Race No. 1
Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami
Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex — Homestead, Florida
March 19-21, 1999
Saturday Quotes from Homestead: | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 1st |
| GREG MOORE | |
| I knew that Adrian had recorded a 24.9, and that was what I did in the morning session. So, I knew I had to be faster than I was in the morning. I was close to that on my first lap, but I knew it wasn't enough. Fortunately, I was quick enough on the second lap to grab the pole. I guess every track owes you unless you've won every race there. I've had three good races at this track and I haven't won one yet. Maybe we'll have better luck Sunday. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford Qualified: 5th |
| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| This is the highest we have qualified here, so I think we have a good shot at winning. If you're not on the pole it doesn't matter what position you start in on an oval. But, it is better to start in the top five because most of the bad stuff happens behind you. I think our chances are better than most. We filled in our missing link and now we have no excuses. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco Havoline Newman/Haas Racing Swift Ford |
| CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| It was much easier for me last year. I have been struggling a lot here since yesterday. I am not a happy camper at the moment. The car is pushing a lot. Last year I was pushing but had a lot of overall grip to the point where I was comfortable. We made a huge change in the car from this morning. We were sort of desperate. It made the car a bit better but we need to work on it more. | |
 | Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford Qualified: 15th |
| MAX PAPIS | |
| The car was really tight. I am surprised. I really don't understand it. The track temperature is a little higher but I am surprised. It's okay though, we are still learning. | |
 | Shell Team Rahal Reynard Ford Qualified: 11th |
| BRYAN HERTA | |
| It is tough on these short ovals because you only have one shot at qualifying. We just missed the balance a little bit. It is good for Max (Papis) because we can go back and tell him how my car was and adjust his car accordingly. I am getting a little sore now as the weekend is going on and my strength is not back to where I want it to be yet. But I should make it through the race fine. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Qualified: 7th |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| We tried to guess on the setup, as you always do in qualifying on ovals, and we just didn't get the KOOL-Honda car quite right. It's kind of a shot in the dark. You've got to guess how you think the weather is going to be and how that's going to affect the track, then adjust your setup accordingly. We were a little conservative and left the car with too much understeer. I had to lift in the last corners (Turns 3 & 4) to get the nose of the car settled and that costs you speed. You like to qualify up front, but it's not the end of the world. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Qualified: 20th |
| Raul Boesel | |
| That's the best the KOOL car has been all weekend. When we put a new set of tires on the car this morning, the car went from being a push to being very loose. I don't know why. Whether it was the tires or the setup, I'm not sure. So we made changes for qualifying and turned the fastest lap we've had all weekend. We're still not as fast as we were at CART Spring Training. But maybe it is an indication that we're going in the right direction. | |
 | McDonald'sForsythe Championship Racing Team Reynard Honda Qualified: 17th |
| TONY KANAAN | |
| We had a lot of understeer because of the heat conditions. With the temperature, we lost some grip and some aero balance. I know I have a better race car than a qualifying car so we'll see what happens tomorrow. I am a little disappointed about qualifying because we have everything to do very well. McDonald's came aboard and they have given us a lot of help. It will be a tough race tomorrow. We need to be patient and bring home a good result. | |
 | Tecate Beer/Quaker State Patrick Racing Reynard Ford Qualified: 2nd |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| I am in the front row which is good. It would have been nice to be on the pole but for me the most important thing is consistency. Since we unloaded this car it's been good. I was getting a little worried because of the times that the early guys in the session were putting down. We took our plan, stuck with it, and it worked. The car was pretty balanced. I think we are in a good position. You always think as a driver that you are going to get some more out of the car. I didn't want to do what I did in Fontana where I went flat out. I wanted to make sure the car was there. The Ford engine is working very well. They have definitely made improvements. I am very excited for the road course because I think they have made some big improvements to the engine there too. | |
 | Hogan Racing Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 4th |
| HELIO CASTRO-NEVES | |
| Qualifying is just about trying all the best. I still think that we could have gone a little quicker. Hogan Racing and Mercedes power did so well! We just have to hang in the race and think positive all the way to the end. We obviously worked a lot between this morning and qualifying. I was expecting to do 25.3 not 25.0! The car was handling very well. Andy (Borme) and Casper (van der Schoot) did an excellent job, again, getting everything where I wanted it. Last year, in my rookie season I think the biggest thing I learned was patience, and that has definitely paid off today. Tomorrow will be a matter of staying out of trouble and not making any stupid mistakes. Today is extra special because we got a bit of a late start on the season, but Lola has continued to improve the car and things have really come together nicely in the past few weeks. That’s not to say we can stop working on our development program just because of our great result today. Nobody in this series is playing around you have to stay competitive or you get left behind. | |
 | Tang Payton/Coyne Reynard Ford Qualified: 24th |
| LUIZ GARCIA JR. | |
| We were not getting the power we should. We are looking at it right now. We were not getting the power out of the engine. Our time is not indicative of what we are capable of. We have improved the car's handling throughout the weekend and our qualifying effort should have shown that. | |
 | Forsythe Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes Qualified: 3rd |
| PATRICK CARPENTIER | |
| We knew we had a good qualifying set-up today, but we wanted to develop the race set-up. It's been quite a while since we've been able to spend as much time as we were able to today in developing a race set-up. I have no doubt the Player's team will have a good car for the race tomorrow. Everyone is very committed to achieving excellence. | |
 | Patrick Racing Visteon Reynard Ford Qualified: 21st |
| P.J. JONES | |
| I think we will be fine tomorrow. Obviously there was something wrong with the motor or something. We were running a lot better than that in practice so we will have to go and take a look at it. We were not getting the RPM's. I thought we would have at least ran a mid 25. It just was not quite right. | |