Trois-Rivieres Qualifying

FINAL QUALIFYING

4:19 p.m. - - Heavy rain greets today’s final qualifying session.

4:49 p.m. - - Session ends with no major incidents reported this session’s fastest were:

#33 BERTRAND GODIN, of St. Hyacinthe, Que., was fastest in the Player’s Forsythe Racing Ralt RT-40 at 1:16.486 - 71.071 mph.

#66 ALEXANDRE TAGLIANI, of Lachenaie, Que., was second quickest at 1:16.508 71.051 in the Player’s Forsythe Racing Ralt RT-40 #43 JOAO BARBOSA, of Valongo, Portugal, was third fastest in the RDS Motorsport-Toyota of Portugal/Sega of Portugal/Caetano Buses Ralt RT-41 at 1:16.711 - 70.863 mph.

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THE INSIDE SCOOPS FOR ROUND THREE OF THE PLAYER’S CHALLENGE

#66 ALEXANDRE TAGLIANI, of Lachenaie, Que., wins his SECOND CAREER Atlantic pole by way of his qualifying time set during Friday’s provisional qualifying at 1:02.463 - 87.027 mph. #33 BERTRAND GODIN, of St. Hyacinthe, Que., will start on the outside pole from yesterday’s time of 1:02.468 - 87.020 mph. #35 DAVID POOK remained third fastest in overall qualifying at 102.480 - 87.003 mph in the B.D.J.S.-HYPE Energy Drink/Budweiser Ralt RT-40. #71 JOQUIN DeSOTO, of Miami, Fla., wins the C2 pole position after qualifying 24th overall in the Weld Motorsports-Canvas by Deneba Software Reynard 93H. Tomorrow’s race will be the second time this season that one team has placed two cars on the front row. LYNX RACING claimed front row honors at Nazareth in April when BARRON and GIDLEY started first and second, respectively.

TAGLIANI’s previous career-best Atlantic starting position before this season was third place at Trois-Rivieres II last year. He also started in third place at Long Beach and Nazareth in April. Tagliani won his first career Atlantic race this season at Long Beach in round two.

ALEX BARRON’s three pole positions this year leads the Atlantic championship. Barron captured poles on the one-mile ovals at Nazareth and Milwaukee, and the street circuit at the Molson Indy Toronto. He subsequently won "flag-to-flag" at Nazareth and Milwaukee. ALEXANDRE TAGLIANI is the only driver other than BARRON to win more than one pole position in 1997. Tagliani also captured the pole at Cleveland, but a broken gearbox prevented him from starting the race.

ALEX BARRON leads all Atlantic drivers in "starts" from the front row with four. His Lynx Racing teammate, MEMO GIDLEY, and TAGLIANI have each qualified three times on the front row. DeSOTO is the C2 standings leader with 105 points. DeSoto earned one bonus point for winning the C2 pole. James Irvin, of South Miami, Fla., is in second place with 72 points. There are only two C2 entries this weekend including DeSOTO and JIMMY PUGLIESE. By virtue of winning today’s pole position, TAGLIANI earns one bonus point moves to within 19 points of series leader BARRON, 86-67. Tagliani is currently in fifth place.

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#66 ALEXANDRE TAGLIANI (Player's Forsythe Racing Team-Player’s/Indeck) "I realize the importance of pushing hard at the end of Friday's qualifying session to win the pole. It's very hard to pass so to start on the front row is important. Both of the Player's cars on the front row is very great, but I hope I won’t repeat a start like that Cleveland. We need to keep in mind that this morning's practice was a little bit hard for us, and I only have about 12 practice laps all my weekend. It's hard for me to work on my setup because I'm always testing something, but I don't have many laps to test and it's very hard to make the car fast. "Tomorrow's warm-up session will be important. We need to look at our set-up, try different things, and go back to the trailer and find out what compromise we are going to make for the race." (Francois Cartier)

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#32 ALEX BARRON (Lynx Racing-Victory Circle Racing/Red Line Oil) "Man, are those Canadians fast in the wet! I’m a little envious. Driving in the wet here completely changes your lines since you’re not apexing the turns, you’re driving around the standing water. The car felt reasonably comfortable, even though I spun in front of the pits, but I still think driving a formula car in the wet is a form of cruel and unusual punishment." (Peter Frey)

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#35 DAVID POOK (B.D.J.S.-HYPE Energy Drink/Budweiser) "We have a really terrific rain set-up, although the team is predicting a dry race. All I really want is consistent conditions for the day. If it’s going to rain, I hope it does so in the morning session so I can get a few more laps in. I really had no opportunity to find where the car had grip. Well, whatever the conditions, I feel great about starting from the second row. The team gave me a really good car. I look forward to challenging Bertrand and Alex for the lead in the race. I think we have just as fast a car. And the best man of the day will win." (Nicole Lascelle)

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#33 BERTRAND GODIN (Player's Forsythe Racing Team-Player's/Indeck) "It was a difficult qualification yesterday because we were concerned over today’s weather forecast. To loose the pole by five-thousandths of a second is unbelievable. And for me that is a little disappointing. "Running in the rain today was quite interesting. It also washed the unused portion of the track, so it's going to be interesting for passing. The team is ready if it rained even though we didn't go out with the wet set up. "The warm-up tomorrow will be very important because the rain will wash the track, the rubber and the pavement. I expect surprises in tomorrow’s warm up. But the Player's team is ready to go and we will have fun anyway." (Francois Cartier)

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#19 MEMO GIDLEY (Lynx Racing) "Basically, it was 20 minutes of educational terror. We went out, not to set a time, but to give ourselves some experience in driving an Atlantic car in the rain... and to try and figure out some kind of setup in case it rains in the race tomorrow. I’m going to be back in my hotel room and praying for sun." (Peter Frey)

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STARTING GRID The Player’s Challenge for the KOOL/TOYOTA Atlantic Championship Round Eight - Grand Prix Player's de Trois-Rivieres August 3, 1997

Ps. Car# Driver Hometown Sponsor/Car Time Speed

1        66     Alexandre Tagliani, Lachenaie, Que.     Players Forsythe
Racing, Ralt RT-40      1:02.463        87.027
2        33     Bertrand Godin (R), St. Hyacinthe, Que. Players Forsythe
Racing, Ralt RT-40      1:02.468        87.020
3        35     David Pook, Long Beach, Calif.  B.D.J.S, Ralt RT-40        
1:02.480        87.003
4        19     Memo Gidley (R), San Rafael, Calif.     Lynx Racing, Ralt
RT-41           1:02.482        87.001
5        32     Alex Barron (R), Vista, Calif.          Lynx Racing, Ralt
RT-41           1:02.515        86.955
6        4      Anthony Lazzaro, Acworth, Ga.           Phillips Mtsp.,
Ralt RT-41              1:02.734        86.651
7        43     Joao Barbosa (R), Valongo, Portugal     RDS Mtsp, Ralt
RT-41           1:02.799        86.561
8        50     Kenny Wilden, Burlington, Ont.          P1 Racing, Ralt
RT-41           1:03.032        86.241
9        29     Case Montgomery, Salinas, Calif.        Binder Racing, Ralt
RT-41           1:03.224        85.98
10      85      Steve Knapp (R), Salem, Wis.            P1 Racing, Ralt
RT-41           1:03.304        85.871
11      14      Chuck West, Sonoma, Calif.              World Speed Mtsp.,
Ralt RT-41      1:03.583        85.494
12      95      Chris Smith, Redondo Beach, Calif.      P.P.I., Ralt RT-41 
        1:03.632        85.428
13      7       Cam Binder, Calgary, Alta.              Binder Racing, Ralt
RT-41           1:03.825        85.170
14      3       Michael David, Corona, Calif.           PDR Enterprises,
Ralt RT-41              1:03.855        85.130
15      11      Ted Sahley, Cleveland, Ohio             Sahley Racing, Ralt
RT-41           1:04.374        84.444
16      96      Jeret Schroeder, Vineland, N.J. P.P.I., Ralt RT-41         
1:04.442        84.354
17      15      Eric Lang, New York, N.Y.               D&L Racing, Ralt
RT-41           1:04.745        83.960
18      10      Mark Tague (R), Laguna Hills, Calif.    World Speed Mtsp.,
Ralt RT-41      1:04.922        83.731
19      26      David Cutler, Medina, Wash.             Binder Racing, Ralt
RT-41           1:05.798        82.616
20      9       George Frazier (R), Prospect, Ky.       Arcadia Motorsports
Limited, Ralt RT-41     1:07.124        80.984
21      18      Bob Siska, San Francisco, Calif.        RJS Motorsports,
Ralt RT-40              1:07.220        80.868
22      44      Carol Soucy (R), Sept-Iles, Que.        Dominic Scalzo
Racing, Ralt RT-41      1:07.290        80.784
23      41      Bob Thomas (R), Clarkston, Mich.        Different Drummer
Racing, XFR GS-96       1:08.401        79.472
24      71      Joaquin DeSoto (R)(C2), Miami, Fla.     Weld Mtsp., Reynard
93H             1:08.583        79.261
25      23      Martin Roy, St. Jean Baptiste, Que.     Le Volant, Raven
RVN-93          1:09.029        78.749
26      21      Kevin Cogan (R), Plattsburgh, N.Y.      Cogan Mtsp., Raven
RVN-93                 @1:16.049        71.480
27      99      Jimmy Pugliese (C2), Oceanside, N.Y.    Hunter-Smith
Pugliese., Swift DB-4       @1:16.280   71.263
28      39      Stephane Roy (R), Saint-Sauveur, Que.   Hammerhead Racing,
Ralt RT-40           No-Time

@ Time Greater than 115% of avg. of top three in class

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That’s a wrap for Saturday, August 2, 1997.