CART: Short, Sweet Test for Team KOOL Green at Gateway
6 May 1999
INDIANAPOLIS-- Team KOOL Green enjoyed a productive day of testing at Gateway International Raceway on May 4. The test session was so productive that the team cancelled a second day of testing at the St. Louis-area track in order to concentrate on final preparations for the Rio 200 in Brazil on May 15.Drivers Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy covered a total of over 300 miles during the test, with Tracy turning a best lap of 25.4 seconds and Dario a couple of tenths back at 25.6 seconds. Tracy was more than three-tenths quicker than Greg Moores 1998 pole speed and, when Team KOOL Green stopped running for the day, was the fastest of 11 drivers participating in the test.
The results were particularly encouraging given Team KOOL Greens lack of track time at Gateway of late. Last year, the first time the KOOL Honda-Reynards ran at Gateway in CART-mandated speedway aerodynamic trim, inclement weather washed-out much of practice and qualifying before a first lap incident eliminated both Dario and Paul from the race itself.
The team returned to the Team KOOL Green shop in Indianapolis Tuesday evening and will leave for Brazil Monday, May 10.
PAUL TRACY, #26 Team KOOL Green Honda/Reynard/Firestone:
"We have a much better understanding of the car in speedway trim on this track now. We didnt have a big data base because of the rain last year and then the fact that we didnt compete in the race. But running with the speedway aero package at Homestead, Motegi and Nazareth pointed us in the right direction and, in one day, we were able to fine tune the cars and make some good progress."
TONY Cotman, Team Manager for the #26 Team KOOL Green car:
"Dario and Paul both feel we have pretty good cars for Gateway. They have a slight push (understeer) but theyre turning very competitive times and I think we gained a lot of ground in just one day."
DON HALLIDAY, Team KOOL Green technical director
"Dario and Paul were pleased with their cars, we were competitive and we evaluated some developments produced by our wind tunnel program. Wed accomplished our objectives for the test and the weather forecast called for some pretty severe weather Wednesday. So even though some other teams were still out there running, we quit early and went home to get ready for Rio."
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