SAO PAULO, Brasil (Feb. 19 '97) -- Brasilian, Mauricio Gugelmin, driver for the Hollywood PacWestteam has declared that he is satisfied with his car performance afterposting the second fastest time at Laguna Seca, Ca. and was third in the SpringTraining at Homestead, Fl. He drove only 0.2s behind Alex Zanardi, and more than a second ahead of Richie Hearns, who was the third quickest.

"I believe we are at the same level as the Target/Ganassi cars. We had a few problemswith electronic management of the Mercedes engine and Zanardiwas testing different special tire compounds for Firestone. We used only the standardFirestone tires" said Gugelmin.

Even considering the good results the team has been achieving, Gugelmin is not over confident. "This series is extremelycompetitive and not all the teams were at Laguna. The Hondas still have morepower and the Ganassi team begins ahead of the pack because they are workingwith the same package they had last year. We still have some improvements to make," commented the Banco Bandeirantes sponsored driver.

Regarding his expectations for the season, he said, "We have a fast car onthe oval and road circuits. This is very encouraging."

On the first race of the'97 season at Homestead, Gugelmin had these remarks: "It's hard to foresee, but I think itwill be such a survival race with great possibilities of many crashes, dueto the superspeedway wing configuration adopted for the car at Homestead. Thecar balance is very critical under traffic conditions and we will be undergreat risks in the race. However, we all are ready and motivated becausethis is the best testing we ever had since three years ago."