Friday, Aug. 19, 2011
Final Qualifying NNS NAPA Auto Parts 200 presented by Dodge
Dodge Motorsports PR
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
JACQUES VILLENEUVE (No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger R/T) Pole Winner “If there’s one place that you want to be quick (at) it’s at home. This is a special track as it bares my father’s name. I’ve raced here 14 or 15 times, so there’s a lot of history. It’s good when you can get to a track and from the moment you get going, the car is great. Today, our Discount Tire/Ruby Tuesday Tire Dodge is just amazing all day on old tires, new tires, so it’s looking good. I did make my lap on the third lap, which isn’t the way to go. That shows that our race pace should be good because our tires are holding up. That gives us a lot of confidence for tomorrow.”
HOW MUCH WILL YOUR ROAD COURSE EXPERIENCE PLAY A FACTOR IN TOMORROW’S RACE? “Driving here in Formula One versus NASCAR is two different tracks. I think there are two extra corners in NASCAR. Places (here) in F1 are flat out and you don’t even think about (turning). Here in NASCAR, suddenly they become corners. It’s very different. Like the last chicane, you brake before the bridge. In F1, you don’t even look at the bridge; you look at brake markers further down. In most corners (in F1) you brake in a straight line. In NASCAR, you start braking when you’re still turning into the hairpin, into Turn 1. It’s very, very different. It’s almost a totally different race track. Same as F1, this is a good track for overtaking and it gives a good show.”
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THAT YOU RECALL THAT YOU HAD THE BEST CAR IN THE RACE? “1997 (laughs). That was a long time ago. My memory comes back really fast and that’s how it felt all day today. Even before coming here we knew that we had prepared the car and we knew that we would be up there fighting. We hardly changed the setup. We’re still on the Elkhart Lake setup, basically, just a few changes. When things go well you can just relax and focus on how to drive it well instead of trying to find gremlins in the car or try to invent a new setup over night.”
ALEX TAGLIANI (No. 12 Hot Wheels Dodge Challenger R/T) Qualified 2nd “It was great. For me, it’s quite special to be here in the No. 12 car. Gilles (Villeneuve), Jacque’s dad, won with that number, and to race with a team that’s so tough to beat in IndyCar and sweeping the front row with both cars is amazing. Obviously, we’re showing that the Dodge Challengers are the cars to beat here today. Like Jacques said, we ran well all day long. On the long run the car seems to be OK for us. Even if it’s going to be a long race, we start in very good position.”
HOW MUCH WILL YOUR ROAD COURSE EXPERIENCE PLAY A FACTOR IN TOMORROW’S RACE? “For me, being in IndyCar last weekend I found it very difficult. I think you need to give credit to the guys that are running in this series all the time and do what they do in these types of cars. It’s so easy to overdrive them and make a mistake. In qualifying I normally don’t think, I just push and at the end I realize that I just went through a qualifying without thinking. In (today’s) qualifying, I had to think about braking, where to shift, looking at the dash. It’s a lot more thinking than I’m use to. With two good cars I think we were able to show that the cars are fast from Penske fore sure.”
ROBBY GORDON (No. 77 SPEED Energy Dodge Challenger R/T) Qualified Sixth “Our SPEED Energy Dodge was good. I told my guys that we’re in a position that we must qualify. My goal was to put one lap in the bank and then take a conservative lap. Sure enough my first lap was my fastest and I wheel-hopped on my second lap. We’re fast. It’s a great race with great fans.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE THIS TRACK OWES YOU ONE? “No, two.”
ANDREW RANGER (No. 53 Quebec Dodge Dealers Dodge Challenger R/T) Qualified 11th “We changed our engine in practice earlier today and missed most of the first session. We started the second practice session late, but our car was good for qualifying. The No. 53 Dodge Challenger will be better in race trim. I think my car worked really well in qualifying. I love this track. The fans are incredible. We will see where we end up. Tomorrow is a long race. What I’ve learned here is that you have to be patient. The cars are really heavy and you have to save your stuff to the end. It will be fun.”
MARYEVE DUFAULT (No. 81 Quebec Dodge Dealers Dodge Challenger R/T) Qualified 39th “Things were going pretty good in qualifying until the No. 42 car surprised me and spun out. I had to brake really hard and lost the rear of the car. We’ve come a long way today. This morning, we only ran a few laps and didn’t get a lot of track time. We had some small issues with the car. It’s my first time in a Nationwide Series car. We’re in the race tomorrow and that’s what counts. It’s going to be a great race. All the Dodge Challengers are fast. Anything can happen in the race. I just need to keep my bumper clean and try to be there at the end.”
HOW HAS THE TRANSITION FROM ARCA TO NATIONWIDE BEEN YOUR YOU? “It’s different. I thought that it would be a lot closer, but’s it’s not. More horsepower and wheel spin in these Nationwide cars. It’s just running more laps and getting use to the car. Tomorrow will be fun. I’m really excited about racing here in Montreal.”
