XM Satellite Radio Driver Bryan Herta 12th in Practice at Motegi

       MOTEGI, Japan (April 15, 2004) - Bryan Herta and the XM Satellite
Radio team opened practice on the 1.5-mile Twin Ring Motegi Thursday and
turned just 47 laps in preparation for this weekend's Indy Racing League®
IndyCar® Series  Bridgestone Indy Japan 300.  Herta turned a best lap of
199.961 miles per hour, which was good enough for 12th fastest on the day.
       Herta and the XM Satellite Radio crew worked through their program
during the morning practice and continued to find more speed.  When the
afternoon session began, things were looking very promising as the team had
found even more speed.  But, a gearbox problem midway through the afternoon
session forced the team to quit early and kept them from completing their full
running program.
       Herta's teammates Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti were first and
second fastest today, turning laps of 203.907 miles per hour and 202.374 miles
per hour, respectively.  Scott Sharp was third fastest today at 201.905 miles per
hour.  Dan Wheldon also faced technical problems today and managed just the
18th fastest speed of the day.
       Qualifying will begin at 11:30 p.m. (EDT) tomorrow for the Bridgestone
Indy Japan 300. Round 3 of the 2004 IndyCar Series will start at 11:30 p.m.
(EDT) on Saturday.


Bryan Herta, Driver, #7 XM Satellite Radio Dallara/Honda/Firestone
       "The XM Satellite Radio team had a pretty good morning and we made the
car a little bit better this afternoon.  We were fast right at the beginning of the
afternoon session, but unfortunately we had a gearbox problem which forced us
to stop early.  It's too bad because I wanted to do some full-tank running that we
didn't get to do.  Luckily, it looks like Dario (Franchitti) and Tony (Kanaan) got
some good work in for us so we should be okay."

George Klotz, Team Manager, #7 XM Satellite Radio Dallara/Honda/Firestone
       "We had a little bit of a gearbox problem this last session, but we were
going in the right direction from this morning to this afternoon.  We would have
liked to run some more laps and run the car with full tanks, but the gearbox
wouldn't let us, so the XM Satellite Radio team will just come back tomorrow
ready to run."