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CART: Tony Kanaan Friday Qualifying Notes and Quotes

17 June 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

#55 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Mercedes-Benz Reynard
Tenneco Grand Prix of Detroit Provisional Qualifying Notes/Quotes
Round 7 of 20 on the 2000 CART FedEx Championship Series
Friday, June 16, 2000 -- At The Raceway on Belle Isle

The bid for a top qualifying spot for Tony Kanaan and the #55 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Mercedes-Benz Reynard will have to wait another day, and hope for favorable weather, as the team battled through practice and provisional qualifying problems today. Kanaan had to settle for 18th on the provisional starting grid after an accident midway through todays 30-minute afternoon session cut short his qualifying bid. He toured the 2.346-mile temporary Belle Isle street course in 1 minute, 16.760 seconds (an average of 110.026 mph) in his back-up Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Mercedes. Earlier in the day, at the outset of morning practice, Kanaans primary race car encountered problems on the very first lap that forced him to switch to his back-up car for the rest of the day. Max Papis is on the provisional pole after turning a lap of 1:13.903 (114.780 mph).

Practice resumes Saturday morning with final qualifying set for 1:45 p.m. EDT. Local weather forecasts call for scattered thundershowers. Race time is 1 p.m. EDT Sunday with a live broadcast set for ESPN.

TONY KANAAN

"What a day. Well have to pray for good weather Saturday so we can go out and do what this Hollywood/Mo Nunn Mercedes team is capable of doing here. We got off to a bad start when we had problems with our primary car in practice. We had to switch to our back-up car, which was good only because we learned that the primary car is the one we really want to race here. We had two different setups on the two cars. Qualifying well is so important here because its been so tough to pass in years past. I know we can run fast. We turned a 1:15.5 during the qualifying session, but they didnt allow it because the red flag came out (for another incident) just as I turned onto the front straight. That would have just about put us into the top 10. Then, I simply messed up and hit the tire barrier and that was the end of our session. Those are the breaks we all have to live with in this business. Thankfully, tomorrows another day."

Text provided by Laz Denes

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