Brazilian Racing News: Indy Lights
20 April 1999
The second round of the Indy-Lights season in Long Beach was this weekend in Long Beach. Brazilian driver Felipe Giaffone (Hollywood) was in a class of his own, dominating all practices, qualifying and the race, but Felipe will remember this weekend as one of the most frustrating weekends in his life. "I started the race and I was sure that if I kept myself concentrated, without making mistakes, the race would be mine. Guy overtook me at the start, but braked too late and I retook the lead. The race was very easy until the last lap, when I stopped without fuel and saw all drivers overtaking me. This was the most frustrating weekend in my whole life" said Giaffone. The win went to Philipp Peter, Austrian driver that lives in Monaco. Peter was followed home by Scott Dixon and Geoff Boss. In the championship Mario Dominguez and Scott Dixon are in the lead with 30 points (after 2 races) followed by Casey Mears with 20 points. Airton Daré, the other brazilian driver that was starting well in this race, had his race finished after touching with rookie Johnny Kane in the first corner. "Obviously this was too quick of a day for us. Jonny Kane and I came together. I was already turning and there was not enough room for two. I don't think he saw me. It broke the steering arm and that was it." Oswaldo Negri Jr. making his first race in 1999, started 14th and was already 7th in the first lap, when he lost the second gear and had to finish the race with only 5 gears. "I was there to finish the race as high as possible and I am pretty satisfied with the result if you see the thousands problems we had all weekend. Hope I can get some sponsors in Brazil to finish the season" said Negri. Marc Zimmermann -- The Auto Channel Marc Zimmermann Editor-Chefe PITSTOP http://www.pitstop.com.br São Paulo - SP