Race No. 2
1999 Firestone Firehawk 500
Twin Ring Motegi — Motegi, Japan
April 8-10, 1999
Friday Quotes from Motegi: | Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford Qualified: 5th |
| MICHAEL ANDRETTI | |
| My neck is a little stiff as is my mid back. I feel prettygood in the car, actually (my neck and back) start to loosen up after awhile so I should be okay. [on the incident yesterday with Montoya] Iwas shocked that it actually happened and for it to happen the way itdid was totally uncalled for. He apologized yesterday and we will goon. He just has to learn that you can't use your race car for a weaponout there. [about the backup car] We made a lot of progresstoday. If we would have had the time (we missed in the sessionyesterday) we would have been further up on the grid. | |
 | MCI Worldcom Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota Qualified: 23rd |
| CHRISTIANO DA MATTA | |
| We had a good car this morning, but the balance never came to us this afternoon. The car was very, very loose, and we lost about eight miles per hour of corner exit speed in turns three and four. It's frustrating, because we know we have a good car. We will look at everything tonight and try to figure out how to move up quickly during the race tomorrow. | |
 | Pioneer Arciero-Wells Reynard Toyota Qualified: 20th |
| SCOTT PRUETT | |
| We missed the setup a bit. With the times as close as they are, when you miss the mark by a little you can actually miss it by a lot. Our focus now is on the race, having good pit stops and a good race strategy that will earn us a strong finish in the points. | |
 | Kmart/Texaco Havoline Newman/Haas Racing Swift Ford Qualified: 7th |
| CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI | |
| The caris working pretty good for us. I was a little bit disappointed inqualifying because we had a little too much push. I think we made asmall mistake and now we just have to get it right for tomorrow. [on the improvements of the Swift chassis] The car definitely has a littlebit more downforce but we will see how they work tomorrow. | |
 | Herdez Competition Payton/Coyne Lola Ford Qualified: 26th |
| MICHEL JOURDAIN | |
| After the problem with the turbo during my warm-up lap, I pitted and theteam fixed the problem. Thus, I was the last qualifier and despite the carwas much better, we did not post a good time. The problem is that we couldnot complete many laps this weekend, so I had to be conservative. The carlooks much, much better and hopefully tomorrow we will have a good run. | |
 | Miller Lite Team Rahal Reynard Ford Qualified: 3rd |
| MAX PAPIS | |
| We haveworked very hard all weekend and Ford has come here with a very, verystrong engine. We have a great chance for a very strong race tomorrow.We have a way better race car than a qualifying car. From my positionnow it looks very good for the race. At this track there is only onecorner that counts. Tomorrow is going to be different. I don't knowhow many people are going o be able to go flat out through (turns) oneand two during the race. I tell you though if I am back here (on thepodium) tomorrow we will have to go out and have a party. [on the setup at Motegi] One thing that is different about this trackis that there is a relatively slow corner compared to the faster cornerat the other end. There are situations where you have to brake andsometimes you have to downshift which allows you opportunities toovertake. I could see that from the back of the pack last year. | |
 | Shell Team Rahal Reynard Ford Qualified: 8th |
| BRYAN HERTA | |
| We arestruggling here a bit. We need about two more day of running herebefore we race. The car is real sketchy and loose. I don't really knowwhy because Max (Papis) is good here and Bobby (Rahal) had a good carhere last year but it has not been very good for me at all. We havebeen changing a lot of things and it has made the car better everysession. I had an electronic problem with the motor and I thought I wasgoing to have to come in and pit because the car would not go over about120 mph on the first lap until I fixed it. This is the kind of placethat you really have to wind up the speed so that hurt me a bit too. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Qualified: 11th |
| DARIO FRANCHITTI | |
| The car had a slight push in Turns 3 and 4, which we've had allweekend. I can't really complain because the Team KOOL Greenengineers and I went into qualifying with the car as good as we couldhave gotten it. I don't think we could have got much more time out of thecar. As for race setup, we ran on full tanks this morning and we werepretty happy with the balance of the car. You have to be very careful intraffic though because of the disturbed air. | |
 | Team Kool Green Reynard Honda Qualified: 10th |
| PAUL TRACY | |
| I'm pretty satisfied with the way the car handled. I thought we couldhave run a low 6 (meaning 25.6 seconds) and that's what we did. I washoping we could have got a high 5, but we didn't get there. I'm happythough because we've got a good race car that can run strong long laps.In fact, I'd say we've got a better race car than a car for qualifying rightnow. I'm ready for this race. It's been a long off-season and I'm pumpedto do my best for Team KOOL Green. | |
 | McDonald'sForsythe Championship Racing Team Reynard Honda Qualified: 17th |
| TONY KANAAN | |
| We had a fuel pressure problem which caused us to be down on power. Wewere five to six miles slower on the straightaway. It's a shame becausethe car is better than 17th. I was pretty happy with the car after themorning practice session. As I said yesterday, we have a better racecar than a qualifying car. We just have a bit more work aheadof us tomorrow. I would like to say congratulations to Honda on thepole position. | |
 | Tecate Beer/Quaker State Patrick Racing Reynard Ford Qualified: 4th |
| ADRIAN FERNANDEZ | |
| We have a good race car and we are in good shape for tomorrow. Idon't think we had the right gear in the car for qualifying and thatcost us a little bit. I am very happy with the performance we got outof the car so far this week. We are very comfortable with the car.It's been good since Homestead and we just need to continue to do whatwe have been doing and things will come together for tomorrow. Thisbeing my second year with the team it seems things are just morecomfortable all around and that's very important when you are fightingfor thousandths of a second and with now one year together it can onlybenefit us. | |
 | Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Walker Racing Reynard Honda Qualified: 1st |
| GIL de FERRAN | |
| We've worked really hard and overcome some big setbacks lately, so, yes, what can I say? This is truly a good feeling.Goodyear took a lot of grief recently and in the past two years, so obviously a lot is at stake. | |
 | Patrick Racing Visteon Reynard Ford Qualified: 9th |
| P.J. JONES | |
| I think wewere a bit afraid to be too aggressive. I feel confident in the car --it feels real solid. We did have a bit of understeer which hindered usI can race from ninth and I think we have a pretty good shot based onour performance this weekend. It's coming together | |
 | Team Gordon Reynard Toyota Qualified: 14th |
| ROBBY GORDON | |
| If I can say anything I'll say this, we were a victim oftoo much practice this weekend, we had everybody covered the first hourof each session! Where's the yellow when you need it? Even so, thefield is tight, I'm happy with our progress. A couple tenths to thepole isn't much on race day. I can't wait to get out there tomorrow. We're going to have some fun. The car is good, and if the conditionsstay healthy, we're capable of a big day. | |