Sunday, July 07, 2002
Da Matta fights off Tracy challenge to win pole
By MIKE HARRIS
AP Motorsports Writer
TORONTO — Cristiano da Matta rose to the challenge again Saturday, winning a shootout with Paul Tracy to wrap up the pole for the Toronto Molson-Indy.
Da Matta began the day on the provisional pole for Sunday's race, but had a real fight on his hands before the final one-hour qualifying session was completed.
“You have to be confident as a race driver, when you're not winning,” da Matta said. “Right now, it's very easy for me to be confident.”
There's no question the 28-year-old Brazilian is on a roll in the CART FedEx Series right now.
This is his third pole in the last four races and a victory on the 1.755-mile, 11-turn temporary street course at the edge of downtown Toronto would be the fourth in a row, tying the CART record set by Al Unser Jr. in 1990 and matched by Alex Zanardi in 1998.
Da Matta goes into the 112-lap event with four wins in seven starts this season and six in his last nine races. With the single points he won for leading both sessions of qualifying here, da Matta now leads fellow Brazilian Bruno Junqueira by 27 points and Dario Franchitti by 33.
The leader didn't even bother to take to the track until only 17 minutes remained in Saturday's session. After watching several drivers improve upon his Friday lap of 108.024 mph, he raised the target to 108.577 on his fourth lap.
Tracy, who started the day third on the 18-car grid, took the top spot with a 108.609 with just over two minutes remaining, but da Matta answered at 1:55 to go with a lap of 108.648, then kicked that up to 108.678 just 45 seconds before the checkered flag.
“Cristiano is responding every time somebody raises the bar,” Tracy said. “Somebody is going to come along to challenge him. He really hasn't had a lot of pressure on him for the whole race. He's been able to drive within himself.
“Somebody is going to have to force him to make a mistake.”
Da Matta was feeling no pressure Saturday. In fact, he wasn't even aware that Tracy had moved ahead of him in the waning moments Saturday.
“I always ask my team not to talk to me,” he explained. “I'm always trying to get the most out of the car. If they tell me somebody is ahead of me, there's nothing more I can do.”
Bruno Junqueira, second after the opening round of time trials, was happy to only slip to third at 108.452 after missing all but seven minutes of the session.
He slid into one of the concrete barriers lining the course during the morning practice, and course workers sprayed his car with foam as a preventative measure against fire.
“When I went onto the track, the engine had no power and it was making a strange noise,” Junqueira said. “There was nothing wrong with the engine, but my guys had to change all the electronics parts and clean everything before I could go back out.”
Once back on the track, Junqueira, who has finished second to da Matta in the last two races, couldn't get a clear lap until his last trip around the Exhibition Place circuit. By that time, he had fallen to 10th.
“The tires were not in the best shape at that point because I had eight laps on them,” said Junqueira, who barely beat the checkered flag with his fast lap. “Yesterday, I wasn't happy with second place. Today, I'm real happy with third.”
Kenny Brack was fourth at 108.307, followed by Christian Fittipaldi, who led briefly with his 108.042, and Franchitti at 108.022.
Seven-time Toronto winner Michael Andretti, who was 17th after Friday's qualifying, slipped to the last spot on Saturday, failing to get either his primary or spare cars up to speed.
“We just had a million problems,” said Andretti, the two-time defending race champion. “It was really frustrating. My primary car had a fuel system problem, so we went to the backup and it had a fuel problem, too. We had to qualify with a ton of fuel in the car, carrying around a lot of extra weight.
“Tomorrow will be tough. We're starting from the back and passing is so difficult. It's going to be an interesting race,” he said.
Passing might be difficult, but it is possible.
Last year, Andretti spun early in the race and, after falling to last place, came back to win.
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Da Matta fights off Tracy challenge to win pole
