#10 Kanaan CART Denver Sunday Race Notes/Quotes

Kanaan Finishes Sixth at Shell Grand Prix of Denver

DENVER (Sunday, Sept. 1, 2002) -- Tony Kanaan and the #10 Pioneer-WorldCom/Mo Nunn Racing Honda-Lola finished sixth in today's inaugural Shell Grand Prix of Denver CART FedEx Championship Series event.  Kanaan started ninth and held his position through the first round of pit stops on Lap 32.  He moved up to eighth when Kenny Brack, running in front of him, decided to pit out of sequence on Lap 46.  Kanaan then began turning the fastest laps of the race on Laps 56 and 57 of today's 100-lap event in the 61.8-second range.  His second pit stop came on Lap 61 and he resumed in eighth place by all cars were done with the second round of stops by Lap 64.  Shinji Nakano, who was running ahead of Kanaan, experienced problems on his second pit stop, and allowed Kanaan to move up to seventh by Lap 65.  Kanaan moved up to sixth on Lap 77, momentarily slid up to fifth during a flurry of off-schedule pit stops, and resumed in sixth after his final pit stop on Lap 89 under yellow.

Polesitter Bruno Junqueira won today's event, leading all 100 laps.  His teammate Scott Dixon finished second with series points leader Cristiano da Matta taking the final podium position in third.


Next up on the 2002 CART calendar is the Rockingham 500 in Corby, England, a two-day event set for Sept. 13-14.  It will be Round 15 of the 19-event tour this season.


TONY KANAAN QUOTES

"I've got to thank all my guys for giving me a car to go the distance today.  The conditions were rough.  We were very, very concerned about using up the brakes and cooling the engine, as well as keeping the car on the track with all the bumps around here.  But we held together well, and I actually had a fast car that really was at its best halfway through the race.  The team did a great job on all three of our pit stops and I've got to say we're getting into quite a groove with four top-six finishes in our last five races, including two podiums.  Now we really need to be able to qualify closer to the front if we can even think about winning any races because it's so competitive out there, it's nearly impossible to pass anybody on the racetrack.  I'm looking forward to England.  I think we'll have a good chance there."