#10 Kanaan CART Fontana Sunday Race Notes/Quotes

Polesitter Kanaan Finishes Fourth in The 500 at California Speedway

FONTANA, Calif. (Sunday, Nov. 3, 2002) -- Polesitter Tony Kanaan and the #10 Pioneer-WorldCom/Mo Nunn Racing Honda-Lola finished fourth in today's 500-mile CART FedEx Championship Series event at California Speedway.  Kanaan, whose pole starting position was his second in the last three races and his third top-three qualifying effort in that span, was in and out of the lead during the first 99 laps of today's 250-lap race around the high-banked, 2-mile tri-oval.  He led four times for a total of 10 laps in a race that saw the lead change hands 44 times in typical California Speedway fashion.  From that point on, Kanaan could not overcome handling problems while running in traffic and he could climb no higher than fourth over the last 150 laps.  The finish was his best since he took third in the inaugural CART event at Montreal in August.
 

Jimmy Vasser made a late-race pass on Michael Andretti on a restart with two laps to go to pick up his first victory of the season.  Andretti finished second with Patrick Carpentier finishing third. 

 

The 19th and final race on the 2002 CART FedEx Championship Series schedule is in two weeks - the inaugural Grand Premio at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City (Nov. 15-17). 

  

TONY KANAAN QUOTES

 

"Oh, well.  Another day in paradise.  We were struggling just enough in traffic all day long that I just didn't have what it would have taken to get Jimmy (Vasser) and Michael (Andretti).  I probably could have gotten Pat (Carpentier) if we would have had another lap or two at the end.  In the end, I have to say I'm happy with fourth place.  The car wasn't as good in traffic as I would have liked.  It had a lot of understeer.  We made some changes every pit stop but nothing seemed to help make it go away completely.  The car was exactly the same in the end as it was in the beginning.  Consistent.  Sometimes that's a good thing, when you start out with a perfect car.  But that's the way it is.  That was all we had today and we leave here in one piece."