Champ Car World Series: Gran Premio Telmex-Tecate presented by Banamex

Topics:  Gran Premio Telmex-Tecate

A.J. Allmendinger
Sebastien Bourdais
Bruno Junqueira
November 5, 2004

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO

ERIC MAUK: Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to our post qualifying press conference, first round of qualifying for the Grand Premio Telmex Tecate presented by, round 14 of the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford. We are joined by our top three qualifiers today. We'll start with our third place qualifier, driver of the #10 Western Union Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone, AJ Allmendinger, for RuSPORT. He is third today with a lap of 1:27.858 seconds, 114.175 miles per hour. AJ, great run today. How do you feel about the way it went?

AJ ALLMENDINGER: I was pleased overall. First time here for myself and for the team. We've just been picking away a little bit during the practice session and during qualifying. I think there's still a lot left in myself and in the car. So overall, any time you can be in the Top 3 in this series, it's great. I think there's more tomorrow for us to have. As long as we continue the progress, I think we can be there.

AJ ALLMENDINGER: Yeah, I thought so. But there's still a lot of stuff for us to work on overall in the car. For myself, just trying to figure out how to get a good lap in on this track. Any time you can have a good practice session and be up on the lap chart, it's good heading into qualifying to give you confidence. But you just never know.

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: The McDonald's car is definitely looking very good. I think most of the front-runners have been running on the alternate tires that Bridgestone has brought along. They're definitely much faster. I think most of the people improved between 7/10ths of a second to two seconds. For the second run, definitely there is a lot left tomorrow. I knew it was going to be really hard to compete against Bruno, with the regular tires, and Bruno with the alternate tires. But I went for it. It was a very, very strong first run. You know, just laid it very much on the edge. Just didn't make it in the last turn. (Inaudible) is very close. Doesn't really matter if I make it very cleanly through the last turn, because it's a very long straight, and afterwards, you know, unfortunately I pushed to the limit.

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: Well, I think it's pretty clear for us that we can do the lap very early on during the run, so there's no point in standing around and wearing out the tires that we might have to use for the race. You know, it was basically a (inaudible) of grip on the Bridgestone tires, on every tire. You know, I just needed two laps, and that was it.

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA: I feel really happy. It was real important to get a pole today, the points, and to guarantee front row. The PacifiCare car was very good this morning and didn't change much for the afternoon. On the first set of tires, the balance wasn't there, wasn't that great, so we made a big change on the car. Never changed both the springs -- all four springs on the car. Just took a big gamble and decided to go on the soft tire, as well. We wait five minutes to go. I was able to put a good lap and to get the pole on the last lap. I knew that I just need to make no mistakes to get the pole. I knew that the first lead was good. Was very difficult because my car wasn't especially very good with turn 14, so I took it very conservative in the end to guarantee the pole because I knew it was important. I'm quite happy with that. I think it's important for the championship. Put pressure on Sebastien to have a good qualifying tomorrow, as well. So I'm quite happy. I think tomorrow I can improve the car. As I said, this afternoon the car wasn't perfect, but it was good enough to put on the pole. So let's work harder tomorrow to get the extra point tomorrow and the pole for the race.

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA: Really, really good. I think the Bridgestone tires, one thing that Sebastien said, pretty amazing hold. The tires came up to speed on the first lap, you already can do a very, very fast lap. That's amazing. One of the only tracks you can see that. (Inaudible) is actually the best. So the tires are holding very well, as well, because this morning I run 23 laps on the tires. I did my best with like 15 laps on the tires. I was just behind the guys that running new tires. So the Bridgestone tires are holding very well, especially the soft tires. They gave a lot of grip, but very fun to drive. Maybe next year going to ask for more of those. But it's been great. I mean, you have to work a little bit as well on the setup with that kind of tire, small groove, you can go at least half a second faster on those tires. Have to do some adjustments for tomorrow when we run the soft tires.

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: You can only try, right? You can never know if it's going to work out until you finish the lap. No, I think I felt it was pretty close, and I didn't have a look yet on the data, but Craig said that it was, you know, going to be very, very close. You know, that's why I went for it. I knew it was going to take a big attack, and unfortunately it didn't go through the last turn. But we are looking very good. We have the setup on the alternate tires for tomorrow. We're going to really be able to work it out.

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA: I feel the car was there. I knew I had to do it because on the second to last lap, when I brake for turn 14, there was a bump there, and I lost the car a little bit. I lost maybe 3 or 4/10ths. So on the last lap, I took it a little bit conservative, especially on the last part of the track. Sebastien could run 1 or 2/10ths faster, but if I run like a seven-five I'll be on the pole, not take any (inaudible) because he had hard tires. So I had an advantage, and I could be on top. We took the gamble, as well. Tomorrow we're going to have just one set, and I hope it's going to have a clean run tomorrow. But was important. Was important to get the point today, and that was our decision.

AJ ALLMENDINGER: Actually, what happened was, you know, there's about three or four laps on the red tires that I thought I could put a good lap in, and I think we're having a little problem with our data system because after my best lap, my next lap said I was up by like 9/10ths. So going into the last corner, I figured that was going to be the best lap I could do. I pulled in and it was actually slower than the last four. Looking on the data, it was never even close to being 9/10ths up. It was up in the first couple of corners, then down. Then after that, after I pitted, I didn't think we were going to have a chance to go back out and go faster than what I did. Like I said, there's some stuff we can work on for tomorrow. And today was a good result, so I was happy and pleased with that. And I think we just go in and figure out what's wrong with the car and just fix that for tomorrow.

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: Well, I think the track is very close to last year. It didn't really change. You see it's much faster than last year. And second, because, you know, we came back with the same setup and really just feeling the same. You know, I think it's really difficult here to put the setup together and find the balance. It's always been a challenge, and it always is when you have less downforce and it's a bumpy track. So the smallest problem, adjustment you did on the car makes a bigger effect as a result. So it's tough, yeah, for sure.

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA: As Sebastien said, this track is a little bit bumpy and we don't have much downforce, so it's very hard to find the right balance. When you find the right balance, you can go much faster, and you can feel comfortable, you can attack the corners. When the car is not pretty good over the bumps, especially on the fast (inaudible), like high speed and very bumpy, not much downforce, so it's very, very difficult to get the tight line to make the right line there. And if the car is not feeling good, it's a nightmare. But if the car is feeling good, is a lot of fun.

AJ ALLMENDINGER: I'll agree with that (laughter).

AJ ALLMENDINGER: I mean, this is by far the place I wanted to be. It's what I worked for for the last four or five years, especially in the Champ Car ladder system, going through the ranks. You know, I'm more than happy to be here. There's really no place I'd rather be right now than in Champ Car, especially with RuSPORT. So, you know, Michel coming on board this year has been a huge help. I don't think we'd be as far as we are right now without him, and I'm just really looking forward to him this weekend. Hopefully we can continue the success that we have, and especially even next year, because not only do I think the team is getting a lot better, and myself as a driver, I think Champ Car itself is getting a lot stronger, and that's probably what is the most exciting.

AJ ALLMENDINGER: Well, I mean, I think early on in the season, it was really about just trying to find a good baseline. You know, the first couple of races, we were kind of lost on just where to even start with the car. Now we're able to each weekend start with a decent baseline that we know that works and work from there on that. And that's why it shows that we've been further up in the grid each weekend, because now we can use the first practice really as a test session, and I'm more confident in the car, and I can go out and attack the track and learn it a lot quicker. So overall, we've gotten stronger. There's still a lot of work to for us to do, especially to run with these two guys over here. So in the off-season we know the places that we're weak still and the places we need to work on. But overall I'm very pleased with the progress that the team's made, especially in the last eight races because, as you said, we're consistently in the top three rows. Now it's just a matter that we got to work on so we can be consistently in the top two rows and challenging these guys each weekend, get the setup perfect and be able to contend with them.

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: Yes, it's been the strategy all the time for us. I think we've been pretty successful doing so. When we saw that everybody was, you know, using a set of alternate tires, we said, "Oh, that might be difficult to get the pole." AJ was very close, but didn't pass us. So was Wilson, and a bunch of other guys. Then traffic has probably been somewhat of an issue, too, sometimes for others. But, no, I'm really pleased because now we're going to be able to work on the setup, and I think it can be looking good tomorrow as long as the weather is staying consistent and we don't run into trouble.

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: I think it was kind of off the (inaudible) because the steering wheel was not completely straight, but it was nothing major. Just scrapes around the tires, very slightly.

ERIC MAUK: That will wrap-up our press conference. We said the grid with final qualifying which begins tomorrow at 1:45. Thank you.