#21 Giaffone IRL Chicagoland Saturday Qualifying

Giaffone Qualifies 10th for Sunday's Delphi Indy 300

JOLIET, Ill. (Saturday, Sept. 7, 2002) -- Felipe Giaffone and the #21 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Chevrolet G-Force will start Sunday's Delphi Indy 300 from the outside of the fifth row after qualifying today at Chicagoland Speedway.  Giaffone turned a fast lap of 24.8056 seconds (220.595 mph) around the 1.5-mile tri-oval for the 10th-fastest time overall.
Defending series champion Sam Hornish, Jr., earned the pole with a fast lap of 24.5528 seconds (222.867 mph). Buddy Rice will start alongside Hornish on the front row after a qualifying lap of 24.6100 (222.349 mph).  Al Unser, Jr., qualified third in 24.6363 seconds (222.111 mph).  Giaffone is chasing Hornish for third place in the driver championhip.  Hornish is currently in third with 429 points while Giaffone is in fourth with 391.  Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves leads the points with 437 over teammate Gil de Ferran's 436.  Castroneves qualified 21st today while de Ferran qualified 11th.  Only Sunday's race and next weekend's event at Texas Motor Speedway remain on the 2002 IRL schedule.


Race time Sunday is noon local time (1 p.m. EDT) with a live broadcast set for ABC-TV.  ESPN2's 30-minute "Indy Racing 2Day" show will be broadcast at noon EDT.



FELIPE GIAFFONE


"For qualifying, I knew we were never going to be the fastest out there.  We were not worried about qualifying.  But to be honest, our qualifying lap was better than I expected.  It was our best lap of the weekend, so far, and I believe the heat helped us get one very important tenth of a second.  I think we lost a little bit of downforce on a track where all you're trying to do is have less and less drag and downforce and more engine.  Those other guys have more power for qualifying than we've had all season.  It will be a big fight tomorrow.  Starting on the outside of the fifth row won't be bad, as we have a good race setup.  We'll need to have a good engine, which I think we have.  You have to have a good chassis, as well, in traffic, which I think I have, too.  I know my car is good for tomorrow, so we should have a good race."