Tracy Expects Better Race

Paul Tracy will start the Hurricane Relief 400 from 14th on the grid, but is confident that he will be able to come through the field in the race

Matt Beer Sep 24, 2005, 1:07 PM

The Forsythe driver has been steadily falling out of contention for the Champ Car title after a series of incidents in recent races. With series leader Sebastien Bourdais 13 places ahead of Tracy in the Las Vegas starting order, the Canadian faces a tough task to get on terms.

But he insists that his poor practice form is not indicative of his potential in Saturday night's race, when conditions will be very different.

"We just didn't have good balance in the heat of the day," said Tracy. "We had a lot of push (understeer) that was bad when we were running alone and worse when we were in traffic.

"But we made a few changes for the night practice session and the car was a rocket in traffic. We didn't set the fastest time but I could put the car anywhere on the track and even on cold tyres the balance was perfect.

"It's an old cliche, but we've got a great race car and we should be good for the race."