Victory Lane: Gugelmin beats rain, wins 4th pole at Grand Prix of Cleveland

Sunday, July 01, 2001

By Chris Dolack, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

CLEVELAND -- A heavy rainstorm threw a wrench into qualifying for the Grand Prix of Cleveland yesterday.

Shortly after the first qualifying session ended with veteran Pac West driver Mauricio Gugelmin setting the pace in 57.356 seconds at 132.185 mph, a light rain started falling and the cars in the second group, which included points leader Kenny Brack, defending race winner Roberto Moreno and 2000 CART FedEx Series champion Gil de Ferran started spinning.

Brack actually completed two 360-degree spins and kept the car moving. But when lightning and high winds swept across the 2.106 temporary road circuit on the runways at Burke Lakefront Airport, qualifying was delayed after 14 minutes, 16 seconds of qualifying.

Since the second group is guaranteed 20 minutes of green flag qualifying, it was sent back out when the weather cleared. But with less than six minutes remaining in the session and with the runways still wet, no one could improve on Gugelmin's time. In fact, Dario Franchitti posted the best time from the second group -- 59.803 seconds -- and will start 14th today. That means many of the series star drivers will start from the back of the field, which should make exciting road racing on the wide runways.

"I think that Cleveland already doesn't need any more excitement," Gugelmin said. "There will be some action, but hopefully the action will never get to us."

For Gugelmin, winning his fourth career pole is the first highlight in a season of personal tragedy. His son, Giuliano, 6, died from cerebral palsy a week after he escaped serious injury in a practice wreck for the Firestone Firehawk 600 at Texas Motor Speedway, a race that was canceled because of driver safety concerns.

Adrian Fernandez will start next to Gugelmin on the front row today after running a lap at 57.517 seconds at 131.815 mph. Rookie Max Wilson will start third, his highest qualifying effort of the season, after qualifying in 57.892 seconds at 130.961 mph.

"I don't feel bad about the guys in the back," Fernandez said.

After spinning, Brack was able to complete a lap in 1:01.992 at 122.992 mph for the 17th starting spot. Helio Castroneves, who is second in points, will start 23rd.

"Mother Nature was not on our side this afternoon," said Castroneves, who also won the Indianapolis 500 in May. "We'll have to play it smart and be patient. It should be an exciting race. The guys up front are not going to make it easy to pass so we'll have to do what we can to work our way up and bring it home in the points."

Michael Andretti, who won here in 1991 and is third in points, was frustrated with the qualifying results.

"This is really tough," he said. "We got bit big time by the way the qualifying is split but that's the way it goes. I don't know how we would have done had it stayed dry but I certainly don't think we'd have ended up 21st. It will definitely be challenging [today]."

Ganassi seeks quick fix

Chip Ganassi doesn't have much patience for drivers who can't produce. That was evident when he fired Nicolas Minassian, whom he hired after last season with Bruno Junqueira, for crashing in three consecutive races. Fox Chapel's Ganassi replaced Minassian with Memo Gidley, a former CART regular who is known as "Supersub" for his ability to fill in successfully when a team's regular driver cannot compete for reasons such as injury.

Gidley's first race for Ganassi was a week ago at Portland, Ore., but with rainy conditions it was difficult to evaluate how successful he will be. Yesterday, Gidley was in the first qualifying group and turned in a time of 57.916 seconds and will start fifth.

Junqueira, Ganassi's top driver, will start 16th.

"I have done well on this track here in the past," Gidley said. "Last year I started 21st and finished 11th."

It is a place where you need a good balance of aggressiveness and patience, which I feel suits my style of driving. You can really throw the car into the corners.

"We struggled to find a good balance on the car [yesterday] morning, but I am getting more and more comfortable in the car."