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Saturday, March 10
Brack takes pole for season-opener
Associated Press
MONTERREY, Mexico -- Kenny Brack, last year's top CART
rookie, stole the spotlight from a trio of fast Brazilians on
Saturday, winning the pole for the inaugural Telmex Tecate Grand
Prix.
Calling the slippery new track "a moving target," Brack added,
"I'm a little surprised, to be honest. Coming down here, we set a
goal to be in the top five, top eight."
|  | | Defending CART champion Gil de Ferran qualified third for Sunday's Telmex Tecate Grand Prix. |
Although Team Rahal stayed with Ford engines, the team switched
over the winter from Reynard to Lola chassis.
"With the chassis change and everything else that changed, I
didn't think we'd be as competitive as we have been this weekend,"
Brack said.
To win his first CART pole and first pole of any kind since
August 1996 in Silverstone, England, in Europe's Formula 3000
series, the Swedish driver made the best adjustment on the
treacherous 2.1-mile, 12-turn road circuit in downtown Fundidora
Park.
"This morning, I made a mistake and ripped the front wing and a
piece of the underbody off," said Brack, who came to CART last
year after winning the 1999 Indianapolis 500 and the series
championship a year earlier while competing in the rival Indy
Racing League. "You have to keep on top of what the track is doing
and, this afternoon, we just managed to time everything right."
The only qualifying session of the weekend was split into two
30-minute segments, with most of the fastest drivers in the second
group.
Brack, in his 21st CART start, switched to his second set of
qualifying tires about halfway through his session.
"We watched what happened in the first group and saw that many
of the drivers were going out at the end and trying so hard for a
fast lap that they were going off (course) and throwing a lot of
dirt on the track," Brack said. "It was a gamble to get the
second set of tires so early because the track could have gotten
faster at the end, but it worked for us this time."
His best previous qualifying effort in CART was second last year
in Japan.
Cristiano da Matta, who took over the seat vacated by longtime
Champ car star Michael Andretti, earned the other front-row
starting spot for Sunday's race.
Brack got around the dusty, slippery course in 1 minute, 14.255
seconds -- an average of 100.665 mph. Da Matta, who finished second
to the Swede in last year's rookie of the year race, was just
0.218-seconds slower and averaged 100.404.
Defending series champion Gil de Ferran, fast in the opening
practice on Friday, led early in the qualifying session but wound
up third at 1:15.551 (100.255), followed by Penske teammate Helio
Castroneves at 1:15.580 (100.217).
De Ferran, who has the flu, was given intravenous fluids
following the session.
Andretti, the all-time leader in CART with 40 victories and a
former series champ, also was impressive in the debut of his new
Motorola Racing team, taking fifth in the 28-car field with a lap
of 1:16.343.
Rounding out the top 10 were Patrick Carpentier, Dario
Franchitti, Oriol Servia, former champion Jimmy Vasser -- in his
first ride with Patrick Racing -- and Roberto Moreno.
Local hero Adrian Fernandez, hampered by a brace on his left
forearm, due to tendinitis, spun off course late in the session and
wound up 19th, while two-time series champ Alex Zanardi, returning
after one year in Formula One and a year entirely out of racing,
was 22nd.
Looking ahead to the race, da Matta said, "The way it is right
now, I think it's going to be tough to pass on Sunday. But, as the
race goes on, in the braking areas in particular, there are going
to be two lines, so it could get very interesting."
After studying Saturday's lap times in practice, CART announced
it has shortened Sunday's race from 85 to 80 laps to be certain it
will fit within the two-hour time limit.
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