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Post Q1 Selected Quotes - Long Beach

Newman-Haas

Bruno Junqueira - 1st: "It feels really good to get the provisional pole. The PacifiCare car was awesome today. Long Beach has always been a good track for me. After a long off-season the PacifiCare team has worked really hard and has given me a good car. PacifiCare is located really close to Long Beach so we want to have a good weekend for them. Since this morning I felt the car was really good. Already on my third lap in qualifying I though the car was really, really fast. I want to work really hard to win some races this season. I had a long off-season and wanted to come back here and be on top. (How can you win the championship this season after being runner up for three consecutive years:) I have to do everything a little bit better. The last two years I was very close to winning the championship but didn't. I have to improve all aspects of myself as a driver."

Sebastien Bourdais - 3rd: "I expected Bruno to be tough this year and today he proved I was right. This is the first race of the year and I am not that accurate; I don't think I drove a Champ Car enough. All in all I had only two days of testing and I am not feeling all that ready. There is a small difference between getting pole here and crashing. I should be more accurate with each lap; I don't feel all that good (about my performance) now. When I came into the pits after my lap I thought it was pretty good but I guess I was wrong because Bruno ran such a quick time. Historically Bruno has been faster than me here and Paul (Tracy) has a lot of wins and experience here. These (Bruno and Paul) are two tough guys to beat here in the front. I think the McDonald's car will be fast this weekend, we made up a lot of ground during the race last year and I think we will be able to do it again. This is the first time I have come back as a champion in a series. I always stepped up to another series when I won the championship. I will approach the goal the same way I did last year and that was to take it one race at a time."

Forsythe

Paul Tracy - 2nd: "We knew our car was reasonably balanced so we thought we would have a good shot at the pole today. On my first run I left a little out on the track and then we put on the Red Bridgestone tires to really make a run at the pole. I had good lap going and then I caught up to Cristiano (da Matta) at the end of the back straight which slowed me down but that's qualifying at Long Beach."

RuSport

Justin Wilson - 4th: "It was a reasonable day, qualifying 4th. It was a shame it got a bit messy out there at the end, but it was the same for everybody really. We're going to make the most of it and get on with it. The team has done a good job getting us headed on the right track, so we'll get to work and get the SanDisk car further up the grid tomorrow."

A.J. Allmendinger - 8th: "It was a terrible session overall. The good thing is that my teammate qualified 4th with his new sponsor SanDisk on board. So, I'm happy for him, but we've got a lot of work to do. We're definitely not where we should be with the #10 car. We struggled quite a bit with grip during the session and I was really struggling. I know we're better, and tomorrow we'll prove it."

Jeremy Dale, Team President: "All in all, for Justin and the #9 SanDisk crew it was a pretty good day. This is the first day at the track together for that part of the RuSPORT team and there are a lot of new elements on that side; I think they are coming together nicely. Clearly we're not getting as much out of the alternate Bridgestone tire as it has to give, but tomorrow is another day. The team knows what they have to do."

"All of the guys on the #10 Beijing '06 car are clearly feeling frustrated today. It was certainly not the qualifying session we wanted to have. So we're simply going to go back and do the work to give A.J. the car he needs to deliver the results we know he's capable of."

Walker

Alex Tagliani - 5th: "I am pretty excited about this first day for Team Australia. The entire team has done so well considering this all came together so late. To go out and be fifth fastest in the first qualifying session is great because all our sponsors are here and there is a huge contingent of people from Australia - it is a good first day. We actually had a lot more in the car but on one of my quick laps I got blocked, so instead of doing a 1:08.6 lap we ended up with a 1:09.0. We were trying to get the tire pressure exactly where we wanted it, but with all the red flags, I ended up with one less lap than I needed. That hurt us today but we definitely have a shot at the top three tomorrow."

Marcus Marshall - 18th: "It was just one of those sessions where the red flags didn't help us. You only get about 15 laps to go at it in 45 minutes which can be tough with the traffic. The car wasn't quite right on my first run and it was also my first real go on sticker tires. I was hoping to go a lot quicker on the second set and I ended up getting hit from behind and I hit somebody else - I had a couple of little moments which meant I didn't get a lap in at the end like a lot of other guys did. But overall I am happy to get my first day under my belt, keep the car in one piece and gain more experience."

Mi-Jack

No quotes available

HVM

Ronnie Bremer - 9th: "It feels good to have my first day in Champ Car completed, now I can't wait for tomorrow. We made progress with the car today and I am quite disappointed with qualifying actually because just as we put the Bridgestone Alternate Tire on for the final stint, the track went red so we didn't get to use them. It will be quite interesting for tomorrow because I am sure we are not the only team in that position, but I do know we have much more left in the car."

Bjorn Wirdheim - 10th: "For my first day in Champ Car, it was good. I've been a little careful in the first two sessions because the most important thing for me was to get the most laps possible, to learn the circuit and to keep my car in tact. I am pleased we are in the top-ten immediately, especially because I know there is quite a lot more left in my car. The red flag hurt us of course but I feel good because my engineer (Will Phillips) and I set-up a very good baseline. I was looking forward to using the Bridgestone Alternate tires with the softer compound but unfortunately because of the red I was not able to take advantage of them. The Champ Car is a lot of fun to drive, I am quite impressed with it."

Keith Wiggins, Co-Owner/Managing Director: "It's pretty tough for both driers, one having never sat in the car before today and having only had one day of running. All things considered it was a respectable job. However its still a little frustrating because they both clearly showed they have great potential and I am expecting good things tomorrow."

Kalkhoven

No quotes available

Gentilozzi

Timo Glock - 12: "It was a pretty good session for us. We had some problems with traffic on a few laps which cost me some time. The car still is not in good shape, we have to find a little bit on the setup but we know where we need to go so we will be alright. We didn't use our red Bridgestone tires and a lot of people did so we should be better. We look pretty bad right now but we will be fine tomorrow."

Rocketsports

Ryan Hunter-Reay - 14th: "We didn't get to practice this morning because of a fuel pump problem and we were pleasantly surprised how we went in the first run. We knew we were going to set a good time today because of the problem this morning but we have a pretty good setup and we should have a good day tomorrow."

Coyne

No quotes available

Jensen

No quotes available

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