first pole

CART Heads to Rio
The fifth event at Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway is on tap

With drivers representing 12 different countriesand a variety of global sponsors, the FedEx Championship Series boastsworldwide appeal. And nowhere is that appeal more evident than in Brazil,homeland to nine drivers currently competing in the series.

The Brazilian contingent made history last year by claiming the Nation'sCup, awarded annually to the country whose drivers score the highestfinishes during the FedEx Championship Series season. It marked the firsttime in the award's five-year history that it was claimed by a country otherthan the United States.

Brazil is once again the early Nation's Cup leader as the series preparesfor its first international event of the season, Sunday's Rio 200, on theEmerson Fittipaldi Speedway at Nelson Piquet International Raceway in Rio deJaneiro, Brazil (12:30 p.m. ET, live, ESPN).

Brazil's Nation's Cup lead has been powered by a pair of poles and most lapsled points from Gil de Ferran (Marlboro Honda Reynard) at Homestead and LongBeach; as well as runner-up finishes from Rio native Roberto Moreno (VisteonFord Reynard) and Helio Castro-Neves (Marlboro Honda Reynard) at Homesteadand Long Beach, respectively. Brazil holds a 36-34 lead over Canada whilethe four-time Nation's Cup champion United States stands third at 26 points.

While Brazil holds the Nation's Cup lead, it is Canadian Paul Tracy of TeamKOOL Green who stands atop the driver standings. Tracy (KOOL Honda Reynard),a 1999 CART All-Star selection, has parlayed a third-place finish atHomestead and his 16th career FedEx Championship Series victory at LongBeach into 34 points. It marks the first time he has led the championshipsince 1997 when he held the top spot following Round 11 at Toronto.

Tracy is one of two former Rio 200 winners in the field, having scored adramatic victory in 1997 when leader Bobby Rahal ran out of fuel with justover a lap remaining. Juan Montoya (Target Toyota Lola), the defending FedExChampionship Series champ and a '99 CART All Star, joins Tracy as a formerwinner at Rio. Montoya drove to victory last year in a dominant performancethat saw him lead 93 of 108 laps and culminate a three-race winning streak.

Montoya's Target/Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Jimmy Vasser (Target ToyotaLola) currently stands second to Tracy in the championship with 26 points.He owns top-four finishes in each of the season's first two events - fourthat Homestead and third at Long Beach.

Max Papis (Miller Lite Ford Reynard), a '99 CART All Star and winner of theseason opener at Homestead, stands third with 20 championship points and isfollowed by Moreno and De Ferran, with 20 and 18 points, respectively. Papisholds the higher ranking over Moreno based on his victory at Homestead.

Following the Rio 200, the FedEx Championship Series continues itsinternational swing with the Firestone Firehawk 500, Saturday, May 13, atthe Twin Ring Motegi motorsports complex in Motegi, Japan.

WHO'S HOT

Paul Tracy (KOOL Honda Reynard) owns podium finishes in each of thefirst two events of the FedEx Championship Series season - third atHomestead and a victory at Long Beach - and leads the championship with 34points. His last championship lead came in 1997, following Round 11 atToronto. He has scored points in five of his past six starts, dating to lastyear at Laguna Seca, and is one of two drivers - Gil de Ferran is the other- to have led laps in both FedEx Championship Series events this season. Heis a former winner at Rio, having driven to victory in 1997.

Gil de Ferran (Marlboro Honda Reynard) has earned pole positions atHomestead and Long Beach and has gone on to lead race-high totals of 41 lapsat Homestead and 30 at Long Beach. He leads the series with 71 laps led. Onthe strength of sixth and seventh-place finishes at Homestead and LongBeach, respectively, he stands fifth in the championship with 18 points.

Jimmy Vasser (Target Toyota Lola) has a pair of top-four finishes inhis first two starts, topped by third at Long Beach. He stands second toTracy in the championship with 24 points and has given Toyota power two ofits three best finishes during its five-year participation in the FedExChampionship Series, fourth at Long Beach and third at Homestead.

Alex Tagliani (Player's Forsythe Racing Team Ford Reynard) has ledan impressive crop of FedEx Championship Series rookie drivers by recordingpoints-paying results in each of his first two starts - ninth at Homesteadand fourth at Long Beach. He stands seventh in the championship with 16points.

Roberto Moreno (Visteon Ford Reynard) matched a career best with arunner-up performance at Homestead, equaling last year's showing at LagunaSeca, and followed with a ninth-place effort at Long Beach, where he alsoled 10 laps. He stands fourth in the championship with 20 points.

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

Christian Fittipaldi (Big Kmart/Route 66 Ford Lola) earned his firstcareer FedEx Championship Series pole position on the speedway named afterhis uncle Emerson last year. He earned the pole with a track-record lap of174.002 miles per hour (38.565 seconds). He went on to finish third and alsoowns a fifth-place result at Rio in 1996, when he started 27th.

Jimmy Vasser has scored championship points in three of four careerappearances at Rio. He earned finishes of eighth in 1996, ninth in '97 andsixth in '98.

Roberto Moreno's career-best FedEx Championship Series qualifyingperformance came at Rio in 1997. He captured the outside pole whilesubstituting for the injured Christian Fittipaldi in the Newman/Haas entry.Moreno also owns scoring finishes of ninth in 1996 and 11th last year, inhis first event as a substitute for the injured Mark Blundell at PacWestRacing. This also is truly a home track for Moreno, the only Brazilian amongthe nine competing who was born in Rio de Janeiro.

Dario Franchitti (KOOL Honda Reynard) earned the pole position atRio de Janeiro in 1998 and drove to a runner-up finish last year. He has led10 laps at Rio over the past two seasons.

Gil de Ferran has scored FedEx Championship Series points in threeof his four career appearances at Rio de Janeiro, with finishes of 10th in1996 and '99, and 11th in '97.

MANUFACTURING SUCCESS

Jimmy Vasser's third-place finish at Long Beach brought Toyota thefirst podium finish of its five-year participation in the FedEx ChampionshipSeries. Vasser had equaled Toyota's previous best, established by Cristianoda Matta at Nazareth last year, with a fourth-place performance at Homesteadin the season opener.

With three poles and two race victories in four events, Honda hasbeen the dominant manufacturer in FedEx Championship Series competition atRio de Janeiro. Honda's victories have come from Andre Ribeiro (1996) andJuan Montoya last year. The poles were recorded by Alex Zanardi (1996),Dario Franchitti (1998) and Montoya last year.

Mercedes-Benz also has enjoyed success at Rio with a pole and pairof wins. Mauricio Gugelmin landed the pole in 1997 while Paul Tracy and GregMoore earned wins in 1997 and '98, respectively.

Ford has won the past two FedEx Championship Series events contestedon ovals, with victories from Adrian Fernandez in last year's season finaleat California Speedway and Max Papis (Miller Lite Ford Reynard) in the 2000season opener at Homestead.

MILESTONES

Michael Andretti's next triumph will allow him to set a CART recordfor most seasons with at least one race victory. Andretti (BigKmart/Texaco/Havoline Ford Lola), CART's all-time victory leader with 38, iscurrently tied for the top spot with Rick Mears. Both have notched at leastone victory in 12 seasons. Andretti is in his 17th season of FedExChampionship Series competition.

Jimmy Vasser's next start will move him into sole possession of 13thplace on the CART career starts list, with 130. Vasser, in his ninth careerFedEx Championship Series season, is currently tied with Tom Sneva at 129career starts.

NOTEWORTHY

CART Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Craig will be thekeynote speaker during the afternoon session of the Racing for GlobalProfits: Global Opportunities and Local Impacts of the Motor SportsIndustries conference Tuesday at the Omni North Hotel in Indianapolis. Hisaddress will focus on the impact racing has on manufacturing and services ingeneral. The conference is being coordinated by the Global BusinessInformation Network at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

ON THE AIR

The Rio 200 will air live 12:30 p.m. ET Sunday on ESPN.

RIO 200 "QUOTEBOARD"

    JUAN MONTOYA (Target Toyota Lola), on defending his Rio 200 championship:"Last year, I only had three points after the first two races of the season.I have one point now, so I'm really not that far behind last year's pace.One important thing I learned in my rookie year is that it's a long season,so you can't panic and you can't get overconfident. It's disappointing thatwe haven't been able to finish a race, but the car has also beenunbelievably good at times, so I know we'll be fine. (On last year's victoryat Rio de Janeiro) Rio was one of my favorite races in 1999. It was mysecond straight oval win, so that's when I really started to believe in myability and realize how talented Team Target was. It was also my thirdstraight win. I still can't believe that. Rio is a great place to race.The fans really get into it, so I'm anxious to race there again. I'mconfident we'll run well in Rio."

    PAUL TRACY (KOOL Honda Reynard), on his early success during the FedExChampionship Series season: "We're only two races into a very long season,but I've got say that I like the way things have gone so far for the #26Team KOOL Green crew. Leading the championship makes you think aboutwinning the title, but we know we've got a long way to go to reach thatgoal. We also know that if we keep working together as a team, and not maketoo many mistakes, we should be in the hunt heading to Fontana [for theseason-ending Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota]. But we're taking it onerace at a time and we've got our sights set squarely on scoring more pointsin Rio. It's an interesting track and it usually produces an interestingrace. We're on a bit of a roll, we think we've got a good setup for the Riocircuit and I've had some success there in the past [1997 winner], so we'renot lacking any confidence heading down there."

    JIMMY VASSER (Target Toyota Lola), on his adjustment to his new Toyota/Lolaequipment package: "Our team is doing a lot of things right, and the resultsare beginning to show. I'm really getting comfortable with the newToyota-Lola package, and I was extremely impressed with the Firestone tiresat Long Beach. The whole team is excited about how we're racing, and I'mlooking forward to continuing the hot streak in Rio. Obviously, it's way tooearly to be looking at the point standings but, as you learn pretty quickly,every point is important. I told Juan [Montoya, Vasser's Target/Chip GanassiRacing teammate] yesterday, 'Be happy you have that point from the Nazarethpole -- it could come in very handy at the end of the season.' "

    MICHAEL ANDRETTI (Big Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Ford Lola), on the Brazilianfans' passionate interest in Champ Car racing: "Brazilian fans areunbelievable. They are great fans. Obviously, they have a good reason to bebecause they have a lot of great drivers. They are very emotional fans ingeneral. They know everything about racing and it's great to race therebecause you feel their support and all the energy and I think it is reallygood for the FedEx Series and Texaco also, since it is one of their biggestgrowth areas. It's pretty important to race in Brazil. With so manyBrazilian drivers and sponsors, it's important to race here. They followour races on TV throughout the season as well. Our racing in Brazil has beentough. The Big Kmart/Texaco/Havoline car has had a lot of problems and haveonly finished one race out of the four. We just keep plugging away, though.I figure the odds are on our side now. Sooner or later it's going to go ourway. We need it to go our way this year."

    DARIO FRANCHITTI (KOOL Honda Reynard), on regaining the form that made himlast year's runner-up in the FedEx Championship Series championship:"Obviously, I'm disappointed with our lack of results so far this season,but there's no reason to panic. We know we've got a good package in theHonda-Reynard - it's certainly working for Paul - so we'll just stay thecourse and continue to work on fine-tuning our setups. Fortunately, TeamKOOL Green has always given me a good car at Rio and I certainly enjoydriving the circuit. It's fairly basic, but it's got some fun corners and acouple of decent passing opportunities. We'll be looking for everyadvantage that we can find to start up front because it's usually tightquarters once the race starts. It's a great show for the Brazilian fans,who without question are some of the most knowledgeable fans in the world.They have a passion for the sport and Brazil has produced a lot of qualitydrivers, especially the half-dozen or so currently racing in CART. They'revery good."

    CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI (Big Kmart/Route 66 Ford Lola), on the strongmotorsports tradition in Brazil: "Brazilian fans are pretty fanatic aboutracing. They have been enjoying motor racing of the highest level for about20 or 30 years. First with Emerson [Fittipaldi] and then with Nelson[Piquet] and [Ayrton] Senna and now with the new boys. There is a lot ofmotor racing tradition within the Brazilian culture and I think that is goodfor CART. Scoring my first pole in Brazil [last year] was a huge excitement,not only for myself, but also for the team and Kmart. They supported me alot all these years. It was very close between Dario [Franchitti] andmyself but I managed to pinch it three of four-hundredths of a secondquicker than him. I can say it was a little more special because it was myhome country but I would take it anywhere. It was such a happy moment formyself and the team because of all that we had been through over the years.It was definitely a sweet feeling to win the pole in Rio, but as I said Iwould take it anywhere for sure. I think it is important to do well inevery race in the series especially if you are going for the championship.It's really important to keep up the pace at every race and not just whenyou are going to your home event you put in a little extra effort. Youshould always be driving to the max so that there is nothing else in yourpower to do."

    ALEX TAGLIANI (Player's Forsythe Racing Team Ford Reynard), on holding thelead in the race for the Jim Trueman Rookie of the Year Award: "It's nice tobe in the lead in the rookie standings after the first two races, but Ithink what is most important is that we are progressing well in our learningprocess. I've been able to build a strong rapport with my engineer, AlexTimmermans, and the entire Player's crew. We're all pulling in the samedirection and I think that spirit of collaboration is evident in the resultsthat we've been able to produce so far. The race in Rio will be a newexperience for me, my first opportunity to drive on the Emerson Fittipaldioval. I know that the Player's team has a history of success at that track,with a win there [from Greg Moore] in 1998. We'll try to use that formula ofsuccess and the things we've learned in the first two races to maintain TeamPlayer's fine record in Rio."

    TONY KANAAN (Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Mercedes Reynard), on racing in hishomeland: "Being a Brazilian, this will always be a very special race for us... our homecoming. My first Champ Car race there (in 1998) I experiencedone of those surreal moments during my qualifying run. I could actuallyhear the roar of the crowd building as I was making my way around the track.I qualified third, my best starting position to that point. And even thoughhundreds of horsepower were screaming away behind me as Iwent around the track, somehow the roar of the crowd got through and it feltvery exciting. I'm looking forward to bringing my new teammates down to Rio.Our sponsor is Hollywood, and we really want to put on a good show for them.As we've shown in our first two races, this team seems to be competitiveright out of the box. We had a good run on the oval at Homestead. At LongBeach, we were running well before we ran into some terrible luck. So younever know when we will finally break through. But we are a new team, andthere are things about being a new team that you have to work through withexperience. Wouldn't it be great if we could bring home our first podiumfinish, even our first win, down there? It would be the kick in the pantswe've all been working so hard for!"

    CRISTIANO da MATTA (Pioneer/MCI WorldCom Toyota Reynard), on regaining hisform in Brazil, his native country: "My luck racing in Brazil was good untillast year, when I lost the engine during the race. So I am hoping that thistime things will be different. It's my second time to race on this track,so I'm more prepared. Our oval set-up is not where we want it yet, but itwon't be as big a deal in Rio because the track isn't really an oval. Theshape is different. The turns are more defined, so you're not just cruisingaround like at Nazareth. I think it's good for us to race in Brazil, becausethere are a lot of fans of Champ Car racing in Brazil and a lot of driversfor them to cheer for. And Pioneer and MCI WorldCom and Mitel all havebusinesses down there, so they will be there, too. Of course, I love beingin Brazil, because it's my home."

    ORIOL SERVIA (Telefonica Toyota Reynard), on building upon his strongperformance at Long Beach: "Well, after such a good finish in Long Beach[sixth], I am definitely looking forward to Rio. It is a big event for mysponsor Telefonica, so I know I will be busy off the track as well as in thecar. Plus it's my first time racing there. So far, I have already raced atall the tracks - Miami, Long Beach, and Nazareth - in Indy Lights. This isthe first new one for me, even though they are all new to me in a Champ Car.We are still searching for the best oval set-up, but from what I can see, itmight not be as much of a problem for us in Rio. There's still a lot ofdownshifting and braking that will take some of the pressure off the set-up,but not too much. I'm just happy to be ahead in the points so early in theseason, and I'm going to give it my best to earn another really good finishin Brazil."

    MEMO GIDLEY (Player's Forsythe Racing Team Ford Reynard), on his return toChamp Car competition: "It felt great to be back in a Champ car again atLong Beach. I appreciate the opportunity that Team Player's gave me when itneeded someone to fill in for Patrick [Carpentier, sidelined with a brokenleft wrist]. I'm determined to seize this opportunity to show what I can doin the CART series. I was really happy with how quickly I was able to adjustto my new surroundings at Long Beach. From top to bottom, Team Player's wasoutstanding, both in welcoming me to the team and providing me with a carthat was certainly capable of running with the contenders. I have no doubtthat will be the case at Rio, and I'm going to go all out to repay the teamfor its faith in me."


Results courtesy Swiss Timing

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