CART: Max Papis Has Good Run in Japan
10 April 1999
Miller Lite Ford-Cosworth - Qualified 3rd -"We have worked very hard all weekend and Ford has come here with a very, very strong engine. We have a great chance for a very strong race tomorrow. We have a way better race car than a qualifying car. From my position now it looks very good for the race. At this track there is only one corner that counts. Tomorrow is going to be different. I don't know how many people are going o be able to go flat out through (turns) one and two during the race. I tell you though if I am back here (on the podium) tomorrow we will have to go out and have a party.
ON THE SETUP OF TWIN RING MOTEGI . . .
"One thing that is different about this track is that there is a relatively slow corner compared to the faster corner at the other end. There are situations where you have to brake and sometimes you have to downshift which allows you opportunities to overtake. I could see that from the back of the pack last year."
Massimiliano "Mad Max" Papis joins the Ford family in 1999. He will pilot Team Rahal's Miller Lite Reynard Ford-Cosworth Championship Car in the CART FedEx Championship Series.
In his young Champ Car career, Max has earned eight points-paying finishes in 34 starts in just over two seasons for Arciero-Wells Racing. His career best finish came late in the 1998 season with a 5th-place finish at Houston.
Competed in three of the final four CART events of the season for Arciero-Wells Racing in place of the late Jeff Krosnoff. Papis finished 9th at Road America, the second-best effort of the season for a Toyota-powered car. He also turned in Toyota's best qualifying effort, a 17th at Laguna Seca.
Also in 1996, Papis won three races (Road Atlanta, Lime Rock and Watkins Glen), captured four pole positions and set eight track records on his way to a 2nd-place finish in the season championship standings for MOMO Ferrari in IMSA World Sports Car competition. Massimilano received the nickname "Mad Max" for his many stunning late-race runs in World Sports Car competition.
His lone F1 campaign came in 1995 with Arrows Grand Prix after serving as a test driver for both the Lotus and Ligier teams the previous season. He began racing go karts at age 12.
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