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With the CART
FedEx Championship Series on a brief hiatus to make it easier
for teams and drivers to compete in the Indianapolis 500, some
of the competitors not participating at Indy are using the
time off to prepare for the remaining 17 rounds of the 20-race
CART championship.
Where Florida and Arizona were the popular testing locations
during the winter, Wisconsin is the destination of choice for
Champ Car activity this week.
The Milwaukee Mile played host to Newman/Haas Racing's
Cristiano da Matta (#6 Havoline Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone),
Michel Jourdain Jr. (#9 Gigante
Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) of Team Rahal, and Patrick
Racing rookie Townsend Bell (#20 Visteon/Patrick Racing
Toyota/Reynard Bridgestone), while owner/driver Adrian
Fernandez (#51 Tecate/Quaker State/Telmex
Honda/Lola/Bridgestone) and his Fernandez Racing teammate
Shinji Nakano (#52 Alpine/Mitsuba Honda/Lola/Bridgestone) paid
a visit to the picturesque Road America circuit up the road in
Elkhart Lake, Wis.
With a brief time-out to participate in a media event at The
Milwaukee Mile, da Matta, Jourdain, and Bell spent the early
portion of the week lapping the legendary oval, with Jourdain
boasting the quickest reported time at 22.3 seconds, some four
tenths of a second quicker than Bell, and seven tenths faster
than da Matta who ran an abbreviated schedule. No official
times were recorded.
Jourdain currently stands second in the CART FedEx
Championship Series point standings on the strength of top
five finishes in each of the first three races of 2002, which
is the best start of his seven-year Champ Car career. His
performance in the test was particularly impressive
considering the track conditions he faced when he tested alone
on Monday.
"It was hard," said Jourdain on Tuesday afternoon. "There was
no rubber on the track. I think ours was the first car to run
here in a long time. Plus, with no other times to compare
with, it would have been easy to get lost on the setup. So we
just focused on our testing program without worrying too much
about the lap times. Today was much cooler, but the sun came
out in the afternoon and we were able to get a lot
accomplished. I think it's good that we have a little more
downforce this year. It's not that big a difference when
you're running alone, but I think the big difference will come
when you're in traffic during the race. I think we'll be able
to pass much easier than last year."
Being a rookie, Bell wouldn't know about how Champ Cars
behaved on The Milwaukee Mile last year. Despite the fact that
he came within a few car lengths of lapping the Indy Lights
field twice at Milwaukee last year, he found he had to take a
slightly different approach to the track in a Champ Car.
"The racing line is a little different in Champ Cars than Indy
Lights," said Bell. "With the Lights cars, we were allowed to
run all the downforce we could get with the road-course wings.
That's not the case with Champ Cars, so it requires a
different approach to the corners."
Da Matta and Newman/Haas put in a few laps on Tuesday but
managed to save a test day by staying under the "50-mile
limit." Nevertheless, da Matta and his engineers ended the day
believing they had found a promising direction to pursue later
in the week.
"We made some progress on our short-oval setup from our first
2002 oval test in Homestead in March, but we found out in
Japan that we had more work to do," said da Matta. "Of the
four tracks CART competes on, our short-oval setup is our
weakest and we know we need to improve in this area in order
to fight for the championship. Hopefully, the weather will
cooperate (Wednesday) and we can continue to make some
improvements to the balance of our car.
While Team Rahal and Patrick Racing accomplished what they
wanted and headed for home on Tuesday, da Matta would not have
the track to himself, as Mario Dominguez (#16 Herdez
Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) of Herdez Competition and
Fernandez Racing owner/driver Adrian Fernandez (#51
Tecate/Quaker State/Telmex Honda/Lola/Bridgestone) with
teammate Shinji Nakano (#52 Alpine/Mitsuba
Honda/Lola/Bridgestone) were on hand in Milwaukee. Testing was
rained out on Wednesday and a limited number of laps were
turned Thursday as a result of more inclement weather.
Prior to venturing down to The Milwaukee Mile, Nakano and
Fernandez had a productive outing at Road America. The pair
combined to put 600 miles on their machines, and no times were
released.
"The car was getting better toward the end of the day," said
Nakano. "It's still not perfect, but it was a good test and we
learned a lot. I still have a lot of understeer in the car,
but we found a way to go with the setup to be quicker for this
track."
"I love this place and it's a pleasure to drive here," added
Fernandez. "We had a good test and ran through a lot of
things. Of course, since we were the only ones here, you don't
have anyone to compare with. The conditions were very, very
cold. It was in the low 50s (Fahrenheit). In all, it was a
good test and the track was in good condition. We went through
all of the things on our list, including pit stops and things
like that. We feel more confident toward the next race. Both
cars ran pretty much without problems. Times are irrelevant
because it is hard to compare, but I have had very good
results and very good cars here and this car feels pretty
good. Hopefully, we will have another productive two days in
Milwaukee. These are basically our last tests of the year."
Testing is expected to continue next week, with Mid-Ohio
Sports Car Course among the venues where Champ Car activity is
planned.
FORMULA THREE TURNS FIRST OVAL LAPS AT EUROSPEEDWAY LAUSITZ
Teams of the International German Formula 3 performed initial
oval tests at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz May 6-7, the site of
this September's second annual CART FedEx Championship Series
German 500. The Opel BSR Team and the Swiss Racing Team tested
drivers and cars under high-speed conditions for the first
time on the 2-mile superspeedway. Former Formula One pilot and
Champ Car winner Roberto Moreno was on hand and gave
theoretical instructions to young Formula 3 drivers Frank
Diefenbacher (Germany) from the BSR Team and Marc Benz
(Switzerland), Norbert Siedler (Austria), as well as Gilles
Tinguely (Switzerland) from the Swiss Racing Team. Moreno
competed at EuroSpeedway in the CART FedEx Championship
Series' first visit to Germany last season. CART officials
also travelled to the EuroSpeedway Lausitz for the test. Gary
Barnard, CART senior manager of competition, Lee Dykstra, CART
director of technology and competition, and Chris Kneifel,
CART steward assisted the teams with their long-standing
experience. The CART officials additionally used the
opportunity to take a look at the young up-and-coming Formula
Three pilots.
DA MATTA TO TEST FORMULA ONE CAR
CART FedEx Championship Series driver Cristiano da Matta (#6
Havoline Toyota/Lola Bridgestone) is expecting to get his
first taste of a Formula One machine during the down time
before the Miller Lite 250 at The Milwaukee Mile on June 2
(CBS-TV, 12:30 p.m. ET). The Brazilian is slated to test the
Toyota-powered F1 machine next week. "This is my fourth season
of working with Toyota and we have a very good relationship,"
said da Matta. "I am thankful that they are giving me the
opportunity to test their F-1 car and I am also thankful that
Newman/Haas Racing is allowing me to accomplish one of my
goals. I've driven almost every kind of open-wheel race car
and testing an F-1 car is a great opportunity for me. There is
a break in the schedule this month and we are only running two
tests so the timing is good. I'm looking forward to the
experience." Walker Racing driver Tora Takagi (#5
Pioneer/Denso Special Toyota/Reynard/Bridgestone) and former
CART FedEx Championship Series competitor Helio Castroneves
are also expected to test at some point for Toyota.
YAHOO! NAMED MAZDA RACEWAY'S OFFICIAL INTERNET SERVICES
PARTNER
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Yahoo! have signed a new
two-year agreement that makes the Internet company the
Official Internet Services Partner for the track - site of the
CART FedEx Championship Series Grand Prix of Monterey
featuring the Shell 300 June 9th. As part of the agreement,
Yahoo! will receive prominent trackside signage and
world-class hospitality in exchange for various forms of
advertising, marketing and on-line sweepstakes throughout
their network. With this partnership, MRLS will continue to
hold a firm foothold in the ever-evolving world of e-commerce.
"It is because of Yahoo!'s world-wide role as an Internet
leader that we feel confident in once again having them as our
partner," says Gill Campbell, General Manager of Mazda Raceway
Laguna Seca. "The agreement allows us to access their
front-running position in e-commerce, while giving the company
exposure to race fans and television viewers who attend and
watch our world-class events." The partnership with Yahoo! was
consummated by MGO Marketing Group of Lafayette, Calif. MGO is
Mazda Raceway's exclusive sponsorship marketing agency.
ON THE MOVE
Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc. is in the final stages of
the relocation process which will move the open-wheel
sanctioning body from its home in Troy, Mich., to Indianapolis
later this month.
CART will cease all business activity in Michigan - CART's
home for the past 23 years - at day's end on Friday, May 17th,
and reopen its doors Monday, May 20th in Indianapolis. The
relocation positions CART in close proximity to a number of
sponsors, manufacturers, suppliers and teams participating in
the CART FedEx Championship Series. Effective May 20th, CART
will begin operation from Indianapolis' northwest side at the
following address:
5350 Lakeview Parkway South Drive
Building 36
Inner Park/Park 100
Indianapolis, IN 46268 USA.
CART
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Ricardo González
News and Commentary
