Start your engines!
Play RPM.ESPN Stock Car Challenge!
Win a Honda S2000!
Play The CART Challenge powered by Honda!
|
|
Friday, May 4
Gugelmin withdraws after son's death
Associated Press
NAZARETH, Pa. – Bruno Junqueira isn't as excited as a
rookie could be after posting the fastest speed in practice for the
Lehigh Valley Grand Prix in his first time on an oval track.
The 24-year-old Brazilian has his sights set on bigger things,
like his first CART victory. As the latest phenom-designate to race
for Chip Ganassi, Junqueira knows he will be judged against his
predecessors as much as the opposition.
|  | | Bruno Junqueira had the fastest practice lap of 166.248 mph at Nazareth Speedway on Friday. |
"I have to win," he said Friday after going 166.248 mph at
Nazareth Speedway. "I don't have to win the championship, although
that can happen, but I have to win races."
Junqueira and teammate Nicolas Minassian, the 1-2 finishers last
season in the Formula 3000 series, are the new drivers charged with
returning Ganassi's team to the top in CART. The team won four
titles from 1996-99, but is rebuilding now after the departures of
champions Juan Montoya and Jimmy Vasser.
Junqueira isn't ready to predict anything spectacular, but
concedes much is expected of him.
"They are a winning team, and they want to keep winning," he
said. "If they're going to do that, I have to be winning."
He realizes that is immense pressure, but explains that most of
it is self-inflicted. He loves challenges, and says drivers have to
accept and defeat them to make a successful career.
That was his approach last year, when he edged Minassian by
three points to win the F3000 title.
"I had to win to move up," he said.
Junqueira posted his fastest speed in the morning practice,
getting around the .946-mile oval in 20.485 seconds in his
Lola-Toyota. He also was seventh-fastest in the afternoon session
as temperatures reaching 90 slowed the cars slightly.
Team Rahal's Max Papis was second overall at 164.896 in his
Lola-Ford. He was happy, but said much work remained before he'll
consider himself one of the favorites in the race Sunday because
it's the first short oval event since his team switched after last
season from the established Reynard chassis.
"We're still exploring the car," Papis said. "We are quite a
bit away from the maximum performance."
Team Penske's Helio Castroneves was second in the faster session
in a Reynard-Honda at 164.681 and third for the day. Castroneves is
coming off a wire-to-wire victory last month in the Long Beach
Grand Prix.
"I was happy with the setup on the Marlboro car right out of
the box," Castroneves said. "I feel we are in good shape for
qualifying tomorrow."
Papis teammate Kenny Brack was fourth-fastest at 164.595. Both
posted their speeds in the afternoon heat.
Brack said the difference of about 10 degrees in the sessions
made hard work essential.
"It was an up-and-down day for us," he said. "So it was good
for us to work on a lot of different things."
The race will be the first in a month for CART, which postponed
the Firestone Firehawk 600 last Sunday because excessive speed in
the turns at Texas Motor Speedway caused what series physician
Steve Olvey said were intolerable G-force loads on the drivers.
The race Sunday is the last CART event at Nazareth, which has
suffered at the gate with early and late dates each season and some
terrible weather since 1987. Last year, the race was snowed out
April 9, then rescheduled for May 27, the day before the IRL's
Indianapolis 500.
CART champion Gil de Ferran won the race here last year, giving
Roger Penske his 100th victory as a Champ Car owner. De Ferran was
sixth-fastest Friday, immediately behind the Lola-Ford of Michel
Jourdain Jr.
Two-time Nazareth winner Paul Tracy was next, followed by Oriol
Servia and points leader Cristiano da Matta. Michael Andretti,
racing for the last time in his hometown, posted the 20th-fastest
speed.
Mauricio Gugelmin, second last year at Nazareth, withdrew
because of the death of his 6-year-old son, Giuliano. Born 27
minutes after his twin brother, Bernardo, the boy was a
quadriplegic with a form of cerebral palsy. He died Thursday of
respiratory complications at his home in Coral Gables, Fla.
Gugelmin, badly bruised after crashing during practice in Texas,
is expected to return May 19 at Motegi, Japan. Gugelmin will miss a
race for the first time in his CART career after 130 starts, the
longest streak among active drivers and fifth-best in history.
 Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
|
|
|
|
