September 6, 1998
CART, INDYLIGHTS: Moore Leads Mercedes at Home
Race: Molson Indy Vancouver, Concord Pacific Place, Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada
Date/Session: Sept. 4, 1998 Provisional Qualifying
Moore Leads Mercedes-Benz Drivers Before Home Crowd
IC108E Powers Four of Top 10
British Columbia native and hometown favorite Greg Moore led the
Mercedes-Benz CART contingent during first day of the Molson Indy
Vancouver. Moore, who consulted on the design of the newly reconfigured
1.802-mile street circuit at Concord Pacific Place, posted the
fifth-fastest time of the afternoon’s provisional qualifying session,
lapping just over a half-second slower than provisional pole winner Alex
Zanardi.
Greg Moore
Moore’s Player’s/Indeck Reynard/Mercedes was the first of four
Mercedes-powered entries among the top 10. PacWest Racing teammates Mark
Blundell (Motorola Reynard/Mercedes) and Mauricio Gugelmin (Hollywood
Reynard/Mercedes) were seventh and eighth fastest, respectively, while
Champ Car rookie JJ Lehto was ninth in the Hogan Racing machine.
After posting the fourth-quickest lap time of the morning practice
session, rookie Helio Castro-Neves slipped to 15th when setup changes
failed to improve the performance of his Alumax Reynard/Mercedes during the
afternoon.
Marlboro Team Penske drivers Andre Ribeiro and Al Unser Jr.
struggled with handling problems, finishing the session ranked 18th and
23rd. The anti-roll bar adjustment mechanism failed on Patrick Carpentier’s
Player’s/Indeck Reynard/Mercedes, leaving the young Canadian 21st.
Final qualifying is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Sunday’s
90-lap, 162.18-mile race will start at 1 p.m. local time and will be
televised on ESPN starting at 5 p.m. EDT.
Mercedes Quotes
Greg Moore, No. 99, Player’s/Indeck Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone: Fifth -
65.434 sec.
"It wasn’t a bad session. We made some improvements, and I think
it’s going to get better for tomorrow. We made some changes to the car, and
we went the right way, but we didn’t go far enough. But that’s why we have
practice tomorrow. The new track’s really good. I enjoy it. You can pass
going into turn one and at the end of the back straight. And it’s getting
better and better as we lay down more and more rubber."
Mark Blundell, No. 18 Motorola Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone: Seventh - 65.637
sec.
"It was a very good session for us. Everything--the chassis, the
engine, the tires--all performed very well, and the team did a great job.
We made some good improvements, but I got held up on my last lap. I think
we would’ve been in the top six if it hadn’t been for that. The balance of
the car was much better than it was this morning. We’ve still got a little
bit of a push, but hopefully, we’ll continue improving tomorrow."
Mauricio Gugelmin, No. 17 Hollywood Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone: Eighth -
65.680 sec.
"We made good progress on the handling. This morning we couldn’t
get the tires to come up to temperature, so we made some changes to the
suspension geometry, and it was much better. I just still have some push in
the car. We’ll see if we can fix that for tomorrow. At least we’ll be in
the fast group in qualifying tomorrow, so we’ll be able to run quick and
hopefully avoid being slowed up by traffic."
JJ Lehto, No. 9 Hogan Racing Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone: Ninth - 65.686
sec.
"Today was reasonably good, but I had trouble getting a clear lap.
We made some changes for the second set of tires and went the wrong way. I
had a lot of push and couldn’t get the most out of the car. But at least we
know the right way to go for tomorrow, and everything seems to be running
well. I think we’ll find some more time tomorrow."
Helio Castro-Neves, No. 16 Alumax Reynard/Mercedes/Goodyear: 15th - 66.068
sec.
"It was very strange. We ran so well this morning that I expected
to do much better this afternoon. I think we made a couple of changes that
didn’t work. That slowed us up. But we know we have a good car. We just
have to see where the speed went."
Andre Ribeiro, No. 3, Marlboro Penske/Mercedes/Goodyear: 18th - 66.239 sec.
"We made a good improvement, but we’re still fighting with problems
with the car’s balance. It was a definite improvement and a good step from
this morning to this afternoon. The circuit is very challenging because it
is very bumpy in some places, so car control is very important here. Also
the grip level is very different from one place to another because of the
different surfaces: old asphalt, new asphalt and so on."
Patrick Carpentier, No. 33, Player’s/Indeck Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone:
21st - 66.616 sec.
"The front sway bar adjuster broke and the bar went to full stiff,
which meant I had a big push. There was nothing I could do."
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