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CART: Rain Douses Long Beach G.P. Qualifying

5 April 1998

Because of inclement weather during today's final qualifying session, the starting grid for the Grand Prix of Long Beach remained unchanged from yesterday's provisional qualifying results. But with rain forecast for tomorrow, teams used today's soggy session to find a setup which will allow them to race in the wet, rather than focusing on the search for outright speed.

Player's Forsythe driver Greg Moore was ninth fastest today. With a reputation as one of CART's bravest and fastest drivers, particularly in traffic, the young Canadian will need all of his skills to move up from his starting position of 14th on the grid.

Seasoned veterans Al Unser Jr (Marlboro Penske/Mercedes) and Mark Blundell (Motorola Reynard/Mercedes), showed their rain-driving skills this afternoon, posting the 11th and 12th fastest times of the session.

The race will be shown live on ESPN Sunday at 4 p..m. (EDT).

Mercedes Quotes

Al Unser Jr., No. 2, Marlboro Penske/Mercedes/Goodyear
"This is the first time I've run the new Marlboro car in the rain. Since the forecast for tomorrow is more rain, thanks to El Nino, we were glad to get out there today and work on our setup for tomorrow. I am happy with the progress we made today. Goodyear and Mercedes are right there for us, and now we need to go out and race."

Greg Moore, No. 99, Player's Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone
"The setup is completely different for rain. We changed the wings and the suspension settings and everything. Really, I see rain as a game of survival of the fittest -- the object is to be around at the end, and then try to do something special."

Helio Castro-Neves, No. 16 Team Alumax Reynard/Mercedes/Goodyear
"If I was in the front (of the starting grid), I wouldn't want rain, but since I'm not, the rain will help. I'm comfortable -- I have a good car both ways. In qualifying, we just didn't get a lucky lap -- traffic really hurt us."

JJ Lehto, No. 9, Hogan Racing/Mercedes/Firestone
"We didn't really learn anything today. We have no traction. We should be a lot faster, even in the rain. I don't mind running in the rain. We didn't like the car this morning, so we tried something completely different for this afternoon, but it rained, so we don't know if it's any better."

Andre Ribeiro, No. 3 Marlboro Penske/Mercedes/Goodyear
"We're a bit disappointed that we didn't have a clear session to try to improve our starting position, but it was very important to get out there and run in the rain since the weather doesn't look too good for tomorrow. It will be a long race tomorrow, and hopefully we'll be able to work our way through the field and get a good finish for the Marlboro team."

Mauricio Gugelmin, No. 17, Hollywood Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone
"Today wasn't brilliant, but I always run well in the wet. If it rains tomorrow, it'll be good. These days everything has to be just right to get a good lap, and we just had a few problems during qualifying."

Mark Blundell, No. 18, Motorola Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone
"We're a little confused right now. We should be more competitive -- should have been a bit quicker. I'm concerned with the rain because visibility is zero, and this is a very high-speed street course. We don't have enough grip as it is. If it rains tomorrow, there're going to be a lot of crashes."

Patrick Carpentier, No. 33, Player's Reynard/Mercedes/Firestone
"It wasn't too bad. We had a half-dry, half-wet setup, so it was half-decent. Really it's a good car. I ran really well in the rain in Portland (Ore.) last year, but besides that, the only other time I ran in the rain was Elkhart (Lake, Wis.). We were pretty happy this morning. We were starting to be quick in the dry. But if it rains, it's going to be hard."