#21 Giaffone Homestead Saturday Race Notes/Quotes

#21 Felipe Giaffone

#21 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Chevrolet G-Force
Grand Prix of Miami - Race Notes/Quotes - Saturday, March 2, 2002
Homestead Miami Speedway - Homestead, Fla. - 1.5-Mile Oval
Round 1 of 15 for the 2002 Indy Racing League

Felipe Giaffone and the #21 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Chevrolet G-Force
finished seventh in today's Indy Racing League 2002 season opener at
Homestead Miami Speedway.

It was the first IRL event in the three-year history of Mo Nunn Racing and
the first of the veteran Brazilian driver's sophomore season in the all-oval
open-wheel series.  Giaffone was last year's IRL Rookie of the Year driving
for Treadway/Hubbard Racing.

Giaffone started 17th today after a frustrating day of qualifying on Friday,
during which his car developed major oversteer.  But he steadily made his
way through the field today, working his way up to 11th by Lap 25 of the
200-lap, 300-mile race.  He was eighth by Lap 50, and stayed in the top 10
the rest of the day, running as high as sixth on Lap 125.

Defending series champion Sam Hornish won from the pole today, beating CART
transplants Gil de Ferran (runner-up) and Helio Castroneves (third-place
finisher) to the checkered flag.  Hornish and the Penske Racing teammates
were the only finishers on the lead lap.

Round Two of the 2002 IRL season is in two weeks at Phoenix International
Raceway.  Mo Nunn Racing next takes to the track next weekend to begin its
third CART FedEx Championship Series season with driver Tony Kanaan and the
#10 Pioneer-WorldCom/Mo Nunn Racing Honda-Reynard.

FELIPE GIAFFONE

"I think the race was pretty hard for everybody. We made some big changes
for the race. My car was pushing for the whole race, and the wind upset the
rear. But it was a really tough weekend for us. Fortunately, we got to the
end of the race. After the really hard weekend we had, I'm kind of happy
that I could finish the race, but I think we could improve a lot."