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INDY LIGHTS: Jason Bright Wins Prov. Pole at Houston

30 September 2000

        HOUSTON, Texas (Sept. 29, 2000) - - Australian Indy Lights rookie
Jason Bright made it look easy in winning the provisional pole in Friday’s
qualifying session at the Grand Prix of Houston. Bright inked his name on
the provisional front when he ran a fast lap of 1:05.964 = 83.336 mph on
lap 13 of his 15 completed qualifying laps.

        "We've made key improvements over the last couple of races," said
Bright. "A couple of mechanical problems got in our way at Vancouver. We
had a much better car than we showed. We caught up on missed testing after
St. Louis. We headed straight to Topeka after Gateway. I think we learned
more in that one day of testing than we had in most of our testing for the
year. We're finally back to where we were before we crashed at Chicago."

        The 30-minute qualifying session began at 1:45 p.m. (CT) under
clear skies and 85 degrees. Bright was the fastest driver after 10 minutes
at 1:06.284 = 82.934 mph.

        Teammates Casey Mears, of Bakersfield, Calif., and Townsend Bell,
of Costa Mesa, Calif., qualified seventh and eighth place, respectively.
Mears piloted the Dorricott Racing/Sooner Trailer Lola to a session best
1:06.407 = 82.780 mph. 

        "Jason's car found the grip we've been searching for," said Mears.
"We'll compare notes in debriefing and possibly make some adjustments based
on those conversations. The car is so close to being where I want it for
this circuit but we haven't found the final bits of the puzzle to make it
really competitive."

        Bell, meanwhile, greatly improved from a disappointing morning
practice in the DirecPC Lola at 1:06.748 = 82.358 mph.

        "We've definitely improved from practice but we still have too many
unresolved problems that are affecting the car's overall performance," said
Bell. "I think the car is handling well enough to be a top-five qualifier
but we have to make the most out of fine tuning the car. I didn't run a
clean lap so that didn't help either. We deserve to be where we are right
now."

        One major incident interrupted qualifying shortly past the midpoint
of the session when Tony Renna lost control exiting turn nine of the
10-turn, 1.527-mile circuit and crashed into the wall. The car came to a
rest sideways with the nose pointing to the outside. Andy Boss was unable
to slow in rounding the same corner under a fast yellow flag and slammed
into Renna's car. Neither driver was injured, but both received eight
minute penalties for the stoppage as well as retiring from the session.