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Latest IRL News and Commentary

Scott Sharp fastest on day 4 at Indy

May 8, 2002

INDIANAPOLIS, Wednesday, May 8, 2002 – Scott Sharp continued to show the consistent speed that helped him win the MBNA Pole for the 2001 Indianapolis 500, as he became the first driver to lead two days of practice for the 86th Indianapolis 500 with a fast lap of 39.4132 seconds, 228.350 mph May 8.

1996 Indy Racing League co-champion Sharp was fastest on Opening Day Sunday with a lap of 39.5481, 227.571 in the No. 8 Delphi Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone.

“We worked on the car to find a little bit of a mile an hour here, a little bit of a mile an hour there,” Sharp said. “With the weather Thursday, it’s possibly going to be rained out, so we said we better make a run for it now to see what our four-lap qualifying run might look like in case we can’t get it in until sometime on Friday.”

Laurent Redon continued his impressive performance in the No. 34 Mi-Jack Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone in today’s rain-delayed practice, ending up second at 39.4658, 228.046. Redon led Tuesday at 39.1631, 229.808 – the fastest lap of the event – and has been in the top five for the last three days.

Defending race champion Helio Castroneves was third at 39.4675, 228.036 in the No. 3 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone, continuing his consistent performance. Castroneves led Monday at 39.6972, 226.716 and has been in the top five of the final speed chart all four days.

Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. was fourth at 39.4998, 227.849 in the No. 7 Corteco/Bryant Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone. Bruno Junqueira rounded out the top five at 39.5060, 227.813 in the No. 33 Target Chip Ganassi Racing G Force/Chevrolet/Firestone.

The start of practice was delayed for the third consecutive day by wet track conditions. Today’s practice started at 2:26 p.m. (EST) after a delay of three hours, 26 minutes.

This was the busiest day of practice so far, with 32 drivers in 36 cars turning 1,312 laps. It also was the closest day of practice, as less than one second separated the top 30 cars.

Young IRL stars Sarah Fisher and Tomas Scheckter made their 2002 Indy debuts today.

Fisher, who announced an Indianapolis 500 program with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing today, recorded a top lap of 40.3998, 222.773 in the No. 23 Team Allegra/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing G Force/Infiniti/Firestone. Rookie Scheckter’s best lap was 39.8578, 225.803 in the No. 52 Red Bull Cheever Racing Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone. The Indy Racing League suspended him from the first three days of practice for unsportsmanlike conduct during earlier races this season.

Practice resumes at 11 a.m. (EST) Thursday. Pole Day qualifications start at 11 a.m. (EST) Saturday. The 86th Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for 11 a.m. (EST) Sunday, May 26.

Quotes

Results

Quotes

Michael Andretti -- #39 Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone " The car is much better again today. We struggled a little bit in the beginning of the session but we were able to get back on track and make progress. The last run I did was the most comfortable run that
we have done all month. I was able to go flat all the way around the track and I was by myself when we posted our best time today. Even though we aren't the fastest on the charts, we have a realistic understanding of where we are for qualifying and we know we need to find more speed to be comfortably in the race."

Eddie Jones—Chief Engineer ”Today was the continuation of learning about the Dallara and how it responds to changes. We made some significant mechanical changes for today and it took a little while to dial in the car’s balance. Once we did, we ran quite reasonable times on our own. We’ve got a better direction now and I think we need to try some more things on the mechanical setup tomorrow and hopefully get more mechanical grip from the car. We know that will help our overall performance so we are looking forward to a positive day of practice tomorrow.”

Eddie Cheever Jr. on Practice: "We concentrated on the primary Red Bull Cheever Racing Infiniti today. We tried some different things, some of which will carry through to tomorrow. We are starting to hone in on what we need to do for Saturday. I have no idea what the pole time is going to be. You can't tell if the times turned have been done with tows, and who has done what. The only one I saw today was Junqueira, who did a very fast lap all by himself today. As far as everyone else, I have no idea."

Tomas Scheckter on Practice: "We just worked with the same car we had here in ROP. Again the Red Bull Cheever Racing guys have given me a great car. I am flat out the whole way. The car is really good. We used two sets of tires today. The only thing that was stopping me was that we didn't have long enough gears and it was hitting the rev-limiter. Otherwise, the car was flying. I am very happy with today, we still have loads of tires to use and the car is stuck to the ground. (WHAT HAVE YOU DONE THE PAST THREE DAYS) I have been a spectator with Mr. Unser and Mr. Rutherford. I have learned a lot from them, watching from the outside of the track. I just need to put that to good use on Saturday."

Max Papis on Practice: "Today was actually a very positive day for us. For the first time we had a good amount of time on track. We made some positive improvements. We definitely picked up on the speed with the No. 53 Red Bull Cheever Racing Infiniti. We know exactly where we need to work on the car. We had a little too much downforce on the car, but we are at a good starting point. We have to find a little more speed for Saturday, but the confidence in the car is there."

TONY KANAAN "Thanks to Felipe for making my day ... actually, for making my week. I'm definitely buying him dinner tonight! Actually, we've been struggling a little bit with my car, so I just wanted to give Felipe's back-up car a try to see what we need to do. Within six laps, I got up to within a tenth of a mile an hour of his best lap. So that proves we have some work to do on my car. That's great to finally find the setup we were looking for all week. Now we have a lot of momentum for tomorrow and we can really work toward getting my Hollywood car where we want it to be for qualifying."

FELIPE GIAFFONE "This is great. We've been finding speed every day, and that is the way you want it to be once you get here. The guys prepared my back-up car all day yesterday (Tuesday) and all their hard work really paid off. We went faster than we have all week. It's a real credit to everyone at Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing because this is the first time they've been here as a team and with very little time to run these cars before this month. All of our days of practice have been shortened by rain so far, but we're getting the most out of it. Man, I've used just four sets of tires, total, since we started practice on Sunday. But the cars have been very good, very consistent. Again, that goes back to the crew and the engineers and to Morris (team owner Morris Nunn). We're making improvements little by little. We found that everything was good on my back-up car, and since Tony has been struggling a little bit with his primary car, we decided to give him some laps in my back-up car. He got up to 226 right away, so that proves we have to make his cars like my back-up car. It was very important for Tony to get the feeling for how his car should handle around here. We are a team and we will keep working as a team. That's the only way we're going to keep getting better and to have a shot at a good qualifying result."

Paul Tracy -- #26 Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone "Today was very frustrating for everyone on the Team Green 7-Eleven car. We want to go quicker but we just can't seem to find what it's going to take to make that happen. We have to keep working at it to try and get faster, but also to get a comfortable car. My car was pretty tough to drive today and I don't want to get into a bad rhythm since the car is so nervous right now. I think the best thing for me is to clear my head and go out tomorrow with a clean slate and pretend like it's our first day at the Speedway."

Dario Franchitti -- #27 Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone "We're getting closer and closer. We did long runs today learning more about the race setup as well as some practice for qualifying. We need to get the car better in both regards but we are getting there. We still don't have a lot of experience at the Speedway and every time we go out we're learning something new. We are learning what the wind does, how the temperature affects the track and other things but Team Green 7-Eleven still has to learn more to get comfortable for qualifying and the race."

Jimmy Vasser (#19 Miller Lite- Dallara/Chevrolet on Firestone tires) -"We tried some stuff with the chassis today. We have been experiencing with a lot of components this week. We had our baseline setup on the first day and the car was really solid in all of the corners. Now it's been a variety of things to get more comfortable. And to be honest, some things have worked and some definitely haven't. But when you have a week to learn about things, you have to try every angle. But now it's time to settle in and improve on what you like as a driver and will work best. I haven't been hunting for any tows (drafts) out there and a lot of guys have using them. When the track goes green, everyone seems to go out in big clumps. That produces the higher speeds. We'll see how they shake out when they run by themselves like in qualifying."  

--IMS--

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