CART: Al Unser Jr. Begins Quest for Win Number Seven at Long Beach
4 April 1998
Rain during the first half of provisional qualifying for the Grand Prix of Long Beach compounded troubles with traction for the Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Team today. The session -- reserved for the fastest 14 drivers in the field, which included a group of four Mercedes runners: PacWest's Mauricio Gugelmin and Mark Blundell, Marlboro Team Penske's Andre Ribeiro and Miami pole winner Player's Forsythe driver Greg Moore - - was also cut short when Alex Zanardi impacted the tire barriers with several minutes left to go.
Al Unser Jr.
Saturday's track activities have practice beginning at 9 a.m., and the final qualifying session beginning 12:45 p.m. The race will be shown live on ESPN Sunday at 4 p.m. (EST).
Mercedes Quotes
Al Unser Jr., No. 2, Marlboro Penske/Mercedes/Goodyear
"The rain right before the second session had me a bit worried,
but
the course dried quickly, so we had a shot at beating the guys in the
first
qualifying group. The Marlboro car has come along since this morning's
practice, but we still need to work on the balance. Overall, things
turned
out well today. We've got a car for Sunday, and we are looking forward to
going racing."
Greg Moore, No. 99, Player's Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone
"We tried two sets of tires that session and we were quicker on
the
second set. Plus, we were better this afternoon than we were this
morning,
and we'll work on it tonight and make it better."
Helio Castro-Neves, No. 16 Team Alumax Reynard/Mercedes/Goodyear
"We've got a great engine, great car and great tires.
Unfortunately I was too anxious when I came out at first, and I spun.
Then
I had to wait like 10 minutes because I caused the red (flag). When I
went
back out, I had to build confidence again. I knew the car was good, but I
had to build the speed back up. I got caught in traffic on my second set
of tires -- we could've done much better, but hopefully no rain tomorrow,
and we'll get qualify in the top 10."
JJ Lehto, No. 9, Hogan Racing/Mercedes/Firestone
"We improved a half second over our practice time, but we're still
not there. We've got to get the car better. You have to have a good
baseline before you can start improving the car. Time is so limited now
that you don't have much time to make the car better."
Andre Ribeiro, No. 3 Marlboro Penske/Mercedes/Goodyear
"The car is getting better every time we go out on the track and
we
are very happy with the improvements. We were able to pick up some time
from the morning session, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to move us
further up the grid. This race is like a first race for us because our
Marlboro car is so new and it's our first time on the road course.
Hopefully the weather will stay clear tomorrow and we'll get another
chance
to qualify."
Mauricio Gugelmin, No. 17, Hollywood Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone
"It has not been a great day. We had a lot of changes to our
setup.
We were late getting out. Then I discovered we had a ride height problem.
By the time we got that sorted out, the session was flagged early."
Mark Blundell, No. 18, Motorola Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone
"It's been a big disappointment to be perfectly honest.
Unfortunately we didn't get to make a fast lap on my second set of tires.
We were ready to have a run at it when (Alex) Zanardi had his problem
(which ended the session early). That would've only made a difference of a
couple of places, but every little bit helps. We'll just hope the weather
is kind to us and have another crack at qualifying tomorrow."
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