CART: Bryan Herta, Portland Saturday Final Qualifying Notes/Quotes
25 June 2000
Bryan Herta #55 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Mercedes-Benz Reynard Freightliner/G.I. Joe’s 200 – Final Qualifying Notes/Quotes Round 8 of 20 on the 2000 CART FedEx Championship Series Saturday, June 24, 2000 – At Portland International Raceway Bryan Herta, subbing for the injured Tony Kanaan, will start the #55 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Mercedes-Benz Reynard from the 21st spot in Sunday’s Freightliner/G.I. Joe’s 200. He posted a final qualifying time today of 59.746 seconds (an average of 118.642 mph) over the 1.967-mile Portland International Raceway road circuit. It was only the second day ever for Herta in the Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing entry, and it was a day of limited action, at that. Just 30 minutes into this morning’s 1-hour, 15-minute practice session, mechanical problems sent the car to the garage. And the team is without a running back-up car after Kanaan’s qualifying accident last weekend in Detroit. Kanaan sustained a broken left forearm that required surgery and four fractured ribs on his left side and is expected to be out four to six weeks. The team will have its back-up car ready in time for next weekend’s Medic Drug Grand Prix in Cleveland. Helio Castroneves won the pole today with a fast lap of 57.738 seconds (122.768 mph), which eclipsed the previous track record set here by Herta two years ago. Sunday’s race begins at 2 p.m. local time (5 p.m. EDT) with a tape-delayed broadcast set for ESPN2 at 7 p.m. EDT. BRYAN HERTA “It’s been one of those weekends, so far. We haven’t gotten nearly as many laps as wish we could have. This morning’s problems set us back even further. We just don’t have the car to my liking, yet. You need seat time to get that done. We’ll make some changes for tomorrow’s warm-up, see where we are, and make whatever adjustments we have to after that. We just have to keep chipping away at it. It’s a good car, and this is a solid team. The race isn’t here, yet, and that’s what ultimately matters the most, anyway. Hopefully we’ll have this thing figured out by showtime. I have every confidence we can do it. We just need a few breaks.”