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| Rain caused a red flag and a 35-minute delay for the second group |
CLEVELAND (June 30, 2001) - Mauricio Gugelmin of the PacWest Racing Groupearned his first FedEx Championship Series pole position since 1997 Saturdaywhen he qualified fastest for Sunday's Marconi Grand Prix of ClevelandPresented by Firstar at Burke Lakefront Airport (1 p.m. ET, live, ABC-TV). Gugelmin (Nextel PacWest Toyota) collected the fourth pole position of hiscareer and his first on a temporary street circuit when he put together alap of 132.185 miles per hour (57.356 seconds) on the 2.106-mile layoutconstructed on the airport runways. The pole was his first since the 1997season finale at California Speedway, where Gugelmin established athen-world closed course speed record of 240.942 miles per hour. The record stood for three years before being broken by Gil de Ferran ofMarlboro Team Penske with a lap of 241.428 mph at California Speedway lastyear. Gugelmin collected a championship point for Saturday's performance, givinghim eight for the season. In an unusual occurrence, Gugelmin's pole-winningeffort came out of the first ½-hour qualifying group, the one with fewerchampionship points. The second group, consisting of the drivers with the most championshippoints, was plagued by a scattered shower that soaked the track just beforethe green flag and actually brought on a red flag condition midway throughthe ½-hour. The track remained damp when the session resumed after a35-minute delay, with the result that none of the second-group qualifierswas able to threaten Gugelmin's time. Dario Franchitti (KOOL Honda Reynard) of Team KOOL Green was the fastestdriver of the second group, with a lap of 126.776 mph (59.803 seconds),which placed him 14th overall. Adrian Fernandez (Tecate/Quaker State/Telmex Honda Reynard) of FernandezRacing, the only owner/driver in the FedEx Championship Series, qualified aseason-best second at 131.815 mph (57.517 seconds). Rookie Max Wilson(winner B2B.com/ Arciero/Blair Racing Ford Lola) qualified third at 130.961mph (57.892 seconds) for the best start of his rookie season. Rounding out the top five drivers were Bryan Herta (Zakspeed/Forsythe RacingFord Reynard) of Zakspeed/Forsythe Racing, fourth at 130.934 mph (57.904seconds) and Memo Gidley (Target Toyota Lola) of Target Chip Ganassi Racing,fifth at 130.907 mph (57.916 seconds). FedEx Championship Series points leader Kenny Brack (Shell Ford Lola) ofTeam Rahal qualified 17th at 122.300 mph (1 minute, 1.992 seconds). Brackholds a 76-69 championship lead over reigning Indianapolis 500 championHelio Castroneves (Marlboro Honda Reynard) of Marlboro Team Penske enteringSunday's ninth round of the championship. Castroneves qualified 23rd at 118.176 mph (1:04.155). Defending Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by Firststar championRoberto Moreno (Visteon Toyota Reynard) of Patrick Racing qualified 25th inthe 26-car field, at 113.221 mph (1:06.963). The Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland is Round 9 of 21 in the 2001 FedExChampionship Series. The series visits seven countries and four continentsduring the season and climaxes with the season-ending Marlboro 500 Presentedby Toyota on Sunday, Nov. 4 at California Speedway in Fontana, Calif. Thanksto a partnership between Marlboro, Toyota, CART and California Speedway, thewinner of the season finale will collect $1 million, one of the richestpaydays in all of motorsports. An additional $1 million, as well as theprestigious Vanderbilt Cup, will be awarded to the driver who wins the FedExChampionship Series championship. WHAT THEY'E SAYING MAURICIO GUGELMIN, Nextel PacWest Toyota: "Normally in these situations, weknow we've got two different sessions, and we know we have to put insomething very special up there. Our main focus was to do a good, clean,fast lap. The situation today with the rain, we knew we would be up there,but we didn't think we'd stay on pole. Hopefully, we can come up with asolution that is fair for everyone. I'm very pleased with how the car ranhere. We showed last year we could do that, and I'm very happy to be onpole. But I would like to see changes in the [qualifying] format to make itfair for everybody." ADRIAN FERNANDEZ, Tecate/Quaker State/Telmex Honda Reynard: "We were veryhappy with the car since we unloaded. Unfortunately, on Saturday morning, welost the turbo in the primary car. We didn't have the same things in thebackup car, and there were some changes I would have liked to make, but wedidn't have time. I knew we had a good car in qualifying, but Mauricio wasalso very strong. I don't feel bad about the guys in the back to be honest.I've had good cars before and had to be in the back. The guys are so close,there's maybe half a second between the top 15." MAX WILSON, winner B2B.com/ Arciero/Blair Racing Ford Lola: "The guys havebeen working very hard. Last weekend it showed when we got our first points.Before we were struggling with engines and other things. The race track isvery difficult for us, we've never been here before, and I spent most of theday yesterday learning the track. We changed the car a lot, especiallybetween the morning practice and qualifying, but we definitely found bettersetups for the car. We got lucky that it rained on the second group, but thecar was good. Maybe we would have been in the Top 10 or 12. That's the firsttime we had better track conditions than them [the second group], we'restill at a disadvantage." WHAT'S NOTEWORTHY
WHAT'S ON TAP Qualifying for the Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by Firstar willair 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN2. CART 2Day airs 11 a.m. ET Sunday onESPN2, while ABC-TV's live race broadcast begins 1 p.m. ET. Twenty of 21FedEx Championship Series events are being televised live on ABC-TV or ESPN,and 18 are being televised live on Eurosport, a European network thatreaches 250 million viewers in 54 countries. Sunday's race will also air onthe CART Radio Network and on CART's official website, at www.cart.com .
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