Madison, IL (May 28, 1999) — Nicolas Rondet, in only his second race event on an oval, captured the sixth starting spot for tomorrow’s 50-lap Kool/Toyota Atlantic race at Gateway International Raceway, part of the Motorola 300 CART FedEx Championship weekend.
“We had a great run today, but we’re a little disappointed with sixth,” said Rondet, who consistently ran in the top three during today’s afternoon practice session. “I think the car may have been a little too stuck, and we also caught some wind on our qualifying run. I was watching the flags while waiting in line and noticed that the wind picked-up right before we were going out. I don’t know how much it hurt, but we’re all so close that I’m sure it made some difference. But, the car is very good actually and I think it will be a great car for the race.”
Rondet turned a best time of 30.874 seconds on his second of two timed laps. Anthony Lazzaro won the pole with a time of 30.321. Tomorrow’s Atlantic activities begin with a 15-minute warm-up at 12:00 noon, followed by the race at 5:30 pm.