Race No. 16
Honda Grand Prix of Monterey
featuring the Texaco/Havoline 300
Lagnua Seca Raceway
Monterey, CaliforniaSeptember 11-13, 1998
Friday Quotes from Laguna Seca:| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | DARIO FRANCHITTI | TONY KANAAN |
| ARND MEIER | SCOTT PRUETT | PAUL TRACY |
| AL UNSER JR |
 | Marlboro Penske Mercedes |
| AL UNSER, Jr. | |
| Gosh, I don't knowwhat to say. This morning went pretty well for us. We're comingoff not such a good test here and the car was acting the same asit did during the test. We're fighting a push … we've been fightingit all season … and I decided in the coach before we went out tochange what I'm doing in the car by quite a lot, and we were ableto make it all the way around. What showed today is theconfidence I have in the car. If I can get in and throw it around theway I did in that session, it's a beautiful little race car. I have tokeep telling everybody it's a beautiful car because I'm the onedriving it. The more we work with it, the more it will come around. | |
 | Visteon Reynard Ford |
| SCOTT PRUETT | |
| We just don't have the right set-up at this time. We are changing numerous things on the Visteon car and we are looking to make the right change. We'll keep looking and find some speed for tomorrow. | |
 | LCI International Tasman Motorsports Group LCI Reynard Honda |
| TONY KANAAN | |
| We made a couple of improvements but it still wasn't enough. I still havea lot of understeer and that is a big issue at this track. If you haveundersteer, you can't go fast. We are going to try to fix that fortomorrow. I think today is a good start. We did not test here with everybody, so I'mpretty pleased. We were quick this morning (fourth), and top ten is theissue. That's what we are going to try to do. We always race better than wequalify, and we have to improve our qualifying car a little bit because wehave a very good race car. Hopefully we can move up in the top sixtomorrow. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| We tested here two weeks ago, but the track was a little different today. There was no grip this morning at all and we worked all day trying to correct that. [Technical Director and Chief Engineer] Don Halliday worked his magic to get the car almost to where I like it. I'm still not happy with it, but we're getting there. Don is a great engineer. He's not a guy who thinks he knows all the answers. It's incredible the stuff he comes up with, from the car being very bad one minute to making a few adjustments and making it much better. [On the qualifying accident] I came through Turn 6 and I bottomed out a bit. All four wheels were off the ground and I had no place to go. I hit pretty hard and that was the end of the day. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| I had a couple of good laps going and I made a mistake on one lap and got caught by a red flag on the other. We'll now work on getting the car better for tomorrow. We've got a little understeer we need to fix. But we've improved the car with every session, so I'm confident we can move up tomorrow. | |
 | Tecate Beer/Quaker State Patrick Racing Reynard Ford |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| I have to credit this qualifying effort to the Tecate/Quaker State crew. The car I destroyed in Vancouver is the car I qualified in today. My guys, instead of taking two days off between Vancouver and Laguna Seca rebuilt my car. I made the mistake and wrecked the car and the guys had to pay by doing the work to fix it. I promised them that if we finish second in the championship I would take the team to Cancun. I am adjusting to the car but, I have also changed my driving style here at Laguna Seca. I had to make the adjustment because the car is pushing (understeering) a lot. Even though the car is rebuilt it is exactly the same as it was before. The Tecate/Quaker State crew went through everything. As long as the tub is okay, even if you replace all the parts the car is the same. I think PJ (Jones) is going to be good with this team. PJ and I are friends. We live near each other in Phoenix. This is a good opportunity for him. We will make sure his transition is as easy as mine was to the team. With people like Mr. Patrick, Jim McGee, Steve Newey, the engineers and the crews the transition should be quick and easy. | |
 | Baan Software Davis Racing Lola Ford |
| ARND MEIER | |
| This was a disappointing day. We had a good set up when we tested here twoweeks ago, but we come here for the race and have this. We'll have to startover again for tomorrow. I think we come through for Saturday. | |