The Starting Grid for Mexico

[macdaddy]

Congrats to Tiago and his F/D team!

He takes fast time on Saturday, (although unable to eclipse PT's Friday time as the track was slower), grabs up a point and starts on the front row!

Reynards starting P - 2, 5, 6, 7...

Although 12 cars are within 1 second of Tracy, his teammate is not included in that list. But Diaz is! Fernandez languishes in P15, one spot ahead of Servia. Kinda makes me look the phoole, because I told I guy at work on Thursday that Servia would win pole.

[Liz]

That track is obviously very Reynard-Friendly. Finally Tiago has got rid of that paint that made him invisible to other drivers,

I only wish we could have had it on television OR on radio.

[Snrub]

I'm shocked by Tiago. He's been pretty good for a rookie, but didn't really impress like some of the other rookies. That team seems to have a history of producing poor setups, but they've obviously nailed it. I am worried about him starting next to PT. Tiago does not have a very good history when it comes to collisions. Let's hope his lack of experience at starts @ the front and PT's excellence on cold tires allows them to stay apart.

ASTJ is doing well again too. IMO Jimmy has been most impressive this year since about 1997 or '98. RHR is always very close to him and sometimes faster. Many were clearly wrong to doubt his credibility being in CART. (I started to doubt it at the start of the season when Bourdais was the man to beat)

PC has been REALLY slow lately. I wonder if he's not particularly happy @ Players right now. The way Jimmy is driving if he was in a Players car he'd be 2nd or 3rd in the points.

[TheRob]

Monteiro joins Tracy on front row


Associated Press




10/11/2003

MEXICO CITY (AP-CP) - Rookie Tiago Monteiro topped the second day of qualifying for Sunday's Mexico Grand Prix to join pole-sitter Paul Tracy of Toronto on the front row of the race.

None of the 20 drivers was able to beat Tracy's performance from Friday: a 112.893 m.p.h. average speed around the 2.786-mile Hermanos Rodriguez circuit in Mexico City.

It gave the Canadian at least a small advantage in his battle for the season championship with Bruno Junqueira of Brazil, who will start on the inside of the second row. Coming into the final three races, Tracy is just 14 points ahead.

``Am I going to go for the win or the championship? Both,'' said Tracy. ``The most important thing is to finish in front of Junqueira.''

With other points-hungry drivers behind him on the long initial straight, ``there could be some excitement in the first corner,'' Tracy said. ``I hope not.''

The pole is Tracy's sixth of the season and 19th of his career. Tracy has won three of the races in which he's started from the pole and finished second in another.

``The start of the race should be interesting,'' said Tracy.

Last year's pole-sitter, Junqueira, lost his advantage when he was passed by several cars before leaving the first turn.

It was a high point of the season for Monteiro, a Portuguese Formula 3000 veteran running on a Reynard chassis for Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing. He averaged 112.639 m.p.h. for the day's top qualifying speed.

Monteiro, 27, had never before qualified higher than fifth -at Denver on Aug. 31. He also had two ninth-place qualifications. His top finish was seventh.

``It's going to be a big day in Portugal, definitely,'' he said, adding he had received several phone calls from home that he could not understand because of excited shouting on the other end of the line.

It was also a big day for the Reynard chassis. In addition to Monteiro, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Darren Manning gave Reynards the three fastest times of the day after routinely trailing Lolas all year.

Patrick Carpentier of Lasalle, Que., will start ninth while Alex Tagliani of Lachenaie, Que., qualified 13th.

Carpentier's banged into the wall 10 minutes into the 75-minute morning session.

``It could have been a better day,'' said Carpentier. ``Following my crash this morning, the team tried different set-ups to stabilize the car but it is still pushing too much.''<

Sebastian Bourdais of Portugal joined Junqueira in the second row. Right behind will be his rival for the rookie of the year title, David Manning of Britain.

Most of the top drivers struggled to meet their Friday times on the road course that mixes fast and sharp turns with a 190 m.p.h.-plus straightaway.

Tracy speculated that a morning rain might have washed away Friday's layer of rubber, while a variety of earlier races may had laid down new rubber that didn't suit the champ cars.

Forecasters said more rain was possible overnight and on Sunday.

A huge crowd was disappointed by a poor showing by most of the six Mexicans in the race: Michel Jourdain Jr., who trails Tracy by 34 points in the championship hunt, qualified eighth. Rookie Luis Diaz qualified 10 while Mario Dominguez, winner of last month's Miami race, was 11th.

Tracy will start from the pole in a car stripped of the logo of its chief sponsor, Players, because of a new Canadian law banning tobacco advertising at sports events.

In its place, the car is painted with the names of supporters and with ``Thanks Fans'' stenciled on its nose and ``Good Bye'' on its tail.

Who the heck wrote this article? Pretty shoddy.

[Liz]

Mine is better.

[MLM]

Of course, yours is better, amiga
I'm soooooooooo happy about Tiago (and I'm sure he is, too )
Let's hope he has a good finish tomorrow...and gets that monkey off his back.

[Omega99]

Diaz in 9th!

[x_dt]

What's the problem with Servia this weekend? 14th on Friday and only 16th on the grid.

:confused:

[macdaddy]

I didn't realize until now that the top-3 Saturday times were all Reynards.

Note to Canadians...
In case you've got to set up a VCR for the race, Speed will be blacked out as TSN carries the feed.
Pre-race at 3:30ET, green flag at 4:00.

[gttouring]

remarkable, i thought of tiago as a wealthy semi talented chicane before- i am dually impressed wish him the best, on ly a podium so Jimmy Vasser can win.

[macdaddy]

Off-topic, but here's from CART.com...

Resurrecting a tradition that harkens back to the late, great Mark Donohue and the early 1970s, the CART Champ Car World Series will see today's Gran Premio Telmex-Gigante Presented by Banamex/Visa wrapped up by a checkered flag being waved trackside along with another set of checkers waving from the customary starter's stand.

Former CART starter and current series Clerk of Course Jim Swintal will signal the end of Sunday's 70-lap race by waving the checkered flag from pit wall, ending the race in conjunction with the flag being waved by current starter J.D. Wilbur. This marks the first time that a CART event has been flagged from trackside, and is the first time that a Champ Car race has seen a trackside flag since Mark Donohue won the 1971 Pocono 500.

[Liz]

So which flag will mean he won the race?

[Flatspot]

The checkered ones of course.

[Liz]

The trackside one or the other one? :confused:

[Dov]

Former CART starter and current series Clerk of Course Jim Swintal will signal the end of Sunday's 70-lap race by waving the checkered flag from pit wall, ending the race in conjunction with the flag being waved by current starter J.D. Wilbur.

Both, I guess!?

[R]

Sebastian Bourdais of Portugal...

The article is very shoddy indeed. Since when did Sebastien Bourdais change his name to Sebastian, and since when did he switch from French to Portuguese nationality?!? :confused:

[Liz]

Well at Montreal they said Tiago was Puerto Rican.