#21 Giaffone IRL Texas Saturday Qualifying

FORT WORTH, Texas (Saturday, Sept. 14, 2002) -- Felipe Giaffone and the #21 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Chevrolet G-Force will start Sunday's Chevy 500 Indy Racing League season finale from the inside of the seventh row after qualifying today on the Texas Motor Speedway 1.5-mile tri-oval.  Giaffone turned a fast lap of 23.9903 seconds (218.378 mph) for the 13th-fastest time in the 28-car field.  Earlier in the day, he turned the 11th-fastest time in morning practice.  Giaffone, who has locked up fourth place in the driver points standings for the year, can move up to third with a sixth-place finish or better.

Vitor Meira earned his first IRL pole today with a fast lap of 23.6378 seconds (221.594 mph).  Al Unser, Jr., qualified second in 23.6978 seconds (221.025 mph), followed by defending series champion and current points leader Sam Hornish, Jr., in third at 23.7165 seconds (220.859 mph).  Helio Castroneves, who trails Hornish by just 12 points in the standings and is the only driver capable of overtaking him for the championship, qualified 10th.  


Race time Sunday is 2 p.m. local time (3 p.m. EDT) with a live broadcast set for ABC-TV.


FELIPE GIAFFONE


"The car was a little slower than it was in the morning session because the track conditions changed a little bit.  But this speed was the best we could do with the Hollywood car for the qualifying.  The car is good.  We have a good setup for the race.  This is going to be a long one ... 300 miles.  We have to avoid getting involved in accidents, try to save the car, and attack in the final laps.  We are just changing engines, as we always do after the qualifying session, and I am pretty sure we will have a competitive race.  Anything will be better than last weekend, when we had so many problems and had to race with a less-powerful engine.  I can't wait for tomorrow.  I want so badly to win this last race."