Gurney Wins Denver Prov. Atlantic Pole

DENVER (August 30, 2002) -  Jon Fogarty, of Portola Valley, Calif.,
held the provisional pole for less than a second before teammate, Alex
Gurney, sneaked past him to claim it during Friday afternoon qualifying at
the Shell Grand Prix of Denver. Gurney, of Newport Beach, Calif., screamed
around Denver’s nine-turn, 1.647-mile temporary street course with a time
of 1:10.168 (84.500 mph) to win provisional pole heading into Saturday's
final qualifying session.

        The biggest factor may have been the bonus point and guaranteed
front row starting spot that Fogarty needed in his Championship battle with
Canadian Michael Valiante. However, a series of red flag sessions cut into
Fogarty's chances to top Gurney's time so Valiante, who exited the session
in the early minutes with a broken
gearbox, maintained his six point advantage over Fogarty heading into the
final day of the 2002 CART Toyota Atlantic Championship.

        "It is a great feeling to be on the pole heading into tomorrow,"
said Gurney. "I've been trying hard. I've had a couple of provisionals but
hopefully we can make this one stick. I don't want to take Championship
points away from my teammate, but I guess both of us up here is a really
good thing."

        "It was a little disappointing," said Fogarty on losing the
provisional pole. "I was up on Alex the whole time and then the red came
out just as I was entering Turn 8 so I wasn't able to capitalize.
Nevertheless, our cars are good. This track is tough and there are a lot of
bumps but the layout is great. It is almost like two different race tracks
as you go from concrete in one section and new blacktop in another section.
It is a driver's track"

        Series points leader, Valiante, only turned three laps before the
gearbox on his Swift 014.a broke, forcing him to retire from the session.
Valiante stands 20th on the provisional grid with a time of 1:13.778
(80.365 mph)

        Luis Diaz, of Mexico, was the victim of traffic during qualifying
and wasn't able to find a clear lap to show how fast the Telmex Swift 014a
really is. Regardless, Diaz was sixth in provisional qualifying at 1:10.903
(83.624 mph).

        Three red flag sessions hampered Dorricott Racing. Cam Binder, of
Canada, spun early in the session in Turn 5 and stalled and then made
contact later with Turn 8 tire wall brining out the red flag once again. In
the final moments, Bob Siska made contact with the Turn 8 tire wall as well
bringing out the checkered flag two minutes early.

        The heat will be on tomorrow as the CART Atlantic Championship will
crown its 2002 Champion. Fogarty and the rest of the 26-car field will
resume qualifying at 9:00 a.m. MST.

        Tomorrow's 38-lap race will get underway at 3:30 p.m. MT and will
be carried LIVE on the peed Channel.

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