Race No. 19

Honda Indy
Surfer's Paradise
Gold Coast, Australia
October 15-17, 1999

	Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford
MICHAEL ANDRETTI
I ran into Vasser on the track when I was on my fast lap and that cost me.I had a lap going that was fast enough to put me in third on the grid fortomorrow. The thing that is difficult here is that if you get blocked on afast lap it takes so long to get back around to go after it again. We canwin from fifth but we need to race smart. It's difficult to pass out therebut we can still win from fifth.

	Kmart/Texaco Havoline Newman/Haas Racing Swift Ford
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI
WHATHAPPENED THAT CAUSED YOU TO SPIN GOING INTO THE CHICANE? I was trying toput one more lap together on my set of tires and they just went away on me.We have struggled a bit getting the tires to come in. I have not been ableto get the tires to work right for me this weekend. Overall, starting 13this not the ideal place to be but I think we can pick our way through thefield tomorrow. I can pass here and that's what we are going to have todo.

	Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford
MAX PAPIS
YOU SPUN ANDCAUGHT THE WALL DURING THE SESSION, HOW BAD WAS THE CAR DAMAGED? We havebeen struggling with the brakes all weekend. They keep fading on me. Wemanaged to improve the car a bunch from yesterday, but unfortunately, we hadthe incident during the session and I didn't have the chance to improve mytime. The car is not that bad, I think we can get it fixed in time for therace tomorrow.

	Shell Team Rahal Reynard Ford
BRYAN HERTA
I got a few good lapsin on my first set of tires which helps because it gives you the freedom onthe second set of tires to take some chances and that seems to be what paysoff here. On my second set of tires I was using the curbs more and on mysecond timed lap I caught the cone in the Fosters chicane and broke thefront wing which ended my session. I was really pleased with the car andbeing on the front row. IS IT EASIER FOR YOU TO FOCUS WITH ALL OF THEATTENTION ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT? It's probably the most interestingand exciting thing going on right now. It's probably kind of tough forthose guys right now to have the focus on them. But, it does take a littleof the focus off of me and the other guys. It's allows us to work under thecover of darkness without so much spotlight on you. SINCE YOUR WIN ATLAGUNA SECA, YOUR PERFORMANCE HAS REALLY TAKEN OFF. HOW MUCH IS THATHELPING YOUR SEARCH FOR A RIDE NEXT YEAR? It can't hurt for next year. Iam still talking to a number of people and hopefully closing in onsomething. But having good performances on the race track is really thebest thing for me right now. I just need to stay focused and I think thepeople that need drivers next year know that I am available. Hopefullysooner than later things will happen so I can put things to rest.

	Tecate Beer/Quaker State Patrick Racing Reynard Ford
ADRIAN FERNANDEZ
"We made some big gains today. Posting the fastest time in the firstsession and the second fastest time overall after the first session wasgood, it will give us the chance to win the race tomorrow. The conditionsimproved a lot from yesterday and we were able to hit the setup. IT ISRATHER HOT AND HUMID OUT HERE TODAY, AND IT IS EXPECTED TO BE THE SAMETOMORROW. HOW WILL THAT AFFECT YOU? "I we will be okay tomorrow in regards to the heat. This is a very physical track to drive, so I am goingto need to make sure that I drink plenty of water, but I don't see it beinga problem. You have to be a little concerned with the brakes and thingslike that but we have raced in those conditions before. YOU CURRENTLY AREIN A FIGHT FOR FIFTH IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP, HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO GET THEPOINTS? I have to finish ahead of Christian (Fittipaldi) and Max (Papis)who are the guys I can catch. We just have to do our best every weekend andhopefully at the end of the day we will finish fifth in the points whichwill be a great accomplishment for us after missing four races.

	Patrick Racing Visteon Reynard Ford
JAN MAGNUSSEN
I am prettyhappy with where we are with the car. I got screwed up on my fast lap byanother car, it would have been a very good one. I am disappointed I couldnot qualify higher because it is going to be really tough to pass tomorrow.

	Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes
GREG MOORE
It was a better run than yesterday, but missing most of qualifying yesterday hurt us becausewe couldn't really try anything new in our set up today. But we have learned a few things that we canput into the car for the race. We'll just have to see where we end up, and figure out our race strategy from there.

	Marlboro Lola Mercedes
AL UNSER, Jr.
The Marlboro Mercedes Penske was loose so we were working on the balance andtrying to put a solid time on the board since we lost yesterday's time by goingto the back-up car. We had only gotten two timed laps in when we had a mechanical problem thatended our qualifying session early. It's going to be tough starting from the back tomorrow so we'll haveto keep our nose clean and see how everything plays out during the race.

	MCI Worldcom Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota
CRISTIANO DA MATTA
I am happy, because the MCI WorldCom car is very good. We knew we had a good car this morning during practice,so I knew we would be fast during qualifying. I am very disappointed, though, because the car was much betterthan what we did. With the engine problem we were not able to do more laps, and I know wecould have improved our time. So it's a little frustrating, but overall I am pleased. We have agood car for the race tomorrow, and we still have a good position to start the race.

	Pioneer Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota
SCOTT PRUETT
This is awesome. I'm so happy for Pioneer and Toyota, and for the team. I really have to thank the guyson the Pioneer crew for giving me a fantastic car. They've been working hard all season, and it's starting topay off, slowly but surely. Chassis set-up is so important here, and the car is terrific. It's tough toget the car right all the way around this place. It takes a real fine balance, and my guys hit it just right.We obviously made a lot of changes to the car since yesterday. We bounced back and forth between theprimary and the back-up car during morning practice until we found the right combination. I'm really excitedto have achieved this, for the team, for our partners Pioneer and Toyota, and for the great fans who have supportedme through the years here in Australia. This couldn't have happened at a better time ora better place. This is always a great race, because this is one of the places where thereare lots of opportunities to pass. It should be a great show tomorrow, and I'm hoping it all happens behind me!

	PacWest Motorola Reynard Mercedes
MARK BLUNDELL
It was a difficult session. We didn't run too many laps, and we got caught with a redflag on our quick lap. The car's picked up a bit of oversteer this afternoon, and wecould use some more grip out there.

	Herdez Competition Payton/Coyne Lola Ford
MICHEL JOURDAIN
I madetwo mistakes during qualifying. Twice I missed my braking point at turn oneon my hot laps. Now we are working on changes for the race and I think thecar will be better. Mainly we have to work on the traction.

	Shell Team Rahal Reynard Ford
BRYAN HERTA
It was a very interesting qualifying session, as it always is. I got a good lap in on the first set of tires, so I thought I could take some chances on the second set. I caught the cone in the Foster's Chicane and clipped the wing on the front suspension, so I didn't get a chance to go after Dario at the end. The timing [of a strong finish to the season] is good. I think all the people who need to know, know I'm available [next year]. I'm working on some things, and I'd like to put that to rest sooner rather than later. In the meantime, I'll just concentrate on getting the best results I can on the racetrack.

	Team Kool Green Reynard Honda
DARIO FRANCHITTI
When I came in to get my second set of tires I didn't think there wasmuch more in the car, but my engineer Don [Halliday] found it. I went outthere and stood on it. There was not much else there. I was trying to keepcontrol at certain points and at other points just really going for it. The guysat Team KOOL Green did a great job. We haven't had too many poles thisyear, so we'll take this one. We struggled a bit all weekend, but my engineers and I worked reallyhard last night to get the car right. I just had to grit my teeth and get onwith it really, which is what I tried to do. The race package is looking reallygood, probably better than our setup for qualifying. Sixty-five laps aroundhere will be hard work, but we have the car and team to do it.

	Team Kool Green Reynard Honda
PAUL TRACY
It was a bit nerve-racking having to sit, but you must start the race onyour qualifying set. We now have four brand new sets of Firestone tires touse for the race. I don't think anyone else in the paddock has that, so wehave a big advantage on tires. Starting fourth is good and I'm pretty happy.It could have been a lot worse. This is the KOOL car that I won with inHouston. Somebody on the team told me that, so I think we'll stay with thisone for good luck.

	McDonald'sForsythe Championship Racing Team Reynard Honda
TONY KANAAN
We made an improvement in the car today and the track was better aswell. We saved one set of tires which is good for the race. On thesecond set, I didn't take the most out of the car. This track is solong that it is so easy to make one mistake and screw up the whole lap.Every single lap that was a good one, I made a mistake in a differentplace. At the end, when I got my fastest lap, my tires were alreadygone at that point. Today there was nothing wrong with the car. It was me. I had to try tobe perfect those two laps and that's why I'm so upset about it. We hada car to be top five today. I made a mistake and that's hard for me toaccept. I guess that's part of the learning curve. You can alwayslearn and today is a good example.

	Herdez Payton-Coyne Racing Lola Ford
MEMO GIDLEY
We made someprogress, the car is the best that I've ever had this weekend. I've learnthow to drive over the curbs on this temporary circuit and for tomorrow Ihave pretty good idea of what to do. The car is still pushing, but overallwe have a good balance. The race is going to be tough on brakes andgearbox, so we have to work on figuring out how to make them last longer.This is going to be a key issue.

	Hogan Racing Lola Mercedes
HELIO CASTRO-NEVES
We did the best that we could today. I got caught in a little bit of traffic on my best run. We madea lot of suspension changes since this morning, but I still have understeer and wheel spin atthe same time. It's a tough race, so tomorrow we will have to be careful.

	Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes
PATRICK CARPENTIER
I'm quite disappointed. Yesterday we ran pretty decent but today we didn't get the chassis right. I'vealso been having problems with the brakes in the last couple of races. After a few laps,the front brakes lock, then the rear locks, and that kills the right-side tires. When that happenedtoday on my second set of tires, that was it. There was nothing more we could do. It was a shame.

	Hollywood Reynard Mercedes
MAURICIO GUGELMIN
With the damp weather this morning, we had to wait for the circuit to dry and we lost some valuable time. Wewent on to make some changes to the rear that helped the grip, but the balance was a bit off. Before qualifying, we made some changes to the front of the car that improved the balance. The car is handlingextremely well, and it should behave the same way on full tanks. It's been agreat weekend so far, and I'm very happy. I always have a good race here in Australia, and I'm confidentthat we'll have another good one tomorrow."

	Team Kool Green Team manager
BARRY GREEN
That's step one and now it's an even 12 points between Juan [Montoya]and Dario. It was a brilliant job on Dario's part, as well as for Paul andeverybody on Team KOOL Green. It was really hard on Paul to sit out.He wants to be out there for every minute, but it was the right decision tostand on yesterday's time. We have Dario on the pole, Paul fourth and wehave Montoya behind us. I said to Dario 'that's a Dario Franchitti kind oflap'.