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Chasing first De Ferran wants the pole, and the point that goes with it
Updated: Friday October 13, 2000 4:29 PM
SURFERS PARADISE, Australia (AP) -- Gil de Ferran wouldn't mind if threatening weather on Saturday washed out the second qualifying session for Sunday's Gold Coast Honda Indy 300. “If it rains, it's not a bad thing,” de Ferran, trying to clinch the CART FedEx drivers' championship, said Friday after winning the provisional pole. “It's one point for me.” The French-born Brazilian can clinch the points title if he wins the Gold Coast race for 20 points and picks up one of the two bonus points available - either for winning the pole or for leading the most laps in the race. Even if Paul Tracy of Canada, who qualified eighth-fastest Friday, finished second in Australia under that scenario, de Ferran would seal the title. De Ferran, who has a 19-point lead over Tracy going into the second-to-last race of the season, took his Honda Reynard around the 12-turn, 2.795-mile temporary street circuit in 1 minute, 32.057 seconds. That was more than half a second better than Colombian Juan Montoya's 1:32.684, who was second-fastest. Jimmy Vasser, who won at Houston two weeks ago, was third, followed by Michael Andretti. All drivers will have a chance to improve on their times in Saturday's second qualifying session for Sunday's race. On Friday, morning rain made the opening practice session a slippery affair. There is a possibility of some showers on Saturday, and if the second session is rained out, de Ferran's time from Friday would stand. Vasser, who won the Gold Coast event in 1996, is looking for his sixth consecutive Top 8 finish. Vasser has four Top 10 finishes in Australia. If de Ferran fails to pick up any of the 22 points available, the CART championship will be wide open going into the final race at Fontana, Calif., on Oct. 29. There are eight drivers with at least a mathematical chance of taking the drivers' title, including Vasser, the ninth winner in 18 races this season. Australian driver Jason Bright had a rough start to Indy racing. A competitor in the Indy Lights series earlier this year, Bright only managed nine laps in the first qualifying session and was last among 25 drivers. Bright, driving a Reynard-Toyota for the Della Penna race team, is only the second Australian driver, along with Gary Brabham, to have competed in the Gold Coast event.
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