IRL: Guerrero Ends IRL Disney Testing with Second-Quick Time
17 January 1999
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Pep Boys Indy Racing League teams spent the last two months preparing for the Jan. 24 TransWorld Diversified Services Indy 200 at Walt Disney World Speedway, the first event of the 11-race 1999 Pep Boys Indy Racing League season.
Guerrero, of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., drives a G Force/Infiniti/Firestone package for Cobb Racing. The improving performance of the Infiniti engine has given Nissan engineers reason to be optimistic about the new season.
"Everyone involved in the Infiniti project, from management, to the engineers, to our teams have worked hard to get this engine competitive," said Marty Fiolka, spokesperson for Nissan Motorsports. "We started seeing signs of this last year, and all through our January testing the Cobb team has been impressive. With a quality team, veteran driver like Roberto who can give our engineers a lot of input, and the new engine package we've given them, people are starting to take notice. This is a much more fun way to start the season, for sure."
The only driver to beat Guerrero's time in testing was Scott Goodyear, who pilots the Pennzoil Panther Racing G Force/Aurora/Goodyear. Goodyear set the fastest overall lap of 21.000 seconds in private testing on Jan. 11. Rounding out the top five testing speeds, all set with Oldsmobile Aurora engines, were Scott Sharp at 21.039 seconds, Jason Leffler at 21.050, and Greg Ray at 21.085.
The track record at Walt Disney World Speedway, set by Tony Stewart during qualifying for the 1997 Indy 200, is 21.685 seconds, 166.013 mph.
Practice for the TransWorld Diversified Services Indy 200 begins Friday, Jan. 22 at 10:15 a.m. Eastern Time. Qualifications are scheduled for Jan. 23 from 12:30-2 p.m., with the first USAC Coors Light Silver Bullet Series race of the year, a 50-lap event, getting underway at 2:30 p.m.
The 1999 Pep Boys Indy Racing League season officially gets underway Sunday at 1 p.m. ABC Sports will televise the event starting at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. For ticket and race information, call 1-800-822-INDY.
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