ATLANTICS: Lynx Racing experienced a pair of turning points at Trois Rivieres
4 August 1999
The Lynx Racing KOOL/Toyota Atlantic team of Buddy Rice and Mike
Conte, qualified fourth and ninth, respectively, for the thirtieth annual
running of the Grand Prix Player's du Trois Rivières. They ultimately
finished 17th (Conte) and 21st (Rice), falling prey to the fickle fortunes
of racing -- but proved a point anyway.
Conte fell afoul of the scientific maxim "No two objects may occupy
the same place at the same time" early in the race -- two turns into the
first lap. In a wild scramble for position going into the Arch Turn, he
was punted off-course by Andrew Bordin, who was nonetheless able to
continue. Conte, however, suffered a bent toe link on the left rear and
spent three laps in the pits while the crew returned his car to running
order.
"From that point on, it just didn't handle right, so there must
have been something else bent that wasn't immediately apparent," said
Conte. "The team has been giving me great cars at every race, and for the
first two turns of this one, we were on our way to a good finish. The up
side is that I qualified in the top 10 ahead of a lot of really fast
drivers. Besides, Mid-Ohio is next up on the schedule, and to drive a
really good car on such a smooth, beautiful, challenging track is the stuff
of a driver's dreams."
Rice got the better of the opening lap melee, despite being rammed
from behind by last year's winner Alexandre Tagliani, and crosses the
start/ finish line in second place. On the eighth lap, Rice passes
pole-sitter and points leader Anthony Lazzaro for the lead, which he holds
until lap 15. On lap 31, however, he finds debris on the exit of turn 8
and his car understeered off the road into the tire barrier. He was
unhurt, but his day was done. Lazzaro goes on to the victory, and Rice
drops from second to fourth in the championship battle.
"I had a great car at the start of the race, but I slightly bent a
toe link getting past Anthony for the lead and the handling deteriorated
just enough that I couldn't hold it," said Rice. "As for the crash, I saw
Lazzaro lock up his brakes going into the turn, and they told me afterward
that the car behind me, Kenny Wilden, got sideways in a big way, so I'm
assuming there was some dirt or oil on the track, even though I don't
recall seeing a flag in the corner. From my point of view, I went into the
turn just as I had in previous laps and on the exit the car just
understeered into the tire wall. But we've got plenty of time to get ready
before the next race, and despite the crash the team is feeling like we've
turned the corner in our ability to consistently field front-running cars,
so we're very positive about the future."
The next race on the KOOL/Toyota Atlantic schedule is the Miller
Lite 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on August 15. The Trois
Rivières race will be broadcast Sunday, August 8 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. on
ESPN2.
Portland
Lynx Racing driver Sara Senske was the principal player in the
parallel drama being played out at Portland International Raceway while the
Atlantic team was in Trois Rivières.
Competing in both the Star Formula Mazda event and the third round
of the Women's Global GT Series, she was involved in the supremely
difficult task of switching back and forth between two completely different
kinds of race cars several times per day.
In the Star Mazda event for open-wheel 'formula' cars, she
qualified her #19 Lynx Racing/S3 Racing car in fifth, and was in a running
battle for second place when she hit some coolant remaining on the track
from an earlier pair of cars that had tangled and been removed. She spun
off course, but was able to continue and drive her way back up to a
7th-place finish.
In the Women's GT event, a racing series comprised entirely of the
fastest female drivers from around the world, she was consistently the
fastest car in every practice session and qualified on the pole. In the
race, she admits she "got a little over-aggressive at the start," slid
off-course and bounced through the gravel trap. She was able to continue,
and, not having gained any advantage from the off-course short-cut, was not
penalized. She won the race with a 27-second margin of victory over the
second-place car of Cindy Lux.
"We were fast right from the first session, just blowing past
everybody," said Senske. "I also have to give some credit to the Michelin
tire guys who came over and gave me some help during practice, like a sort
of mini tire-test. I wasn't making some do-or-die effort in the race, but
we were still a second a lap faster than everyone else, and it just felt
comfortable to run at that pace. This is a real momentum-builder for the
rest of the season, and hopefully will be a step forward in my goal to race
Indy cars."
Senske's next Women's GT race is at Road Atlanta on September 18.
She continues her battle for the Star Mazda championship at the Thunderhill
track in Northern California on August 14 - 15.
Summary
Lynx Racing, owned by Peggy Haas and Jackie Doty and now entering
its ninth year of operation, is both a championship-winning racing team and
a unique driver development program. The team's mission is to seek out
young drivers with championship potential and provide them with the
training, resources and opportunity to realize that potential and make the
jump to auto racing's 'major leagues.'
Lynx Racing alumni include CART FedEx series drivers Patrick
Carpentier (Player's/Forsythe), Alex Barron (All-American Racers and
Marlboro Penske) and Memo Gidley (Alpine/Walker).
"This weekend was a turning point for the team," says Lynx Racing
co-owner Peggy Haas. "It's our goal that every time a Lynx driver goes out
on track, it is reasonable to expect that they will be the fastest car, win
the pole and win the race. They may or may not actually achieve that, but
we want it to be a reasonable expectation, and we are now at that point."