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Honda Grand Prix of Monterey - Laguna Seca
Race
Jonny Kane Racing, 10th September, Laguna Seca:
KANE MAKES A MOVE TO FIFTH
Ulsterman Jonny Kane finished a pleasing fifth in today's Dayton Indy Lights race at the Laguna Seca Raceway in California.
Kane had qualified seventh for today's race and managed to make a move on sixth placed Luis Diaz, passing him on the exit of turn three on the first lap. Jonny quickly moved up to put the pressure on the battle for fourth place between Felipe Giaffone and Tony Rena.
On one of the many restarts Renna and Giaffone had a slight coming together and Kane was able to take advantage passing Giaffone on the exit of turn five and almost sneaking past Renna as well. The battle between Renna and Jonny continued to the chequered flag with Jonny making a move at every opportunity.
Scott Dixon took his fifth win of the season nearly three seconds ahead of Casey Mears who took second. Jeff Simmons took third spot ahead of Renna in fourth and Kane in fifth. Today's result sees Jonny move up to ninth in the championship.
Jonny's comments:
"We had a pretty successful day really from where we started. Often you finish where you start in these races and we managed to pick up a couple of spots. We nearly got fourth place a few times.
"Tony (Renna) was holding me up quite a bit and I think if we could have past him we could have done a lap maybe three or fourth tenths better then we actually did. That would have put us very close to the quickest laps of the race by the two leaders.
"It is just a shame we didn't have this car in qualifying and we didn't qualify better because I think we could have given them a good run for it."
EDDIE JONES, TEAM KOOL GREEN INDY LIGHTS CHIEF ENGINEER
"It was important that we finished a race because we have had a few incidents lately. It is a great shame that we didn't get the car good enough for qualifying, as we only started seventh today.
"Jonny felt the car was much better in the race, but unfortunately he was stuck behind Renna for a lot of it. He certainly could have been quicker if he had got by him and he would have been up with the top three. He worked hard. He had a real go at Renna on a number of occasions.
"It was very difficult as Renna was forcefully protective at times, but Jonny drove a good race. "
Saturday qualifying
Jonny Kane Racing, 9th September, Laguna Seca:
KANE A BAFFLED 7TH AT LAGUNA
Team KOOL Green driver Jonny Kane qualified seventh today for tomorrow's Dayton Indy Lights race at the Laguna Seca Raceway in California.
Kane struggled yesterday with major understeer only to develop both oversteer and underteer in today's session. Kane is hopeful that overnight changes will show some improvement for tomorrow's pre-race warm up.
Casey Mears took the pole with a quick lap of 1:15.891 seconds. Scott Dixon will line up second (1:15.949 seconds), Jeff Simmons third (1:16.118 seconds) and Tony Renna fourth (1:16.469 seconds). Kane qualified seventh on a time of 1:16.606 seconds.
Team KOOL Green Press Release, 9th September:
Following today's final qualifying session, Team KOOL Green's Jeff Simmons and Jonny Kane will start third and seventh respectively in Sunday's Indy Lights race at Laguna Seca. Simmons, who was fifth in Friday's provisional qualifying session, improved to third with a lap of 1 minute, 16.954 seconds (104.696 mph), while Kane's best lap was a 1 minute,16.118 seconds (105.846 mph). Kane struggled with an ill-handling car all weekend and set a best lap today of 1:16.606 (105.172 mph).
Indy Lights drivers have a 15-minute warm-up session Sunday morning at 8:25 a.m., before taking the green flag for their 34-lap race at 3:00 p.m. The race will be televised live on ESPN2 (All times are Pacific Daylight Time).
Jonny's comments:
"We've had big understeer everywhere since we got here. We actually changed the car quite a bit overnight and now I've got oversteer as well. The car is still not doing anything that I want it to do. We've got big understeer and the rear is real nervous on entry as well.
"My teammate's (Jeff Simmons) car is obviously working a lot better than ours. We came with the same setup, but we've changed it quite a bit. I didn't think small things were going to help, so the changes we've made are quite drastic. But it hasn't seemed to help us much.
"We'll have to have another rethink with the Team KOOL Green engineers and see what we can come up with for warm-up. The car has been quick on every road or street course we've been on this year and we were fast at the test, so it's a bit strange that the understeer would turn up here. We qualified and ran well here last year, so maybe we'll try that setup tomorrow."
Lap times and speeds:
1. Casey Mears USA 1:15.891 106.163
2. Scott Dixon NZ 1:15.949 106.082
3. Jeff Simmons USA 1:16.118 105.846
4. Tony Renna USA 1:16.469 105.360
5. Felipe Giaffone BRA 1:16.521 105.289
6. Luis Diaz MEX 1:16.592 105.191
7. Jonny Kane IRL 1:16.606 105.172
8. Chris Menninga USA 1:16.698 105.046
9. Jason Bright AUS 1:16.720 105.016
10. Derek Higgins IRL 1:16.796 104.912
11. Townsend Bell USA 1:16.868 104.813
12. Mario Dominguez MEX 1:16.966 104.680
13. Geoff Boss USA 1:17.060 104.552
14. Andy Boss USA 1:17.426 104.058
15. Rudy Junco USA 1:17.460 104.012
16. Rodolfo Lavin MEX 1:17.521 103.931
17. Waldemar Coronas MEX 1:17.928 103.388
18. Rolando Quintanilla MEX 1;18.522 102.606
Friday qualifying
Jonny Kane Racing, 8th September, Laguna Seca:
KANE SIXTH QUICKEST AT LAGUNA SECA
Ulsterman Jonny Kane took to the 1.8-mile permanent road circuit of Laguna Seca for first qualifying today in the run up for Sunday's 75-mile lap race. The ninth round of the Dayton Indy Lights Championship will be the official support race to the CART FedEx Championship series.
Kane struggled all session with a severe under steer problem. They were able to make some minor changes to dial out some of the under steer but the Team KOOL Green crew have a lot of work ahead of them. Kane managed to clock the sixth quickest time of the session on a 1:17.118 seconds.
Casey Mears took the provisional pole with a time of 1:16.137 seconds. Scott Dixon was second on a lap of 1:16.410 seconds with Felipe Giaffone third (1: 16.678 seconds). A disappointed Kane headed back to the drawing board with his engineer in order to try and find the right configuration for tomorrow's final qualifying.
Jonny's comments:
"Obviously we're really struggling with the car today. Sixth place is probably better than the car actually feels. It is not doing anything that I want it to do. It just won't turn. We tried to fix that and then caused an over steer problem so that actually made it worse.
"We might have gone a little bit better if we hadn't changed those things before the new tyres. Even so, we are still three quarters of a second away and that is far too far. We have a lot of thinking to do. The car is just terrible at the minute. We are making little changes but we need a lot more to be anywhere close really."
Team KOOL Green Press Release, 8th September: Team KOOL Green's Jeff Simmons and Jonny Kane were fifth and sixth fastest respectively in today's provisional qualifying for Sunday's Indy Lights race at Laguna Seca Raceway. Simmons clocked a lap of 1 minute, 16.954 seconds (104.696 mph), while Kane's best lap was a 1 minute,17.118 seconds (104.474 mph) around the 2.238-mile road course.
Though they qualified fifth and sixth in the 18-car field, both TKG drivers are hoping to improve the handling of their KOOL cars and be able to compete for the pole position in tomorrow's final qualifying session. Casey Mears holds the provisional pole after turning the fastest lap in today's qualifying session. His best lap was 1:16.137 (105.820 mph). Second fastest was current points leader Scott Dixon, who turned a lap of 1:16.410 (105.442 mph).
Indy Lights drivers have one more 30-minute practice tomorrow at 9:10 a.m. before final qualifying begins at 12:55 p.m. Sunday's race is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. and will be televised live on ESPN2 (All times are Pacific Daylight Time).
Lap times and speeds:
1. Casey Mears USA 1:16.137 105.820
2. Scott Dixon NZ 1:16.410 105.442
3. Felipe Giaffone BRA 1:16.678 105.073
4. Townsend Bell USA 1:16.868 104.813
5. Jeff Simmons USA 1:16.954 104.696
6. Jonny Kane IRL 1:17.118 104.474
7. Jason Bright AUS 1:17.141 104.443
8. Chris Menninga USA 1:17.245 104.30
9. Rudy Junco USA 1:17.460 104.012
10. Rodolfo Lavin MEX 1:17.521 103.931
11. Tony Renna USA 1:17.583 103.847
12. Andy Boss USA 1:17.635 103.778
13. Mario Dominguez USA 1:17.670 103.731
14. Geoff Boss USA 1:17.936 103.377
15. Derek Higgins IRL 1:18.011 103.278
16. Waldemar Coronas MEX 1:178.250 102.962
17. Luis Diaz MEX 1:18.308 102.886
18. Rolando Quintanilla MEX 1:18.926 102.080
Race Preview
Team KOOL Green Press Release, 5th September: Jeff Simmons and Jonny Kane, TKG's Indy Lights pilots, are looking to continue their success at Laguna Seca Raceway this weekend. Kane finished third in last year's race, his first at the challenging circuit, while Simmons won from the pole there last year in the Barber Dodge Series.
JONNY KANE, #27 Team KOOL Green Lola T97/20: (Started 3rd / Finished 3rd at Laguna Seca in 1999; Currently 10th in the standings with 35 points)
"I remember Laguna Seca as one of our best races last season, even though we didn't win. We were in contention for the pole and then finished third in the race. And I'd say Team KOOL Green is providing me an even better car this year, so we should be in good shape.
"We need to get the pole. We've been involved in incidents when we haven't. I showed what I could do from pole position in Detroit (win) and I think if we can qualify up front, we can drive away from the field. Laguna Seca is one of my favorite tracks. I think if you ask any driver, they'll tell you it's a drivers circuit. It's got just about every challenge you can think of and it can be physical, which I like. I work pretty hard at my fitness and I'm
JEFF SIMMONS, #26 Team KOOL Green Lola T97/20: (Barber Dodge Pro Series - Started 1st / Finished 1st at Laguna Seca in 1999; Currently 7th in standings with 64 points)
"This will be my first Indy Lights race at Laguna Seca, but I'm very familiar with the track. Besides having a good test there in the Team KOOL Green Indy Lights car recently, I've had success there in Barber Dodge. I raced there twice in '98 and finished second both times, then I won from the pole there last year. That kind of success gives you a little confidence, which you certainly need to be fast at Laguna Seca.
"It really pays to be aggressive there and it's probably the most physically-demanding track we race on. There are a couple of corners that really test you, especially the turn eight and nine combination that begins with the corkscrew and continues down under the bridge at turn nine. When the car is right, it really sticks and it takes a lot of strength to get the most out of the car."
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