CART: Gugelmin excited about the high banks of Texas

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

(Fort Worth, TX) – Rain and cold temperatures limited testing at the Texas Motor Speedway Wednesday, as Mauricio Gugelmin and PacWest Racing got their first taste of the high-banked 1.5-mile oval that hosts round three of the 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series on April 29.

Gugelmin ran approximately 160 miles on the day after whether conditions prevented teams from running until approximately 1:00pm. Gugelmin reached speeds of up to 212 miles per hour, but his lap times were not recorded.

The wet track forced teams to run a higher than normal line for the entire afternoon, so conditions weren’t really conducive to high speeds and impressive lap times. PacWest did walk away from the session with some valuable information gathered by the engineering staff, which they hope to build on during the second test day on Thursday, with Scott Dixon.

After the two-day Texas test, PacWest will head further west to Phoenix to run on the short oval at PIR on February 27-28.

MAURICIO GUGELMIN - # 17 NEXTEL PACWEST TOYOTA

“It was a very cold day and the circuit never really dried completely,” said Gugelmin. “Because of that, we had to run a higher than normal line on the track for the entire afternoon. I was flat-out all the way around, and we were able to do several long runs. We tried a few different things on the car to try to learn this track and its high banks, and I think we’ve walked away today with some useful information. This is a magnificent facility, and I think the race here in April will be quite a show. I’m looking forward to it.”

RUSSELL CAMERON – PACWEST DIRECTOR OR RACE OPERATIONS

“With the rain delay and the cool temperatures outside, it made for a challenging day,” said Cameron. “Mauricio did great on this track, and history has shown that he is always strong on the larger ovals. During the afternoon, we were able to work on a few things that are part of our normal testing regimen, and we’ll add some things to the car on Thursday with Scott (Dixon) to see if we can improve on our times. Like Mo said, we really wanted to get a feel for the high banks so we can generate some information to bring back with us in April. I think we accomplished that today.”

Text Provided By Tom Hollett

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