Takagi-Giaffone-Luyendyk Indy 500 Pole Day Washout

Rain Washes Out Pole Day Qualifying; Postponed Until Sunday

 

INDIANAPOLIS (Saturday, May 10, 2003) - A series of severe storms that passed through the Indianapolis Motor Speedway area from late morning into the early afternoon today forced postponement of Pole Day qualifying for the 87th Indianapolis 500 until Sunday.

 

Practice is set for 10 a.m. CDT Sunday with first-round qualifying scheduled for noon to 6 p.m. CDT.  ESPN2 is scheduled to provide live qualifying coverage from 1-4 p.m. EDT, and again from 6-7 pm. EDT.

 

The positions drawn for Mo Nunn Racing's driving trio of Tora Takagi, Felipe Giaffone and Arie Luyendyk in the 54-car qualifying order are:

 

11th - #12T Pioneer/Mo Nunn Racing Toyota-Panoz G Force (Takagi)

30th - #20 Meijer/Mo Nunn Racing Toyota-Panoz G Force (Luyendyk)

32nd - #20T Meijer/Mo Nunn Racing Toyota-Panoz G Force (Luyendyk)

36th - #21T Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Toyota-Panoz G Force (Giaffone)

38th - #21 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Toyota-Panoz G Force (Giaffone)

46th - #12 Pioneer/Mo Nunn Racing Toyota-Panoz G Force (Takagi)

 

Prior to today, Takagi recorded the second-fastest practice lap of the week at 232.007 mph (38.7919 seconds) around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway four-cornered oval on Thursday.  Giaffone's best lap this far was a 229.410-mph (39.2310-second) effort on Thursday, while Luyendyk posted a lap of 228.205 mph (39.4383 seconds) on Tuesday.

 

Luyendyk, who crashed heavily into the Turn 1 wall during Friday-afternoon practice, was cleared to drive this morning and was strapped into his #20 Meijer machine for practice when the rains came.

 

TORA TAKAGI

"It has been a great week of practice for us but we must wait for our chance to qualify.  I think the conditions are expected to be much cooler on Sunday.  That is a good thing for everybody . especially for us.  We had our best car on Thursday, when it was fairly cool.  Whatever happens, we will be ready."

 

FELIPE GIAFFONE

"This is kind of like when they let you out of school early.  Except we don't get to go out and play.  There's a lot more pressure here.  Everybody is burning off their nervous energy studying the car and studying the data and making every last little change that they think will make the cars go faster.  It's a little stressful, in its own way.  But that's what happens when the weather decides it wants to do its thing.  We'll take whatever Mother Nature gives us." 

 

ARIE LUYENDYK

"I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get a chance to drive at speed and see how I felt, personally.  My back still is sore and stiff, but I'm definitely capable of driving the Meijer car.  We'll have at least 20 minutes of practice before we qualify, so that's what it has come down to.  I think we'll start with a fairly conservative setup and see how fast we can make it go."