAL | |
| Our car wasn't very good this morning in practice. It was probably a little too soft in the suspension. We stiffened the chassis for qualifying and we did improve a second and a half. But so did everyone else. I think we can work with the car to get quicker for Saturday. | |
 | Shell Team Rahal Reynard Ford Qualified (provisional): 2nd |
| BRYAN HERTA | |
| I got a front row seat for that [Vasser's provisional pole-winning lap]. I was following him, and my car was still on a pretty good lap, but I could see that he was inching away from me. I thought, 'Oh, he's gonna get me on that one,' and he did. Jimmy really put a good one together. I think the car was pretty good this morning, the track just got a little 'grippier' this afternoon. We're gonna have to chase it down a little bit tomorrow. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco Havoline Newman/Haas Racing Swift Ford Qualified (provisional): 10th |
| CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| Today wasn't bad. I changed my car from the first session to the second session. I just didn't get the best out of it this afternoon. There are questions concerning the general setup of the car. We improved from this morning with something completely different, so it's just a matter of time with the car. We'll be okay if we can stick it in the top five or six tomrorrow for the starting grid. Starting here up front is important because that first turn can collect a lot of people. | |
 | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Qualified (provisional): 1st |
| JIMMY VASSER | |
| We had some major problems in the morning. We came with a setup that wasn't conducive to the circuit. You could only get a few laps out of your tires before they started to go away, but it wasn't so much the tires as it was the setup. Alex [Zanardi] seemed to have a pretty good setup, so going into qualifying, we took most of what Alex was doing and a little bit of what we were doing and threw something at the car, and it worked fantastic. The cones were in some tough places out there, but on my last lap, I really put one together, and lo and behold, one of the cones was gone in an area where you could make up a lot of speed. I was able to carry a lot of speed through there and that made a difference. This is probably one of the more physical races that we run. It's certainly fun, but it's one of the more difficult races of the year. | |
 | Hollywood Reynard Mercedes Qualified (provisional): 8th |
| MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| We had a pretty productive morning, but this place is tough on tires. We never had a chance to try for a (quick) time. The car’s still too loose, but if we can fix that we’ll improve a lot. It’s been getting better and better (during testing) since Portland (Budweiser/G.I. Joe’s 200, June 21). We’re gonna be all right. | |
 | PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes Qualified (provisional): 5th |
| MARK BLUNDELL | |
| The car is feeling pretty good, so I’m happy. We had a problem and ran out of fuel. That meant we had to get towed in and serve an eight-minute penalty for causing a red flag. While we were sitting we made a pretty radical change to the car that we thought was going to be an improvement. It turned out not to be, and it kind of caught me out. We went off course and broke the front wing and end plate. But I’m confident for tomorrow. There’s more (speed) left in the car. This is one of the better starts we have to a weekend this season, so there’re smiling faces all around. | |
 | Herdez Competition Payton/Coyne Reynard Ford Qualified (provisional): 22nd |
| MICHEL JOURDAIN | |
| I spun on my second lap and my tires got flat-spotted. Then I had to use my second set of tires early. The track is getting better and I improved my times, but the car still has a push. | |
 | LCI International Tasman Motorsports Group LCI Reynard Honda Qualified (provisional): 18th |
| TONY KANAAN | |
| In the morning, everybody had a problem with new tires. Every time we put new tires on the red flag came out. I think that is why we finished sixth in the session, but I also think our place is in the top 10. We made a big improvement in the car but we still need to go one more step. I think the track will be better as well tomorrow, so we are going to try everything for tomorrow. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Qualified (provisional): 3rd |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| We're getting there with the car, but we've still got a ways to go. There's definitely more time in the car and in me; we've just got to find it. There are a few things we're going to try for tomorrow. We made an improvement since this morning and if we can make the same improvement tomorrow, we'll be in good shape. The track feels a little less bumpy than last year, but because of that, what bumps there are, are a lot more important. We spent a lot of the afternoon trying to find a balance over the bumps. The track got better as more rubber went down. Qualifying was a bit frustrating because I felt that there was more time in the whole package. But we're in a good group tomorrow and we'll go back after it then. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| I had to wait six or seven laps to get a clear lap. I know we're capable of being in the 56's, it's just a matter of getting a clear lap. Our goal was to qualify in the top group for tomorrow, which we did. And we've saved this last set of tires, which only have a couple of laps on them for the race. So I feel pretty good heading into tomorrow. The car is basically good. Dario put my setup on from this morning and he went well and improved the setup from there. We started with the improvements that he did and pretty much did the same times - 57's flat. I know we can go quicker. It's just a matter of getting a clear lap. Tomorrow we'll be in the faster group and work on it a little bit more. | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Qualified (provisional): 13th |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| The car was much better than this morning. The team made a huge improvement, and the car was much faster. I like this track. It’s a lot of fun, fast and wide open. My last run, somebody knocked the cones (which mark the course on Burke Lakefront Airport’s runways) all over the track. That messed up that lap, because once you start a quick lap you’re committed to it--the tires won’t be any good if you quit in the middle and try to go around again. The car still has a bit of push (understeer), but I think we’ll be able to improve it for tomorrow. | |
 | Baan Software Davis Racing Lola Ford Qualified (provisional): 26th |
| ARND MEIER | |
| It was pretty good out there today, but I think we can improve a lot tomorrow. There wasn't too much of a problem with today's qualifying. | |
 | Forsythe Player's-Indeck Reynard Mercedes Qualified (provisional): 11th |
| GREG MOORE | |
| We improved the car a lot from this morning. We made a fairly dramatic change to the car, but then we broke a cooling system line, so we had to stop early. It’s too bad, because I really felt like there was more in the car. But we made a big improvement in the car, which is encouraging for tomorrow. | |