#55 Kanaan Houston Friday Practice Notes/Quotes

Contact:  Laz Denes, 256-657-6190
ldenes@monunnracing.com
www.monunnracing.com

Tony Kanaan

#55 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Honda-Reynard
Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston - Practice Notes/Quotes - Friday, Oct.
5, 2001
George R. Brown Convention Center - Houston, Texas - 1.527-Mile Temporary
Street Course
Round 18 of 21 on the 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series

Tony Kanaan and the #55 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Honda-Reynard wrapped up a
solid first day of practice today for Sunday's Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of
Houston with the second-fastest time of a wet afternoon session over the
1.527-mile downtown street course in front of the George R. Brown Convention
Center.  His fast afternoon lap of 1 minute, 12.609 seconds (an average of
75.710 mph) was surpassed only by Shinji Nakano's 1:12.499 (76.824 mph)
effort.  Kenny Brack was third-fastest in the wet this afternoon at 1:12.766
(76.557 mph).  After a dry opening session this morning, during which Kanaan
recorded the ninth-fastest lap of 1:01.808 (88.940 mph), a light rain
persisted throughout the 90-minute afternoon session.

Kanaan's new teammate, Casey Mears, got behind the wheel of the #66
Pioneer-WorldCom/Mo Nunn Racing Honda-Reynard for the first time today after
Alex Zanardi's racing accident in Germany three weeks ago.  Mears' best lap
this morning was a 1:03.615 (86.414 mph) effort that was 25th fastest among
all drivers.  Mears was 23rd-fastest in this afternoon's wet session in
1:16.303 (72.044 mph).  Gil de Ferran had the fastest time of the day this
morning with a lap of 1:01.222 (89.791 mph), followed by Christian
Fittipaldi at 1:01.406 (89.522 mph) and Helio Castroneves at 1:01.418
(89.505 mph).

Practice resumes Saturday morning with qualifying set to begin at 1:45 p.m.
local time (2:45 p.m. EDT).  The local weather forecast calls for continued
rain showers through tonight and tomorrow morning, while fair conditions are
predicted for race day, Sunday.  The CART qualifying show will be broadcast
on ESPN2 at 2:30 a.m. EDT Sunday.  Race time Sunday at 1 p.m. local time (2
p.m. EDT) with a live broadcast set for ESPN.

TONY KANAAN

"It was a pretty good day for us.  We waited in the pits for a while before
going out this morning so some rubber could get laid down on the track.
Then we tried a few things that didn't exactly work, but we finished the
session pretty well.  Then it rained during the afternoon session, which
changed everything completely.  But we thought it was a good idea to run and
get a feel for the setup in the wet just in case it rains on Sunday.  It's
not supposed to, but you never know for sure.  We made some gains in the
wet, so if we're able to make the car go faster in those conditions, we'll
be in that much better shape once we run here in the dry again.  We've been
strong on the ovals - especially at Germany and England - and we've had good
days on road courses and street courses.  So we have every reason to believe
we'll be strong here.  We definitely miss Alex (Zanardi), but his positive
attitude in the hospital back in Germany is really keeping our spirits high
for everyone on the team.  We have no excuses.  Our only mission is to win a
race and send him the trophy."

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