CART: Kanaan Qualifies Sixth for Motorola 300
17 September 2000
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
Juan Montoya earned the pole position for the second consecutive year
for
Sunday's Motorola 300, besting teammate Jimmy Vasser and 23 competitors
with
a qualifying lap of 25.353 seconds (180.334 mph) on the 1.27-mile Gateway
International Raceway oval. It was the sixth pole of the season for the
1999
CART champion, and his fourth this year on a short-oval track.
Tony Kanaan was the highest-qualifying Mercedes driver, putting his Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing machine in sixth position on the grid with a time of 25.561 seconds (178.866 mph) on the first of two flying laps. It was another stout showing on a short oval for Kanaan, who finished in the top 10 at Nazareth, Pa., and Milwaukee and qualified third at Chicago.
"When you have a guy like Morris (Nunn, team owner) engineering your car, life is pretty good," said Kanaan. "My car has been very quick all weekend, but I got a little greedy on the second lap and tried too hard -- and that cost us. But I like this race track and I like my chances tomorrow."
PacWest Motorola Mercedes Mark Blundell qualified 20th with a lap in 26.154 seconds (174.811 mph).
"We had a constructive day today, but there was still far too much understeer in the car for qualifying," said the British driver. "There's a quicker car under there, so we'll see what we can put together in warm-up tomorrow to be ready for the race."
Herdez/Bettenhausen Motorsports driver Michel Jourdain Jr. starts 21st (26.377 seconds/173.333 mph). Mauricio Gugelmin posted a qualifying time of 25.713 seconds (177.809 mph) which would have put him in 11th position. However, his PacWest Nextel Mercedes-Benz Champ Car was disqualified in the post-qualifying technical inspection for being five pounds lighter than CART's minimum required weight of 1,550 pounds. As a result, Gugelmin will start from the rear of the grid.
Luiz Garcia Jr. (Hollywood/Arciero Project Racing Group Mercedes-Benz) will start in 25th position after Garcia Jr.'s car was found to infringe on CART's "two-inch rule" during post-qualifying inspection, meaning the undertray of the race car was too close to the ground.
The green flag for the Motorola 300 waves at 1:30 p.m. CT Sunday (ESPN2, 2:30 p.m. ET).
Qualifying, Motorola 300
Madison, Ill.
Sept. 16, 2000
Pos. Driver Engine Time (sec) Speed (mph)
1 Juan Montoya Toyota 25.353 180.334
2 Jimmy Vasser Toyota 25.368 180.227
3 Paul Tracy Honda 25.500 179.294
4 Dario Franchitti Honda 25.514 179.196
5 Patrick Carpentier Ford Cosworth 25.516 179.182
6 Tony Kanaan Mercedes-Benz 25.561 178.866
7 Adrian Fernandez Ford Cosworth 25.573 178.782
8 Alex Tagliani Ford Cosworth 25.642 178.301
9 Helio Castroneves Honda 25.671 178.100
10 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 25.679 178.044
20 Mark Blundell Mercedes-Benz 26.154 174.811
21 Michel Jourdain Jr. Mercedes-Benz 26.377 173.333
24 Mauricio Gugelmin Mercedes-Benz No time --
25 Luiz Garcia Jr. Mercedes-Benz No time --
Text Provided By Susan Schroeder
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