Madison, IL (May 27, 1999) — Nicolas Rondet, in only his second race event on an oval, was quickly up to speed during today’s Kool/Toyota Atlantic activities, part of the Motorola 300 CART FedEx Championship weekend. While he set the eighth fastest time in this morning’s 40-minute practice session, he was running in the second spot in this afternoon’s session until a cv joint broke and ended his run.
“Today was an encouraging day for us,” said Rondet, who ended the second session eight overall as well. “We were just gearing up to lay down some fast laps when the cv joint let go. We just put new tires on and I came out behind (Kenny) Wilden. I followed him to see how the car was in dirty air, then passed him. The car was fast. Going down the backstraight, I was close to the fourth gear rev limiter, hit 5th and there was nothing there. I went back to fourth and, again, nothing. Apparently, we lost a cv joint. We feel good about today. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow – that’s when it all counts.”
Tomorrow’s on-track activities begin at 12:20 with a 40-minute practice session, followed by single-car qualifying at 4:00 pm. The Atlantic series will also “practice under the lights” at 7:00 pm.