Friday Qualifying results

[Raven]

1 51 Adrian Fernandez Fernandez Racing LH 1:18.929 95.782
2 27 Dario Franchitti Team KOOL Green RH 1:19.202 0.273 0.273 95.452
3 33 Alex Tagliani Players Forsythe Racing RC 1:19.241 0.039 0.312 95.405
4 11 Christian Fittipaldi Newman/Haas Racing LT 1:19.270 0.029 0.341 95.370
5 6 Cristiano da Matta Newman/Haas Racing LT 1:19.275 0.005 0.346 95.364
6 9 Michel Jourdain Jr Team Rahal LC 1:19.326 0.051 0.397 95.303
7 4 Bruno Junqueira Target Chip Ganassi Racing LT 1:19.480 0.154 0.551 95.118
8 12 Kenny Brack Target Chip Ganassi Racing LT 1:19.491 0.011 0.562 95.105
9 20 Townsend Bell* Patrick Racing RT 1:19.682 0.191 0.753 94.877
10 8 Jimmy Vasser Team Rahal LC 1:19.832 0.150 0.903 94.699
11 17 Oriol Servia PWR Championship Racing RT 1:19.878 0.046 0.949 94.644
12 16 Mario Dominguez* Herdez Competition LC 1:19.982 0.104 1.053 94.521
13 10 Tony Kanaan Mo Nunn Racing RH 1:19.985 0.003 1.056 94.518
14 7 Scott Dixon PWR Championship Racing RT 1:20.102 0.117 1.173 94.380
15 5 Tora Takagi Walker Racing RT 1:20.400 0.298 1.471 94.030
16 52 Shinji Nakano Fernandez Racing LH 1:20.419 0.019 1.490 94.008
17 39 Michael Andretti Team Motorola RH 1:20.473 0.054 1.544 93.945
18 32 Patrick Carpentier Players Forsythe Racing RC 1:20.712 0.239 1.783 93.666
19 22 Max Papis Sigma Autosport LC 1:21.992 1.280 3.063 92.204
20 26 Paul Tracy Team KOOL Green RH 1:22.347 0.355 3.418 91.807

[Crash Test]

WOW....

Come on Paul- you're my main man this year -shudder-

And who wrote off Michel Jr? Go Michel Go!

[Jay]

Well....the times are all very close with about 2 seconds spreading the field. Looks like we're in for some racing!

...I'm glad to see Tags up at the top at the start...but like any Cart race, it's always anyone;s game.

[SevenGrain]

I must say, I was quite impressed with Jourdain. He was really consistent and smmoth throughout the circuit. I knew that he had talent but not the tools, now he has it all. Hard to believe that less than 60 days ago he was looking at being rideless.

[strad]

Is that track junk or what? Spin out and it doesn't enen leave marks...Lock up ging into a corner and the tires don't even smoke! Naff the track is traffe

[StuiE]

c'mon Tora and Scott!!!!

[f1manoz]

Going just by those results, it looks like we'll be in for a varied but spectacular racing season.

[SILVERS95]

make a change to see Fittipaldi do so well ??.

[gomick]

go jourdain jnr, whats going on jimmy :confused:

[enemy-ace]

Originally posted by strad
Is that track junk or what? Spin out and it doesn't enen leave marks...Lock up ging into a corner and the tires don't even smoke! Naff the track is traffe

The track is very dusty as it is only used once a year, and, well it's surrounded by dust. It takes a while for the guys too lay down some good rubber. Last year's fastest race laps were actually quicker than their qualifying laps.
personnaly I like it. It's quite fun to see the drivers having to really work in the car to find the grip, and to see the cars squirming under braking. And besides they all have to drive in the same conditions.
Jourdain Jnr.'s performance didn't surprise me one bit, he's a smooth driver which actually suited the tracks conditions quite well.

[strad]

Aside from being dirty, the track surface itself is very slick and offers very little in the way of traction. If you watch, notice how even when it's inconvienient they try to stay on that strip of concrete (the red part) where they can get the best traction.

[Speedworx]

Silver95: Did you follow the qual session?

If you did, you'll know Fittipladi had provisinal pole, but cos he had caused a yellow flag period, he had his fastest lap taken away. This meant he dropped back to 4th.

[macdaddy]

When interviewed afterward, Tags said that the track isn't very dirty at all this year. Big improvement over last year. I think that the lack of traction is because the pavement is so "green". I may be wrong, but I believe that the circuit hasn't been used since the CART race last year. All of the drivers agreed that Saturday qualifying times would be considerably faster than Friday's. And last year's race pace increased throughout the event as more and more rubber was laid down. Late laps in race conditions were 3 seconds faster than the qualifying times on the green track.

I have quickly decided that I love this new qualifying format. Very exciting, akin to F1. And the extra point up for grabs adds so much incentive. Somebody could conceivably win the championship by grabbing the provisional pole on a Friday!

Impressive performance by Jourdain. He's gonna be quicker than I thought this year, and that's great. And I was surprised to see Fittipaldi quickest. Maybe he's just driving as fast as he can so the fans don't get a good look at his terrible paint scheme.

[strad]

I thought he lost his lap time because he went out during a red flag..

[macdaddy]

He did. Turned the fasted lap, good for provisional pole, but his fastest lap was disallowed. His next-fasted lap was good enough for 4th on the prov. grid.

[Liz]

And now it has RAINED and the track is green again. I'm impressed with everyone, actually (except Mikey, of course. ) as it looks very much like they have all been practicing!

My three boys did quite nicely and I hope they continue to run high on the grid because I need the points.

GO TONY! GO CRISTIANO! GO GO GO BRUNO!

[Jay]

Go Tags!

Sadly I have a meeting this afternoon and will miss the race .