IRL :Takagi-Giaffone Texas Sunday Race Notes/Quotes-Texas Season Finale-10/12/03

FORT WORTH, Texas (Sunday, Oct. 12, 2003) - The 2003 IRL IndyCar Series came to a close for Mo Nunn Racing teammates Tora Takagi and Felipe Giaffone with mixed results at today's Chevy 500 on the Texas Motor Speedway 1.5-mile oval.

 

Takagi and the #12 Pioneer/Mo Nunn Racing Toyota-powered Panoz G Force survived an incident-filled closing stretch to finish seventh in today's 200-lap event, while Giaffone and the #21 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Toyota-powered Panoz G Force ended their day early after a Lap 99 accident in which Scott Sharp ran Giaffone up into the Turn Four wall.  Giaffone was unhurt.

 

The race was shortened to 195 laps after a frightening crash on Lap 188 involving Tomas Scheckter and Kenny Brack.  Scheckter was unhurt, but Brack was reported to be awake and alert in serious condition with multiple fractures.

 

Polesitter Gil de Ferran, who is retiring after today's race, scored the victory while runner-up Scott Dixon clinched the 2003 drivers championship.  Dan Wheldon finished third.

 

TORA TAKAGI

 

"We finished the season with a reasonably good finish after having some problems with the Pioneer car in traffic during the race.  I can't believe the season is already over because it feels like we just started.  We definitely learned a lot because this is a brand new series for me in totally different cars than I was driving before.  But, overall, I think we have a good foundation to build upon for next season."

 

FELIPE GIAFFONE

 

"That was a very unfortunate way to finish the season, but I'm thankful we were able to walk away from that one.  My car was getting stronger and stronger after a slow start and I think we would be in good position for the second half of the race.  We never made it that far.  I can't understand why the accident happened.  I went high in Turn Four to try and get around Scott Sharp and he just drove me up into the wall.  I'm not sure if we touched, but I had to go up there to try and keep from being involved in an accident.  No such luck for us today.  It's really a shame because we wanted to finish the season for my sponsor Hollywood with a great result."