#21 Giaffone IRL Pikes Peak Saturday Qualifying

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

Felipe Giaffone

#21 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Chevrolet G-Force
Radisson Indy 225 - Saturday, June 15, 2002 - Qualifying Notes/Quotes
Pikes Peak International Raceway - Colorado Springs, Colo. - 1-Mile Oval
Round 7 of 15 on the 2002 Indy Racing League

Felipe Giaffone and the #21 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Chevrolet G-Force
qualified third for Sunday's Radisson Indy 225 at Pikes Peak International
Raceway.  He clocked a fast lap of 20.231 seconds (177.938 mph) over the
scenic mile oval south of Colorado Spring to put him on the starting grid
firmly behind front-row-starting teammates Gil de Ferran and Helio
Castroneves.  Giaffone used up one of his two allotted qualifying laps
before waving off his originally scheduled attempt.  The team had just
completed an engine change prior to the qualifying session after
encountering problems in today's second of two practice sessions.  Giaffone
found the car wasn't quite right on the initial qualifying lap, so the team
opted to wave off the attempt and go to the back of the qualifying line.

Polesitter de Ferran clocked a fast lap of 20.224 seconds (177.991 mph)
while Castroneves came in at 20.230 seconds (177.950 mph) to earn the
outside-front-row starting spot.

Race time Sunday is 2 p.m. MDT (4 p.m. EDT) with a live broadcast set for
ABC-TV.

FELIPE GIAFFONE

"I really wish I could have had a second qualifying lap now because I think
the Hollywood car could have won the pole today.  But, looking back, I think
we have to be satisfied with where we are.  I was getting pretty anxious
because I really didn't know what to expect from the car after we had to
change engines so quickly.  I went out for my first qualifying attempt and
the car was quite loose.  So we decided to wave off the attempt and try it
again after making some changes to the car.  At that point, I was praying
for rain because we would have started no worse than fourth (Giaffone is
fourth in the current driver points standings) if qualifying got rained out.
But third is even better, as it turned out.  For the race, our main goal is
to finish the race because there is always a lot going on out there on this
little track.  It's wide-open racing, but you're always turning and you
really have to work hard to stay out of trouble.  The whole team did a great
job today and I want to give them a big pat on the back."

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