CHAMPCAR/CART: Recent Testing to Help PacWest at Nazareth
(Indianapolis, IN) – Test sessions at Milwaukee and Sebring this week are both expected to help PacWest Racing in Saturday’s staging of the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix at the Nazareth Speedway in Pennsylvania. The FedEx Championship Series ...
(Indianapolis, IN) – Test sessions at Milwaukee and Sebring this week are both expected to help PacWest Racing in Saturday’s staging of the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix at the Nazareth Speedway in Pennsylvania.
The FedEx Championship Series returns to Nazareth this weekend after race day for the second round of the 2000 title chase was postponed at the 1-mile oval because of snow back on April 9.
#17 Nextel PacWest Mercedes-Benz driver Mauricio Gugelmin had a successful test at the Milwaukee mile on Sunday while #18 Motorola PacWest Mercedes-Benz driver Mark Blundell had two successful days of development work down in Florida on Monday and Tuesday.
The pair will start 12th and 19th in Saturday’s race after it was decided qualifying times from April 8 would stand – the only time the drivers will be on track is for a one-hour warm-up and practice session from 9am-10am.
The Milwaukee test was attended by 11 drivers and Gugelmin was a promising third overall behind Roberto Moreno and Michael Andretti.
This weekend’s race starts a remarkable commitment from CART teams which involves 13 races in just 17 weekends.
MAURICIO GUGELMIN - # 17 NEXTEL PACWEST MERCEDES-BENZ – STARTS 12th
“We certainly gained a lot at Milwaukee which will hopefully translate at Nazareth which is always very busy with a full field of cars,” said Gugelmin.
“Handling is the most important thing on all short ovals, especially Nazareth.
“I will be starting 12th which is not great, but we have seen several drivers finish with podium places from further back than that this season. If we are going to have a strong result we will need to be fast with our pit stops and spot on with our pit strategy.”
MARK BLUNDELL - # 18 MOTOROLA PACWEST MERCEDES-BENZ – STARTS 19th
“We had a pretty good test at Sebring and worked closely with Ilmor on a lot of things,” said Blundell.
“A couple of those things may help this weekend, but I think we have learnt a fair bit anyway since being at Nazareth the first time back in April. We just need the weather to be sensible so we can get this race under our belt and get on with the onslaught of races in the next three months.”
ESPN will show live coverage of the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix from 1pm on Saturday
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