|
 WEST
ALLIS, WI - In the waning moments of practice Friday, Gil de Ferran
laid down a fast lap that knocked Michael Andretti from the top spot
in practice at The Milwaukee Mile. By the time de Ferran was
able to pip Andretti's time, Andretti had parked his car for the day
and sat out the remainder of the session, content knowing his car
was fast. Helio Castroneves ended up third fastest, giving
Roger Penske hope that win 101 might come a lot faster than 100.
De Ferran (Marlboro Honda Reynard), who brought Penske Racing its landmark 100th race victory at Nazareth Speedway last Saturday, put together a lap of 173.697 miles per hour (21.389 seconds) on the 1.032-mile oval located outside Milwaukee. A final practice session is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET Saturday, after which de Ferran will be seeking his third pole of the season when qualifying begins 2:30 p.m. ET.
De Ferran's previous poles were recorded at Homestead and Long Beach, in the first two completed events of the FedEx Championship Series season. He was followed on Friday's time sheet by Michael Andretti (Big Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Ford Lola) of Newman/Haas Racing, whose fastest lap clocked in at 173.575 mph (21.404 seconds). Andretti, a five-time FedEx Championship Series winner at The Milwaukee Mile, will be chasing his third career pole at Milwaukee when qualifying begins Saturday afternoon.
 Andretti and a number of
other drivers alternated between their race car and their backup
car, one setup for qualifying, the other in race trim.
Andretti spent the majority of the afternoon practice in his backup
car, and only drove 4-laps in his primary car. In those 4-laps
he put up quick time for the day, a time that remained fastest until
Gil bumped him. Considering de Ferran drove 100 laps in his
primary car, to Andretti's 4 laps, one would think Andretti is
feeling pretty good about his chances Sunday. Traditionally
Andretti has qualified mid-field at this track, only to see him move
to the front when the green flag drops on race day. Watching
Andretti carve his way thru the field at Milwaukee is usually one of
the highlights of the season.
Mauricio Gugelmin, Paul
Tracy, Adrian Fernandez, Juan Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Patrick
Carpentier and Tony Kanaan rounded out the top-10 fastest
times. CART races have become two races in one. The
qualifying race and the real race. At some tracks starting up
front is essential because passing is so difficult. However,
at Milwaukee two lanes usually develop and moving up through the
field from the back is possible if a team hits the right race setup.
 However, that may not be
as easy this year. It seems that tire marbles are still a big
problem in CART. Firestone continues to develop their tires
and make them faster, not willing to sit back on their laurels, for
fear that another tire company, such as Michelin, will come in and
beat them with a better tire, much like Firestone did to
Goodyear. Not until CART mandates a single tire series, ala
NASCAR, will Firestone take comfort in knowing they can build a
harder tire and eliminate the marbles. All three top drivers
were very outspoken today about the marbles and how they continue to
ruin what could be better racing. CART will need to take a
serious look at this situation, as a harder tire would result in
slower, safer speeds, and better races.
Of 34 cars, including secondary cars, introduced to the track Friday, 27 were covered by less than a second.
 WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
GIL de FERRAN, Marlboro Honda Reynard: "I like coming here. I think for me, just as Nazareth, it's one of the most challenging small ovals. That's why I like coming here, because it's very tough. The first time I came here in '95, it was very bumpy. But then they resurfaced it in '96, and now I love it."
MICHAEL ANDRETTI, Big Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Ford Lola: "The car feels really good. We had a really good test here the Sunday before Nazareth and it was good. The first session this morning, I thought, 'Whew, this feels pretty good,' so we didn't push it, we just made small changes this morning. The car is very good. There are two different setups -- qualifying and race. I think we've got good setups for both. We thought, 'Let's not push it this afternoon. It's going to be a little calmer tomorrow morning, so we'll work more on our qualifying setup then.' But it's pretty close now."
"The car was pretty good when we tested here two weeks ago but it was even
better today. The car felt so good that we parked it with 25 minutes left in
the session. I thought 'Lets not push it and take a chance." On my first
run today I though 'Oh, the car feels pretty good.' We ran a long run in the
back-up car and then got in the racecar and ran a fast one. Then we parked
it because it felt good enough. I think we have a top-three car right now.
We might not have a pole car but top three is good enough.
(On the HANS (Head and Neck System) safety device:) "I was going to run it
in the race here but (helmet maker) Bell was not ready for us to race with
it. There is a hole in the back of the helmet where the tethers are
connected and Bell wants to double check everything before we use the
system."
HELIO CASTRONEVES, Marlboro Honda Reynard: "It came off the truck pretty good, we did a test here way back and it was pretty good. We did exactly the same thing today and the car felt pretty good. This afternoon we worked on race setup and it was really tough, there was lots of traffic. We did 124 laps, trying to do a race simulation. We were on the same tires and we wanted to see what it would do for the race."
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI, Big Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Ford Lola:
"I struggled a little too much with oversteer when I tried
to put the power down. My big problem was that the car wasn't comfortable when I put the
power down. I got into both cars to see if one was better than the other but
we didn't find any big solution there. We are going to work hard tonight to
come up with a better set-up for the car."
WHAT'S NOTEWORTHY
-
Gil de Ferran (Marlboro Honda Reynard) will be seeking his ninth career FedEx Championship Series pole position when qualifying begins Saturday afternoon. He owns two career poles on ovals, at Japan last year and in this year's season opener at Homestead.
-
Michael Andretti (Big Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Ford Lola) owns two career pole positions at Milwaukee (1986, '88), and has started outside the top 10 only three times in 15 career appearances at The Milwaukee Mile. His five victories at Milwaukee (1986, '87, '91, '92 and '96) are more than any active FedEx Championship Series driver has recorded at any venue.
-
Helio Castroneves (Marlboro Honda Reynard), who earned his first career pole position at Milwaukee last year, also established a career-best FedEx Championship Series finish of second -- since matched at Gateway last year and Long Beach this year - in his debut at The Mile in 1998.
-
Defending Miller Lite 225 champion Paul Tracy (KOOL Honda Reynard), fifth fastest Friday, is two-time pole-sitter at Milwaukee (1996, '97) and has started outside the top 10 only once in seven career appearances there. He also won at Milwaukee in 1995 and holds a 59-48 lead over Jimmy Vasser (Target Toyota Lola) in the FedEx Championship Series points race entering the weekend.
-
Target Chip Ganassi Racing owner Chip Ganassi and drivers Juan Montoya (Target Toyota Lola) and Jimmy Vasser (Target Toyota Lola) met with the media this afternoon to talk about their recent experiences at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Montoya has had a particularly busy week since winning the Indianapolis 500 last Sunday. "On Monday morning, I had to wake up at six o'clock in the morning, and Chip was already there [at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway]," Montoya said. "I had to do 'Good Morning America,' pictures, pictures, and more pictures, and then I got on a plane and went to New York and did interviews, interviews, and more interviews. Then, I got to throw the ball [Montoya threw out the first pitch at Tuesday night's New York Yankees game], and I didn't do a very good job. They told me to throw it high and hard, and that's what I did [Montoya threw the ball into the grandstands]. Everything was exciting for all two weeks of Indianapolis. I haven't been home, I've been staying in hotel rooms, but I've had fun. When you have fun, it doesn't matter."
WHAT'S ON TAP
Qualifying for the Miller Lite 225 will air 5:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN2. "CART 2Day" airs 10:30 a.m. ET Sunday on ESPN2, with ABC-TV's live race broadcast scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. The race will also be broadcast live on the CART Radio Network and on the official CART
web site
Go to
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to discuss this article
TOP SPEEDS
| Pos |
No. |
Driver |
Last Completed |
Fastest |
Behind |
Speed (MPH) |
Speed (KPH) |
| Lap |
Time |
Lap |
Time |
Leader |
Prior |
Last |
Fastest |
Last |
Fastest |
 |
| 1 |
2 |
|
Gil de Ferran |
100 |
0:32.657 |
96 |
0:21.389 |
0.000 |
0.000 |
113.764 |
173.697 |
183.160 |
279.652 |
|
| 2 |
6 |
|
Michael Andretti |
4 |
0:42.971 |
3 |
0:21.404 |
0.008 |
0.008 |
86.458 |
173.575 |
139.197 |
279.456 |
|
| 3 |
3 |
|
Helio Castroneves |
124 |
0:30.701 |
115 |
0:21.449 |
0.060 |
0.045 |
121.012 |
173.211 |
194.829 |
278.870 |
|
| 4 |
17 |
|
Mauricio Gugelmin |
100 |
0:21.569 |
99 |
0:21.468 |
0.079 |
0.019 |
172.247 |
173.058 |
277.318 |
278.623 |
|
| 5 |
26 |
|
Paul Tracy |
73 |
0:22.490 |
47 |
0:21.588 |
0.199 |
0.120 |
165.193 |
172.096 |
265.961 |
277.075 |
|
| 6 |
40 |
|
Adrian
Fernandez |
84 |
0:30.800 |
82 |
0:21.588 |
0.199 |
0.000 |
120.623 |
172.096 |
194.203 |
277.075 |
|
| 7 |
55 |
|
Tony
Kanaan |
66 |
0:29.578 |
23 |
0:21.660 |
0.271 |
0.072 |
125.607 |
171.524 |
202.227 |
276.154 |
|
| 8 |
8 |
|
Kenny Brack |
76 |
0:30.874 |
19 |
0:21.683 |
0.294 |
0.023 |
120.334 |
171.342 |
193.738 |
275.861 |
|
| 9 |
32 |
|
Patrick Carpentier |
106 |
NA |
7 |
0:21.684 |
0.295 |
0.001 |
162.805 |
171.334 |
262.116 |
275.848 |
|
| 10 |
7 |
|
Max Papis |
72 |
NA |
8 |
0:21.714 |
0.325 |
0.030 |
152.933 |
171.097 |
246.222 |
275.466 |
|
| 11 |
18 |
|
Mark Blundell |
81 |
0:22.238 |
74 |
0:21.732 |
0.343 |
0.018 |
167.065 |
170.955 |
268.975 |
275.238 |
|
| 12 |
12 |
|
Jimmy Vasser |
83 |
NA |
23 |
0:21.778 |
0.389 |
0.046 |
169.497 |
170.594 |
272.890 |
274.656 |
|
| 13 |
1 |
|
Juan Montoya |
93 |
0:37.197 |
83 |
0:21.779 |
0.390 |
0.001 |
99.879 |
170.586 |
160.805 |
274.643 |
|
| 14 |
27 |
|
Dario Franchitti |
81 |
0:23.592 |
37 |
0:21.843 |
0.454 |
0.064 |
157.477 |
170.087 |
253.538 |
273.840 |
|
| 15 |
20 |
|
Roberto Moreno |
75 |
0:30.179 |
67 |
0:21.856 |
0.467 |
0.013 |
123.105 |
169.985 |
198.199 |
273.676 |
|
| 16 |
20 |
X |
Roberto Moreno |
12 |
NA |
12 |
0:21.860 |
0.471 |
0.004 |
169.954 |
169.954 |
273.626 |
273.626 |
|
| 17 |
96 |
|
Oriol Servia |
89 |
0:22.045 |
72 |
0:21.872 |
0.483 |
0.012 |
168.528 |
169.861 |
271.330 |
273.476 |
|
| 18 |
16 |
|
Michel Jourdain, Jr. |
69 |
0:22.124 |
22 |
0:21.943 |
0.554 |
0.071 |
167.926 |
169.311 |
270.361 |
272.591 |
|
| 19 |
11 |
|
Christian Fittipaldi |
60 |
0:32.814 |
36 |
0:21.968 |
0.579 |
0.025 |
113.220 |
169.119 |
182.284 |
272.282 |
|
| 20 |
33 |
|
Alexandre Tagliani |
79 |
NA |
79 |
0:21.979 |
0.590 |
0.011 |
169.034 |
169.034 |
272.145 |
272.145 |
|
| 21 |
97 |
|
Cristiano da Matta |
81 |
0:22.410 |
62 |
0:22.011 |
0.622 |
0.032 |
165.783 |
168.788 |
266.911 |
271.749 |
|
| 22 |
11 |
X |
Christian Fittipaldi |
16 |
0:30.967 |
8 |
0:22.119 |
0.730 |
0.108 |
119.973 |
167.964 |
193.157 |
270.422 |
|
| 23 |
55 |
X |
Tony KaNAan |
14 |
0:32.614 |
12 |
0:22.334 |
0.945 |
0.109 |
113.914 |
166.347 |
183.402 |
267.819 |
|
| 24 |
18 |
X |
Mark Blundell |
18 |
0:23.496 |
17 |
0:22.355 |
0.966 |
0.021 |
158.121 |
166.191 |
254.575 |
267.568 |
|
| 25 |
34 |
|
Tarso Marques |
62 |
NA |
53 |
0:22.394 |
1.005 |
0.039 |
165.091 |
165.902 |
265.797 |
267.102 |
|
| 26 |
5 |
X |
Shinji NAkano |
96 |
0:31.037 |
87 |
0:22.494 |
1.105 |
0.030 |
119.702 |
165.164 |
192.720 |
265.914 |
|
| 27 |
6 |
X |
Michael Andretti |
68 |
0:34.644 |
14 |
0:22.507 |
1.118 |
0.013 |
107.239 |
165.069 |
172.655 |
265.761 |
|
| 28 |
8 |
X |
Kenny Brack |
15 |
NA |
9 |
0:22.721 |
1.332 |
0.214 |
162.250 |
163.514 |
261.223 |
263.258 |
|
| 29 |
25 |
|
Luiz Garcia Jr. |
77 |
0:23.522 |
44 |
0:23.193 |
1.804 |
0.472 |
157.946 |
160.186 |
254.293 |
257.899 |
|
Marlboro boys
sandwich Andretti in Friday Practice
