CHAMPCAR/CART: Krumm on the pace in Monterrey debut

Michael Krumm retired from a certain championship points finish in his Champcar Debut at the Tecate/Telmex Grand Prix of Monterrery, due to a mechanical failure.

The simple results do not tell the story of Michaels weekend, he had never driven the Lola before Friday free practice, he was driving with a team that he only met on the Thursday, he was using a 2000 Specification car and he did not have a spare car or even enough spare parts to risk pushing to his limit to learn the car.

Having qualified the No. 19 Infineon-Chapeco-Dark Dog-Glashutte Lola-Ford/Cosworth in position 23, Michael and the engineers at Dale Coyne Racing / PRG decided to make some radical set -up changes for the race, as the track conditions where changing continuously and Michael was still learning about the Lola.

From the start Michael lost a little track position while he gained confidence with the new set up, before pitting on Lap 9 during the first yellow flag period, regaining the track Michael began to set a competitive pace.

Once the first round of pit stops where completed he leapt to eleventh position and was running right on the pace - with the seventh fastest race lap to this time.

Completing his second pit stop under green and returning to the track in 16th position, Michael enjoyed several battles, overtaking Oriel Servia for position and passing reigning Formula 3000 Champion Bruno Jungueira .

Michael had enough fuel to complete the race distance, whereas most of the cars in front of him would need to make one more stop - so a top ten points finish was certain.

Unfortunately Michaels exciting debut weekend was to end in the pits on lap 51 with a mechanical failure related to the engine.

" This has been one of the toughest weekends of racing I have ever completed - really it is more like three days of testing for me, and today we practiced pit stops as well! All in front of an amazing crowd of fans, who where really generous and supported all the drivers.

The Coyne Racing / PRG team have worked very hard to get me here and I think we have proved that it was worth it, in the middle of the race the car was very good and I was confident that I could pass a few people and make a very strong finish. The team deserved that after all the effort they have put in.

For sure we have a lot to learn and some areas to improve, but we now know what they are and I have a good understanding of the Lola, so I am looking forward to the next race and continuing our very public testing. Michael commented.

Michael returned to Japan immediately after the race to test his Formula Nippon Car on Thursday and Friday of this week in preparation for the first round of the series on the 25th of March at the Suzuka Circuit.

-LGMM