Alex Gurney Wins Provisional Pole at T-R

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                       

Contact:        James Hyneman   
        jhyneman@compuserve.com


                ALEX GURNEY WINS PROVISIONAL POLE AT TROIS-RIVIERES
                        Fogarty Fourth Fastest After First Day  ... Diaz is
Ninth

        TROIS-RIVIERES, Que., Canada (Aug. 2, 2002) - Alex Gurney's return
to Trois-Rivieres in the Toyota Atlantic Championship was something he had
looked forward too and with good reason. After finishing third place in the
2000 Atlantic race, Gurney showed he still remembered and understood one of
Atlantic's toughest circuits by winning the provisional pole for round nine
of the 12-race series.

        Gurney, of Newport Beach, Calif., blistered the 1.521-mile, 10-turn
temporary street circuit with a time of 1:01.116 = 89.594 mph. Regardless
of what happens in Saturday's final 30-minute qualifying session beginning
at 12:30 p.m. ET, Gurney's provisional pole earned a guaranteed front row
starting spot for Sunday's race and a championship bonus point. 

        "This has been a long time coming," said an elated Gurney. "It
feels really good. I ran my fast lap free of traffic at the right time when
the fuel was low and the car was warmed up. It was perfect timing and I
needed it. The last red flag was a concern since there were only four
minutes left when the track went green again. It became a matter of running
your fast lap right away. We struggled in the last couple of races but
we've managed to stay in the championship. My crew did an outstanding job
of preparing the car so I'm pleased I was able to bring home a good time on
their efforts. Now we hope we can run quicker tomorrow."

        Despite running consistently well, it wasn't until the final minute
and last lap of qualifying that Gurney pushed his Behr/Castrol Swift 014a
to the front of the 27-car field. A red flag was issued with 12 minutes
remaining in the session due to contact between Kyle Krisiloff and Rodolfo
Lavin. Neither driver was injured but the track was closed for clean-up
until less than five minutes remained.

        Gurney, who was fourth fastest at the time of the caution, moved
into third place two laps after the circuit went "green," and then jumped
to the top spot on the proceeding lap. The checkered flag found Gurney
besting series leader and outside pole sitter Michael Valiante by
two-thousandths of a second.

        Teammate Jon Fogarty, of Portola Valley, Calif., was caught out on
the red flag as he had pitted one lap earlier to change to fresh tires.
Being unable to use them to the fullest, Fogarty opted to have them removed
during the caution's "down time" and resumed using old tires to complete
the session and prepare for Saturday's final qualifying. Fogarty was fourth
fastest at 1:10.505 = 89.027 mph.

        "We pitted on the lap before the final red flag," reflected
Fogarty. "We changed tires, went out, but the red flag was thrown as soon
as I left pit lane. I returned to pit lane not knowing how much time we'd
have left in the session. So, we switched back to our old tires to save the
new ones for tomorrow. After the track went green, I was hung up in traffic
right before the checkered flag."
 
        Luis Diaz, of Mexico, was also seeking to tame traffic while
learning the track but still qualified a highly respectable ninth in the
Telmex Swift 014.a.

        "It may not show but we improved a lot," said Diaz. "We still have
fine tuning to get the car ready for tomorrow but it's better now than
before because I know the track. We'll be working on the car from this
point forward instead of me."

        The CART Toyota Atlantic Championship will be back into action
tomorrow morning with a 30-minute practice at 9:00 a.m. followed by the
30-minute final qualifying session of the weekend at 12:30 p.m. ET.

                                                #     #     #