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CART: Practice Reports from Motegi

27 March 1998

Greg Moore's Player's Forsythe Racing Reynard/Mercedes-Benz was the first of four Mercedes-powered cars in the top 10 during this morning's first practice session for the inaugural Budweiser 500 at Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Japan. Many of the drivers and teams took a conservative approach to the first session, choosing to limit setup changes in favor of more time on track.

Greg Moore
Greg Moore

Moore, who qualified fastest and finished second by the narrowest of margins at the season-opening Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami earlier this month, was fifth fastest in the session with a lap of 213.051 mph (26.174 seconds), less than three mph off of the pace set by Jimmy Vasser. Having participated in the CART test at this new 1.549-mile oval last fall, Moore had already familiarized himself with the track, and the team had a baseline setup already. Consequently, they spent the session working to make the Player's car consistent, choosing to focus more on a stable car for the race than on outright speed for qualifying.

Moore's Player's Forsythe teammate Patrick Carpentier was seventh quickest in the session. Last season's Rookie of the Year did not participate in the CART test, so he concentrated on completing as many laps as possible to familiarize himself with the circuit. The Motegi oval includes two flat-out, highspeed corners at one end (turns one and two) and two tighter corners (turns three and four) that require hard braking and downshifting.

Mark Blundell
PacWest Racing's Mark Blundell (Motorola Reynard/Mercedes-Benz) and Mauricio Gugelmin (Hollywood Reynard/Mercedes-Benz), who are continuing to run 1997 cars powered by last season's championship-winning Mercedes-Benz IC108D engine, were ninth and tenth, respectively, in the session.

Marlboro Team Penske drivers Al Unser Jr. and Andre Ribeiro were 12th and 13th on the time sheets, followed by Hogan Racing's JJ Lehto, who was 17th. Lehto lost time during the practice when a mechanical failure left him without power in turn four. He later returned to the session in his backup car. Project Indy's Roberto Moreno and Team Alumax rookie Helio Castro-Neves finished the session 20th and 21st. Because rain is forecast for the Motegi area on Friday afternoon, the event schedule has been altered. This afternoon's practice will be a two-hour session open to all cars, rather than two 45-minute sessions with one for the slower cars and one for the faster half of the field. A 30-minute practice session is now scheduled for 9 a.m. local time tomorrow, followed by qualifying which will begin at 10:30 a.m. Saturday's 201-lap, 312-mile race is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. local time. ABC will televise the event Saturday, March 28 beginning at 2 p.m. EST.

Mercedes Quotes

Greg Moore, No. 99, Player's Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone
"We knew the gearing and had a general setup from the test, so we just spent a lot of time running in traffic, making sure the car will be good for the race. Qualifying will be important, but as we saw at Homestead, if you have a good car in the race, you can move up. So having a good race car is more important. If you have a car that is good in the first stint and consistent, you'll be in good shape.

"(Turns) one and two are almost throw-away corners; they're easy. What everyone's going to be working on is entry speed into turn three, where you have to brake and downshift. Carrying speed through there will be the key to quick lap times."

Patrick Carpentier, No. 33, Player's Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone
"This is the best car I've had so far. I learned at Homestead, and I'm still learning about the Firestone tires, but since we didn't test here, I just needed to do laps. So we didn't do any changes, and I'm really happy. I was running three feet from Michael (Andretti) and having time to look around (for passing room)."

Mauricio Gugelmin
Mauricio Gugelmin, No. 17, Hollywood Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone
"We didn't start so well, but then we worked with the car and the setup and got the car working. It feels pretty comfortable now, a lot better than at Homestead."

Helio Castro-Neves, No. 16, Team Alumax Reynard/Mercedes/Goodyear
"I started out in the 97 car, just to check it out, and everything went well. Then I switched to the 98, but two laps later the yellow came out. And after that it was two laps green, two laps yellow, two laps green. So we spent a lot of time under yellow. It wasn't until the end of the session that I got some time to get to know the track. We didn't change anything, just took it easy and worked on building speed."

Practice Session #1, Budweiser 500
Motegi, Japan
March 26, 1998
Pos/Driver  Chassis / Engine / Tires  Time            Speed
1Jimmy Vasser Reynard/Honda/Firestone 25.880 215.471
2Adrian Fernandez Reynard/Ford/Firestone 25.916 215.172
3Alex Zanardi Reynard/Honda/Firestone 25.959 214.816
4Christian Fittipaldi Swift/Ford/Goodyear  26.156 213.198
5Greg Moore Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone 26.174 213.051
6Michael Andretti Swift/Ford/Goodyear  26.258 212.370
7Patrick Carpentier Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone26.276 212.224
8Gil de Ferran Reynard/Honda/Goodyear 26.288 212.127
9MarkBlundell Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone 26.307 211.974
10Mauricio Gugelmin Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone26.326 211.821
12Al Unser Jr. Penske/Mercedes/Goodyear 26.370 211.468
13Andre Ribeiro Penske/Mercedes/Goodyear 26.380 211.387
17JJLehto  Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone26.581            209.789
20RobertoMoreno Reynard/Mercedes/Goodyea26.733            208.596
21HelioCastro-Neves Reynard/Mercedes/Goodyea26.748            208.479

Contact Scott McKee, Mercedes-Benz Sports Information Bureau, in Japan at (81) 0285-64-0627 (track) or (81)0286-21-3111 (hotel).


Practice Session #2

Motegi Paddock Prepares for Rain
Moore Continues to Lead Mercedes Despite Crash

Although Motegi, Japan, enjoyed bright, sunny conditions today, weather was a big part of the story in this afternoon's second practice session for the inaugural Budweiser 500 at Twin Ring Motegi. Rain is expected tomorrow, and the possibility that the teams will not have any more time on track before race day prompted them to focus even more than usual on race setups rather than preparing for qualifying.

In an attempt to conclude on-track activities before inclement weather strikes, CART adjusted the schedule, shortening tomorrow morning's practice to 30 minutes and moving qualifying up to 10:30 a.m.

Meanwhile today, Greg Moore continued to pace the six-team, nine-driver Mercedes-Benz contingent, despite finishing the session against the turn three wall. The young Canadian star was uninjured following a hard crash late in the session, but his Player's Forsythe Racing Reynard/Mercedes-Benz was not so lucky, suffering extensive damage. Moore, who held his fifth-place position on the time sheets from this morning, has been cleared to drive tomorrow.

PacWest Racing's Mark Blundell joined Moore in the top 10 this afternoon, turning the seventh quickest lap of the day in his 1997 Motorola Reynard/Mercedes-Benz. His afternoon was interrupted, however, when he experienced transmission troubles late in the session.

Marlboro Team Penske's Andre Ribeiro was the third driver powered into the top 10 by a Mercedes, posting the eighth fastest lap of the day.

Blundell's teammate Mauricio Gugelmin drove the Hollywood car, also a 1997 chassis-engine package, to 11th, and Al Unser Jr. was 15th in the second Marlboro Penske/Mercedes-Benz. JJ Lehto (Hogan Racing Reynard/Mercedes) and Patrick Carpentier (Player's Forsythe Reynard/Mercedes) were 18th and 19th, respectively, while Roberto Moreno (Hawaiian Tropic Reynard/Mercedes) and Helio Castro-Neves (Team Alumax Reynard/Mercedes) were 22nd and 29th.

Mercedes Quotes

Mark Blundell, No. 18, Motorola Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone
"We had quite a constructive afternoon. Unfortunately, it was interrupted in the last 20 minutes or so -- we seem to have a bit of transmission issue. We were going to go out and scrub some tires for the race, when the session was stopped (due to Moore's crash). But we're quite pleased. We have a good balance on the car with good fuel loads. So we'll just have to wait and see what the weather does, if tomorrow's a day of running or a day of looking at today's results."

Andre Ribeiro, No. 3, Marlboro Penske/Mercedes/Goodyear
"That was a long session, and we got everything done that we had planned. We're looking pretty good. We checked everything, but we're definitely much more concentrated on the race. Qualifying is not as important because it's a long race and it isn't difficult to pass here." Mauricio Gugelmin, No. 17, Hollywood Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone

"We made a lot of progress today. This place is pretty much a slipstream kind of track, so you may have seen a few guys go quickly in the tow, but we're happy. I know exactly where my car is. We still have a little bit to sort out with the balance coming out of (turn) four. I'd like a little less push there, but speed in qualifying is nowhere near as important as having the car sorted for the race."

JJ Lehto, No. 9, Hogan Racing Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone
"We've improved the car, but the times are so close that a couple of tenths (of a second) means the difference between sixth place and 18th. We're continuing to work on the setup, fine tuning and so forth. This is my second race on an oval, and it's so different from Homestead (Motorsports Complex). It has fast corners at one end and quite slow corners at the other, so you have to find a balance between the two to be successful."

Patrick Carpentier, No. 33, Player's Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone
"I thought the chassis was a bit better this afternoon, but we had some troubles, and the interruptions during the session hurt us, too. We just need some more time on the track."

Roberto Moreno, No. 15, Hawaiian Tropic Reynard/Mercedes/Goodyear
"We made a big change to the car just before Greg's crash, so we didn't get to try it out. But we'll have the next step on the car for tomorrow. This morning was taken up with me getting used to the track. This afternoon we started freeing up the car and gaining speed, but we ran old tires and half tanks all day, so we're quite pleased."

Helio Castro-Neves, No. 16, Team Alumax Reynard/Mercedes/Goodyear
"Because of the weather forecast and schedule change, we focused on our race setup. I'm hoping the forecast is wrong, so we can get some more time on the track."

Practice Session #2, Budweiser 500
Motegi, Japan
March 26, 1998
Pos/Driver  Chassis / Engine / Tires Time            Speed
1Jimmy Vasser Reynard/Honda/Firestone 25.584 217.964
2Adrian Fernandez Reynard/Ford/Firestone 25.615 217.701
3Gil de Ferran Reynard/Honda/Goodyear 25.684 217.116
4Alex Zanardi Reynard/Honda/Firestone 25.720 216.812
5Greg Moore Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone 25.754 216.526
6Dario Franchitti Reynard/Honda/Firestone 25.820 215.972
7Mark Blundell Reynard/Mercedes/Fireston 25.825                        
215.913
8AndreRibeiro Penske/Mercedes/Goodyear 25.875 215.513
9Bryan Herta Reynard/Ford/Firestone            25.927            215.081
10Tony Kanaan Reynard/Honda/Firestone 25.929 215.064
11MauricioGugelmin Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone25.950 214.89015Al    
 15 Al Unser  Jr. Penske/Mercedes/Goodyear 26.026 214.263
18JJLehto  Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone26.086 213.770
19Patrick Carpentier Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone26.161 213.157
22Roberto Moreno    Reynard/Mercedes/Goodyear26.266            212.305
29Helio Castro-Neves Reynard/Mercedes/Goodyear26.829 207.850

Contact Scott McKee, Mercedes-Benz Sports Information Bureau, in Japan at (81) 285-64-0627 (track) or (81) 286-21-3111 (hotel).

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