Nazareth, Penn. (April 30, 1999) — Nicolas Rondet, in his first appearance on an oval, showed steady signs of speed during today’s Kool/Toyota Atlantic Championship activities during the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix weekend, by qualifying 12th for tomorrow’s 60-lap/56.76-mile race. Rondet, a French Brazilian who lives in San Diego, California, drives the #14 World Speed Motorsports/Red Line Oil, Martini Sunglasses Swift 008.a.
“I’m a little disappointed,” said Rondet, who lapped the .946-mile oval in 24.540 seconds (138.77 miles per hour). “We were shooting for a top ten in qualifying. The track was a little slow in the evening. I drove pretty hard, but I may have been a little conservative in turn three. We didn’t have a lot of oil temperature and didn’t go as fast as this afternoon. The car felt good and the team did a terrific job preparing the car. I have to say the single-car qualifying is fun. You have to be very precise and go flat-out at the same time. I feel like I’m coming to terms with the oval. Tomorrow’s race should be good and I hope I’ll be able to stay out of trouble.”
Rondet started the day’s on-track activities by setting the 13th fastest time in his first oval race weekend. “I’ve never been on an oval before. Many people have said that Nazareth is not the best place to learn, but I’m getting more comfortable with it. We switched back to a road course steering rack this morning, which feel a lot better to me. I felt like I had to keep turning the wheel into the corner to get the car to turn. I guess I’m just so use to road racing. But, this is a new challenge and we have plenty of time today.”
The second 30-minute practice session was even better as Rondet cracked the top ten with a 23.842-second lap. “We’re getting better. I’m feeling much more comfortable with the oval and the car is consistently faster. This afternoon we were able to make a longer run and see how the car changed throughout the session. I also got the car loose a couple of times in turn two and it’s good to know I can drive out of a slide on the oval. I’m still getting more confidence. This evening will be the first time I’ve ever qualified in a single-car session.”
“Nicolas had a solid day today,” said Chuck West, team owner. “He steadily improved, was consistently faster and stayed out of trouble. Nazareth is not an easy track, especially if you’ve never raced on an oval before. We’re definitely going in the right direction. We’ll be there tomorrow. The team has done a terrific job all weekend.” Tomorrow’s Atlantic activities begin with a 15-minute warm-up at 12:45 pm Eastern, followed by the race at 3:00 pm. The race will be televised Sunday, May 9 at 12:30 pm Eastern on espn2, with repeat broadcasts on Tuesday, May 11 at 1:30 am, and Thursday, May 13 at 2:00 am.