Race No. 17
Honda Grand Prix of Monterey
September 10-12 1999
Friday Quotes from Monterey: | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Qualified: 13th |
| JIMMY VASSER | |
| We're not there on the balance yet, and can't seem to bring both the front and back tires up to temperature at the same time. We added a lot of front wing as the session went on but the problem persisted. But the track's still pretty 'green' today, and it should get a lot quicker as it comes in tomorrow. | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 4th |
| GREG MOORE | |
| There is some more time we can get out of the car, but it's not too bad. We learned some stuff today to improve. This is a fun course to drive, but it is not fun to race because it is hard to pass. That is why you must make sure you qualify near the front. This was a good way to start. Hopefully, we can improve tomorrow. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford Qualified: 5th |
| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| We are a lot better than we were this morning. We are still not there, but definitely a lot better. Between the sessions we made a little change here and a change there and it really helped. Peter (Gibbons) did a great job. WE SAW QUITE A NUMBER OF DRIVERS OFF-COURSE THROUGHOUT THE MORNING SESSION AND QUALIFYING. WHAT IS CAUSING THAT? Well this track is pretty wide-open in the places everybody goes off and guys know that you can really hang it out without fear of damaging the car too much. I UNDERSTAND THAT AFTER RECENT VISIT TO THE DOCTOR THAT HE REVISED THE DUE DATE OF YOUR THIRD CHILD TO THIS SUNDAY. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP YOU CONCENTRATIONS WITH THAT ON YOUR MIND? She promised that she would wait until she gets home late Sunday night. I hope she keeps that promise. WHAT WILL YOU DO IF SHE GOES INTO LABOR? If it was another sport like golf, or one that you are an individual more than a team, I might be able to leave if she goes into labor. But, I have obligations to Kmart, Texaco and the team. They are all relying on me. She and the baby are my number one priority but she understands that I can't miss the race. I just hope and pray that it doesn't happen before Sunday night. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford Qualified: 14th |
| ROBERTO MORENO | |
| We made big gains over the morning session. The problem we have is that when we did test here it was not on Firestone tires, so we don't have a lot of experience with the car/tire combination here and it does make quite a bit of difference. I am confident that we will be better tomorrow and that we are going in the right direction. | |
 | MCI Worldcom Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota Qualified: 17th |
| CRISTIANO DA MATTA | |
| I am not too happy today. The car had a lot of understeer, and we were struggling to get it right all day. This track is challenging, because it changes a lot. You have all kinds of turns and elevation changes, and the car is better in some places than others. We get one little thing right, and it sets off another thing. So we are faced with making the car driveable, maybe not perfect, all the way around. | |
 | Pioneer Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota Qualified: 8th |
| SCOTT PRUETT | |
| Overall, I'm very happy. We had two really great sessions, and we're going in the right direction with our changes to the Pioneer car. We faced some challenges in Vancouver. Coming out of the box this strong here is exactly where we thought we should be last weekend. It feels great. | |
 | PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 20th |
| MARK BLUNDELL | |
| We did a good lap this morning. We know what to do. We just didn't do it this afternoon. The balance was poor, and the tire pressures were incorrect. That is why I lost it and ran off course. That cost us time for making improvements. Everybody is working together better on our team now, though. We're doing a good job on Friday and Saturday, we just need to do better on Sunday. | |
 | Herdez Competition Payton/Coyne Lola Ford Qualified: 19th |
| MICHEL JOURDAIN | |
| We made some changes to try and fix a big understeer on race car early. It was very hard to drive. We have an idea of the direction we need to go and hopefully we can make the improvements for tomorrow. | |
 | Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford Qualified: 3rd |
| MAX PAPIS | |
| The car is okay. It could be a little better but I think the tries have changed a lot since we tested here a while ago. I think things are coming together pretty good, we are not where we want to be but I don't think we are too far off. HOW MUCH HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO LEARN FROM YOUR TEAMMATE BRYAN'S SETUP? For sure we both take information from each other on all the tracks we got to. We both pick up some things from each other. So, we saw a couple of things on Bryan's car that we thought could help us out. But we are a team - we are open and share everything. My job is to just go faster than Bryan. | |
 | Shell Team Rahal Reynard Ford Qualified: 1st |
| BRYAN HERTA | |
| There is really more pressure in a place like this because everyone expects you to do well here. I don't feel any different when it comes to driving here. I don't say that I am going to try hard this week because I am supposed to be fast here. It's just my driving style really clicks in a couple of places and this happens to be one of them, although, I have been fast in all the different types of track I have been on. WE SAW A LOT OF GUYS GOING OFF COURSE THROUGHOUT THE DAY. WHY IS THAT? Well the track is a little slippery today and I think that they put a fresh coat of paint on the curbs. When we tested here in the winter you could go out there a little more and they had a little more grip. YOU HAVE HAD SUCCESS IN MANY TYPES OF RACECARS HERE. WHY IS THAT? My first race here was in, at that time Barber Saab cars, and I won that race. I think I won both races I raced here in Barber Saab and I was second in my first Indy Lights race here. This track just suits my style. WAS THERE ANYTHING YOU LEARNED DURING YOUR BARBER SAAB DAYS THAT HELP YOU GO FAST HERE? No, not really. Even if I did I wouldn't tell anybody. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW IMPORTANT IT IS FOR YOU TO DO WELL HERE THIS WEEKEND? Well it's no more or less important than last weekend, or next weekend, other than the fact that this is where we are right now. It's important to do well every weekend and particularly because we have not had a good season. Other than Montoya, and Franchitti who has won two, there are a lot of guys that have only won one race. So, if you can notch up a win or two at the end of the season, although the points total won't be there, there is still a chance to make this season worthwhile. MONTOYA DIDN'T HAVE MUCH LUCK IN FIRST-ROUND QUALIFYING TODAY; DO YOU THINK THIS IS A PLACE WHERE HE COULD STRUGGLE? I would be a jackass if I counted him out. That guy is going to be quick - no doubt about it. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Qualified: 12th |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| The car bottomed out in the turn (Turn 5) and I lost steering. Then I caught the curb on the exit. The curb's higher than the underbody on the car, so I basically had no steering at all. I hit the wall on the right and came across the track and hit the wall on the left. I'm all right, but the KOOL car is pretty badly damaged. I'm a little upset; I think a fourth-gear turn should have a little more run-off area than that one probably does. But the car was getting better. We tried something with the car and that was the result of it. It's unfortunate. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Qualified: 11th |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| The car's just not balanced yet. I've got understeer in the middle of the corners and then snap oversteer coming out. We had the same problem this morning. It was a little better this afternoon. - not enough though, but we 're getting there. It's okay, I have a lot of confidence in the Team KOOL Green engineering staff. We'll sit down to get it figured out and fixed for tomorrow. | |
 | Target Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard Honda Qualified: 16th |
| JUAN MONTOYA | |
| I'm not very happy with the car yet. But that seems to be the way Friday's have gone for us lately. The car is pushing all the way around the circuit, so we need to take a look at things and make some changes for tomorrow. That's the day that will matter for everyone. | |
 | McDonald'sForsythe Championship Racing Team Reynard Honda Qualified: 2nd |
| TONY KANAAN | |
| I got my lap, but still Bryan (Herta) was four-tenths quicker than everybody. We need to work for tomorrow. I really like this track. I've finished on the podium here every year since 1996. I was really confident coming into this weekend. We had exactly the same car that we had at Mid-Ohio and the Homestead road course. The car was competitive there and I knew we could do a good job. Sometimes we do a good job in practice and we put new tires on and the car isn't as good as it should be. We got it right today. I could have done a better job myself. I made a mistake on my fast lap in Turn 9. I went wide and we looked at the data and I lost two-tenths. It still wasn't enough to catch Bryan, and we need to work for tomorrow now. It's a good first day on one of my favorite tracks. | |
 | Tecate Beer/Quaker State Patrick Racing Reynard Ford Qualified: 7th |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| This was a tough session to really put together a good time because there were so many yellows. It was hard to get a rhythm. On my first set of tires I wanted to try and see where my limits are so when I put on my new tires I kind of had an idea of how much I could push. On my second set of tires, during my first fast lap, I was blocked and it was my second fast lap that I put down my quick time. I was glad to put down that lap and see that I can do it. That's what it takes, just one lap. I am really happy for the guys. Coming back can be very difficult. I am glad to see that I have not forgotten how to drive. YOU WERE BREATHING VERY HEAVY WHEN YOU GOT OUT OF THE CAR. HOW IS YOUR PHYSICAL CONDITION? I was breathing really heavy. One time I thought I was going to loose it. The steering wheel was very heavy coming down the hill. But, in the race it is not going to quite like that. But, in qualifying it is going to be tough. In a way, I guess it was good that I didn't do that many laps because it is really hard going through corners nine and ten. HOW IS THE ARM? As long as I keep cooling off my arm I should be fine. Every time I get in the car the arm feels better. I think it is just a matter of getting use to it again. | |
 | Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Walker Racing Reynard Honda Qualified: 9th |
| GIL de FERRAN | |
| It was a little bit of a disjointed session for us, with the frequent red flags. I made a decent run, but not a great run, on my first set of tires. Then we had a mechanical problem and the session ended a little bit early for us. | |
 | Herdez Payton-Coyne Racing Lola Ford Qualified: 22nd |
| MEMO GIDLEY | |
| Well we are trying some stuff in the car but we have not been able to hit the setup yet. It's not going to take much, the field is pretty tight, we just need to pick up a little. If you can pick up a little, you can gain a lot of time. IS THERE A SPECIFIC PLACE ON THIS TRACK THAT YOU CAN GAIN MORE TIME THAN OTHERS? I think the high speed stuff is where I can pick up the most time. I think trying to get the car a bit more stable it important but I think there is time to be gained everywhere. | |
 | Hogan Racing Lola Mercedes Qualified: 10th |
| HELIO CASTRO-NEVES | |
| We had problems in practice this morning. We ran the spare car, and it didn't have the same setup as our primary car. We ran the primary car this afternoon and it was much better. There is still more time to come. I lost some time in slow traffic. Tomorrow we can go for the fast time. I really am confident we can do it. | |
 | Tang Hogan Racing Lola Mercedes Qualified: 25th |
| LUIZ GARCIA JR. | |
| We made some improvements. I got blocked for several laps. I think we could have run a low one-minute, 10-second lap. The handling of the car is a lot better. We have good balance front to rear. | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 15th |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| On the first set of tires we ran today the car was very good. Unfortunately, I had a spin. On the second set of tires we made a change and the car was not as good. Plus, I was blocked by a slower car during my fast lap. | |
 | Hollywood Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 6th |
| MAURICIO GUGELMIN | |
| This morning we ran better than we did this afternoon. It was really a funny session because there were so many red flags. It was hard to get anything done. We need to change the balance of the car. It was pushing quite a bit. The engineers say they have a good plan to fix that, so I'm really looking forward to it. | |