Gurney on Outside Pole at Trois-Rivieres

                ALEX GURNEY SECURES OUTSIDE POLE AT TROIS-RIVIERES
                        Fogarty Will Start Fourth ... Diaz is Eighth

        TROIS-RIVIERES, Que., Canada (Aug. 3, 2002) -  Alex Gurney, of
Newport Beach, Calif., proved that his front-running in practice sessions
at Trois-Rivieres is not an accident as he secured the outside pole
position for Sunday's ninth round of the 12-race Toyota Atlantic
Championship at Trois-Rivieres, Quebec.

        Gurney, who held the pole heading into Saturday afternoon's final
qualifying, was upstaged with minutes remaining in the session when current
Atlantic points leader, Michael Valiante, uncovered an elusive clear lap to
slip past an otherwise unchallenged  Gurney.

        Valiante's time of 1:00.762 (90.116 mph) around the 10-turn,
1.521-street course was 0.105-seconds quicker than Gurney's 1:00.867
(89.960 mph). It was disappointing for Gurney because he and Jonathan Macri
were quicker than Hoover Orsi's 2001 track record in the morning practice.
However, afternoon temperatures soared above 100 degrees creating
impossible conditions for breaking Orsi's time of 1:00.663 (90.263 mph).

        "It was disappointing," said Gurney with a smile. "I thought after
this morning's practice and even using old tires that the car was really
hooked up. We may have overcompensated a little on the set-up for the new
tires. That turned out to be a mistake, but that's the way things go
sometimes. Regardless, Michael did a great job. It looks like Lynx Racing
will be strong tomorrow and so will Dorricott. We're start two and four so
I anticipate a good race."

        Sunday's race will be competitive enough with Gurney and Valiante
on the front row. It could be made even more competitive as both will have
teammate's lining up on their bumpers at the start of the 45-lap race.
Grant Ryley earned his season's best starting spot of third with a time of
1:01.035 (89.712 mph) while Dorricott Racing ace Jon Fogarty, of Portola
Valley, Calif., will start fourth after posting a lap of 1:01.180 (89.500
mph).  

        Luis Diaz, of Mexico City, continued to improve his momentum in
qualifying eighth with a time of 1:10.442 (89.118 mph).

        With the bonus point, Valiante extended his points lead to nine
points over Ryan Hunter-Reay, who continued to struggle this weekend in his
first visit to Trois-Rivieres.  Hunter-Reay's time of 1:01.803 (88.598 mph)
placed him 15th for Sunday's race. Fogarty, meanwhile, is third place in
the championship and one point behind Hunter-Reay.

        The 30-minute session was slowed only once due to the spin and
stall of Carl Russo in Turn 1. Russo restarted the car and continued on in
the session. 

        Atlantic teams resume bright and early on Sunday morning for an
8:00 a.m. ET warm-up session. Speed Channel will carry tomorrow's race from
the Grand Prix of Trois-Rivieres LIVE at 1:00 p.m. EST.

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