CART: Moore Takes Over
18 October 1998
Race: Gold Coast Indy, Surfers Paradise, Queensland, AustraliaDate/Session: Oct. 17, 1998 Final Qualifying
Moore Takes Over Top Spot for Mercedes in Final Qualifying
Slices Almost a Second to Move Into Top 10
Despite significantly warmer ambient and track surface temperatures, Greg Moore managed to cut .94 seconds off of the lap time he posted during provisional qualifying yesterday, moving the Players/Indeck Reynard/Mercedes-Benz into the top 10 in final qualifying for tomorrows Gold Coast Indy. The Canadian missed scoring his second consecutive CART pole position by a margin of .631 seconds as Dario Franchitti claimed his fifth pole of the season.
Greg Moore
After two crashes during practice this morning, one of which damaged his primary car beyond repair, rookie Helio Castro-Neves sat out the final qualifying session. Based on his qualifying time from yesterday, hell start the Team Alumax entry 18th.
Al Unser Jr., on the other hand, gave up his qualifying time from yesterday. After a wishbone punctured the carbon fiber tub of his primary car in a crash yesterday, Unser went to the backup Marlboro Penske/Mercedes this afternoon, qualifying 19th.
Hollwood Reynard/Mercedes driver Mauricio Gugelmin and Marlboro Team Penskes Andre Ribeiro both continued to struggle making only minor improvements. Theyll start 21st and 22nd, respectively.
Tomorrows 65-lap, 181.675-mile race will start at 2 p.m. local time and be televised on ESPN at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
Mercedes Quotes
Greg Moore, No. 99, Players/Indeck Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone: Ninth -
92.919 sec.
"I got two laps in on both sets of tires, and that was all I
had.
Both times I went back out after the first lap and really gave it a ride,
went faster than I thought I could, but that was the best we could do. The
track was better, and we made some improvements to the car. We just
couldnt make the car work over the curbs as well as the other guys. The
fortunate thing is we do have a good race car, but were back in ninth for
the start, which is obviously not where we want to be."
JJ Lehto, No. 9 Hogan Racing Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone: 15th - 93.669
sec.
"That was better than I thought it was going to be. I thought
it
would be slower. The track felt very slippery this morning, and it still
feels slippery this afternoon, but we improved our grid position and had a
trouble-free run. Well see how it goes tomorrow."
Patrick Carpentier, No. 33, Players/Indeck Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone:
16th - 93.819 sec.
"It went all right, but the track was getting much better
there at
the end. We just needed one more lap. You get in the slow group and get
behind some traffic, and theres nothing you can do. The speed difference
is just so big. I gave myself the whole length of the front straight, but
in half a lap I was on the next guys gearbox and couldnt get enough space
to get a clear lap."
Mark Blundell, No. 18 Motorola Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone: 17th - 93.820
sec.
"Obviously were disappointed in the result this afternoon. We
tried a new setup this morning, and that proved to be detrimental. We went
back to yesterdays program with a few other changes but couldnt gain any
speed. I know well have a good race car tomorrow, but it will be a
climb.."
Al Unser Jr., No. 2, Marlboro Penske/Mercedes/Goodyear: 19th - 94.260 sec.
"After going to the backup car due to yesterdays crash, we
were
able to improve our time by more than two seconds today. Even with that
gain, were 19th on the grid, which shows how competitive the CART FedEx
Championship Series is. Now were going to focus on getting the Marlboro
Penske/Mercedes ready for the race. For tomorrow, we need to pick our
spots
to pass and hope our strategy pays off."
Mauricio Gugelmin, No. 17 Hollywood Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone: 21st -
94.375 sec.
"I just couldnt get the car to stop. Id come to a braking
point,
and the rear tires would lock up immediately. And its not a braking issue;
its a balance issue. Apart from that, we had no problems. Were going to
have to change something drastically for tomorrow. Weve been trying for
two days now, and were still not right. Well make a big change and just
keep our nose clean and hope for the best tomorrow."
Andre Ribeiro, No. 3, Marlboro Penske/Mercedes/Goodyear: 22nd - 94.474
sec.
"Our Saturday morning practice was very encouraging (seventh
place)
as we continued to improve the Marlboro Penske/Mercedes. We qualified in
the heat of the day and suffered from a lack of grip under the high
temperatures. We cant seem to get the power down off of the corners,
especially onto the main straight, so our lap time was disappointing. For
the race, we must count on our reliability and good strategy from the
Marlboro Team Penske crew."
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