Max attack pays dividends for Arciero-Blair.

One of the highlights of a sodden Freightliner/GI Joe's 200 was the outstanding performance of rookie Max Wilson who scored a fine fourth place finish for the hard-trying Arciero-Blair team to finally open his CART account after a year of toil thus far in 2001.

With all due respect, Max Wilson and the Arciero-Blair Lola-Ford operation have not looked like scoring a point thus far in the 2001 CART Fed-Ex Championship spending the first half of the year struggling to find a good base-line set-up and undergoing a change of engines from the decrepit Phoenix (Ilmor) unit to the more stable Ford powerplant.

However when the former Williams F1 test driver ended the opening practice session in fourth place overall a few eyebrows were raised as the CART series moved onto more familiar territory for the Brazilian ex-Formula 3000 title contender.

Qualifying in the first group put Wilson at a disadvantage and he could only set 19th fastest time, still far better than the usual 25th/26th that the team have become accustomed to this year. And then it rained.

The Northwest temperatures varied over the last few days, but rain was always forecast for the race. Wilson and the team posted a fourth best in Friday's first session and were also fast in the morning warm up. Confident and trying new things on the newly debuted Lola-Ford package, the team entered today's race hoping for good results.

Wilson brought the Arciero-Blair entry from 19th to 15th and steadily up the field throughout the many yellows and on-track incidents. By lap 15, this first year CART driver was in eighth. By lap 25 he had moved into sixth and on lap 40 was in third. The 28-year old driver listened to the team on the radio, staying calm and focused during the many yellows and many restarts. He remained in third until lap 70 and was passed by Fittipaldi who had better tires on his car at the end of the timed race.

Wilson went on to finish fourth completing a personal best on a start and finish for Wilson and a team best for Arciero-Blair.

" It was great to finish fourth, almost a podium for Arciero-Blair and the whole team," said Wilson. " We got some points for our race family here. It was hard to hold off Fittipaldi at the end; I tried but lost my rear tires and almost went off of the track. I am very pleased with this finish and scoring my first CART points. It was tough today as there were many crashes and the course was wet and dry at times. The rain made the cars the same level; we were good in the dry but the rain helped us and I like driving in the rain. I raced a lot in Europe in the rain and it helped."

"The key today was to keep the car on the track and try to pass some other cars. Thank to God we finished the race. The car was good in the wet and the team did a good pit stop. I did my best to keep the car on the track and finish fourth."

"Our package with the Lola Ford is good, this is just our third race with Ford and we were able to score some points, the Arciero-Blair Team, Lola and Ford all have given me support. Having my Dad here from Brazil was great. He brought me some luck and I hope he brings more luck next week at Cleveland."

"I cannot express in words how I feel about how my son finished," said Wilson de Lima (Max's father). "This is a very special gift. So many people have helped him with this and believe in him."

"This is a hallmark to the achievement for the entire Arciero-Blair Team and Max Wilson" said Larry Blair. "We did not give up during all of the changes we made in the last few weeks; it is a significant milestone on behalf of the entire team. I call this "Max Control" out there. There are many teams out on the track that are highly financed and have a lot more resources. This is a big tribute to our team and I am proud."

Following this race the FedEx Championship Series continues with its third event in as many weeks, the Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by
Firstar, June 29-July 1 at Burke Lakefront Airport.