CART, INDYLIGHTS: Franchitti 7th in Qualifying
21 March 1999
|
Greg Moore won the pole position for tomorrow's 105-lap race, setting the pace with a lap of 24.886 seconds (217.279 mph). Moore edged out Adrian Fernandez, whose best lap was 25.360 seconds (213.218 mph). Moore's teammate Patrick Carpentier will start third after posting a time of 25.537 seconds (211.740 mph).
The 28-car field for Sunday's 225-mile race will take the green flag at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. The race is being shown on a tape-delay at 4:00 p.m. Eastern on ABC.
DARIO FRANCHITTI, #27 TEAM KOOL GREEN HONDA/REYNARD/FIRESTONE:
(7th fastest with a lap-time of 25.202 seconds / 214.554 mph)
"We tried to guess on the setup, as you always do in qualifying on ovals, and we just didn't get the KOOL-Honda car quite right. It's kind of a shot in the dark. You've got to guess how you think the weather is going to be and how that's going to affect the track, then adjust your setup accordingly. We were a little conservative and left the car with too much understeer. I had to lift in the last corners (Turns 3 & 4) to get the nose of the car settled and that costs you speed. You like to qualify up front, but it's not the end of the world."
RAUL BOESEL, #26 TEAM KOOL GREEN HONDA/REYNARD/FIRESTONE:
(20th with a lap-time of 25.887 seconds / 208.877 mph)
"That's the best the KOOL car has been all weekend. When we put a new set of tires on the car this morning, the car went from being a push to being very loose. I don't know why. Whether it was the tires or the setup, I'm not sure. So we made changes for qualifying and turned the fastest lap we've had all weekend. We're still not as fast as we were at CART Spring Training. But maybe it is an indication that we're going in the right direction."
PPG-Dayton Indy Lights - QUALIFYING
Mario Dominguez won the pole position for the 67-lap race with a lap
of
30.103 seconds (179.623 mph). Derek Higgins will start second after
posting
a lap of 30.106 seconds (179.605 mph), while Airton Dare will line-up
third
with a time of 30.199 seconds (179.052 mph). Meanwhile, Team KOOL Green's
Jonny Kane was penalized a half-second for illegal mirrors and will start
11th for tomorrow's race at 11:00 a.m. ET.
JONNY KANE, #27 TEAM KOOL GREEN LOLA T97/20:
(11th with a lap-time 30.897 / 177.886 mph)
"Apparently it was common practice last year to turn the mirrors in on a speedway. Some people did it on short ovals as well. We were the only ones that did it, so that was a bit of a shame. I'm not aware of any formal notice that was given, otherwise we would not have done it. It's okay though, it will just make us look that much better when the Team KOOL Green car starts moving up through the field."
Editors Note: The images displayed in this article (plus many more) can be viewed in The Racing ImageGalleries and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.