Takagi Nazareth Saturday Final Practice Update

Contact: Laz Denes, 256-657-6190
ldenes@monunnracing.com
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Takagi Switches to Panoz G Force for Nazareth 225-Miler

 

NAZARETH, Pa. (Saturday, Aug. 23, 2003) - Tora Takagi and the Pioneer/Mo Nunn Racing team withdrew the #12 Pioneer/Mo Nunn Racing Toyota-powered Dallara that earlier today qualified on the outside of the 10th row for Sunday's Firestone Indy 225.  Instead, Takagi will start Sunday's event on the Nazareth Speedway mile oval in his back-up #12 Pioneer/Mo Nunn Racing Toyota-powered Panoz G Force, the package that he raced at the opening 10 events in this, his inaugural season on the IRL IndyCar Series.

 

In this afternoon's final practice session, Takagi clocked the 12th-fastest lap at 21.5231 seconds (156.390 mph).  Teammate Alex Barron, who qualified ninth earlier today in the #21 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Toyota-powered Panoz G Force, had a fast final practice lap of 21.0937 seconds (159.574 mph), good for fifth on the speed charts for the session.

 

Bryan Herta (20.6490/163.010), Sam Hornish, Jr. (20.7377/162.313) and Tomas Scheckter (20.7735/162.033) had the top three laps in final practice.

 

Race time Sunday is 3 p.m. EDT with a live broadcast set for ESPN.

 

TORA TAKAGI

 

"I feel much better about tomorrow.  We just did not have enough time to find the best setup for the Dallara on the 1-mile oval, and we had plenty of data about the (Panoz) G Force from Alex (Barron's) car, so it made sense to switch chassis for the race.  We had absolutely nothing to lose since we qualified 20th with the Dallara.  We were much more confident racing the Dallara at the bigger tracks the last two weekends (at Gateway Raceway and Kentucky Speedway) because we had some testing time in the Dallara before we went there.  We will still take the Dallara to our test at Chicago next week.  Most importantly as far as tomorrow is concerned, I felt comfortable in the final practice today."

 

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