CART: Kanaan Leads Friday Practice

24 March 2000

By David Treffer
Contributing Editor-The AutoChannel

HOMESTEAD, FL: Perhaps it should be no surprise that one of the best engineers (Mo Nunn) in CART teamed with one of the up and coming stars of CART should be at the top of the charts. Tony Kanaan in the Hollywood sponsored Mercedes-Benz powered Reynard led the Friday practice times in a back-up car. The primary car was involved in a early morning accident on pit road and was withdrawn from the Friday practice session. Kanaan was adamant that he should stay in the back-up car. "Maybe this is being superstitious but the same thing happened at Long Beach last year when I won the pole. I will have to talk to Mo."

Kanaan, in his third year of CART competition, has been waiting to find the right team with the right personnel to shine. With Mo Nunn it does not get any better. Nunn, recognized as one of the best racing engineers in motorsports has been directly involved in delivering at least four championships over the past fifteen years. His involvement as a car-owner is a long-anticipated step. His association with successful Indy Car drivers is well-documented.

Kanaan was asked whether his best-lap time of 26.437 seconds would stand up. "I would like to believe that it would but I know that the times are going to come down tomorrow. Like everyone else I will be looking for more speed."

Directly behind Kanaan was Newman-Haas driver Chrsistian Fittipaldi and Players driver Patrick Carpentier. Both drivers have Ford power but differ in chassis supplier. Fittipaldi is in a Lola and Carpentier utilizes Reynard. The two drivers were split by only 52/100th's of a second.

Their is little question among the driver's that Saturday's times will drop. During spring training in February Max Papis posted the best time of the two-day session with a lap of 25.760 seconds. Just how much the times will drop will of course depend on temperature and other weather-related effects on the racing surface. Saturday's forecast is for more of the same. Sunny skies with a strong breeze out of the north.

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