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INDY LIGHTS: Red flag costs Renna the provisional pole at Mid Ohio

12 August 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
(Lexington, Oh): PacWest Indy Lights driver Tony Renna is eighth on the provisional grid for this weekends seventh round of the Dayton Indy lights Championship at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio he should be first.

Renna and his crew worked hard on the Motorola PacWest machine through the practice and qualifying sessions and had it almost perfect with six minutes remaining in the session. Renna, a Florida native, was on his fastest lap of the day and was on the exit of the final corner when the session (and official timing) was automatically stopped with a red flag because Mexican driver Mario Dominguez ran off course.

Renna completed the lap and it would have been good enough for provision pole by 0.2 of a second. Renna, who has had more than his fair share of bad luck this season, is hoping the "black cloud" hanging over his head today will be the last of the weekend.

Rennas teammate and championship leader, Scott Dixon, had a day he would also prefer to forget. Dixon, driver of the #17Invensys/Powerware PacWest Lights car, struggled with the cars balance on the demanding road course despite being the fastest driver in a recent test at the Mid-Ohio venue with the same set-up.

TONY RENNA - # 18 MOTOROLA PACWEST LIGHTS 8th Qualifying Time: 1:15.82s

"The car is great," said Renna.

"I am a little disappointed where I finished on the provisional grid, but it is only Friday and we have all day tomorrow to improve our times. My last lap of the session was actually good enough for the provisional pole, by a couple of 10ths, but a red flag flew as I was coming out of the final corner and my time did not count. We definitely have more speed in the car and I am looking forward to finding it in tomorrows sessions."

SCOTT DIXON - # 17 INVENSYS/POWERWARE PACWEST LIGHTS 12th Qualifying time: 1:16.52s

"We struggled the entire day," said Dixon.

"My car is the same as when we tested here last month and we were quickest at the time, so I dont know what the problem is. We made some changes in the morning session which did not help the handling of the car so before qualifying we went back to the same set-up as the test and we are still off the pace. We will definitely have a look at things overnight and try and make the major improvement required."

QUALIFYING TIMES: 1: Jonny Kane 1:15.579; 2: Casey Mears 1:15.583; 3: Felipe Giaffone 1:15.612; 4: Townsend Bell 1:15.627; 5: Jeff Simmons 1:15.640; 6: Chris Menninga 1:15.643; 7: Andy Boss 1:15.659; 8: Tony Renna 1:15.823; 9: Jason Bright 1:16.237; 10: Rodolfo Quintanilla 1:16.502

Text provided by Brett Murray

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