Dan Wheldon''s Homestead debut a win

Briton Dan Wheldon won the first CART Toyota Atlantic Championship race of his career at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida on Saturday 25th March and will start today's second race from pole position!

The 21-year old Englishman's debut in the series was sizzling, battling polesitter Buddy Rice through most of the 50-lap race - trading the lead five times with Rice - before taking over the lead for good on lap 45 and eventually winning by .936 of a second.

Wheldon, driving the PPIM Jayhard/BG Products Swift Toyota, has a two-point lead in the Championship.

Commented Dan Wheldon after his stunning Atlantic debut: 'I was really quick in the in-field and Buddy was a little quicker on the oval part, so it made a really great race. PPIM prepared a great car and I'm looking forward to Sunday's race.

'I knew I had a car that could win the race, but you have to be a little conservative on a double-header weekend. There were so many points at stake, but then again maybe that made me quicker.'

. . . AND POLE POSITION FOR SECOND RACE!

Dan Wheldon will start on pole for today's second CART Toyota Atlantic Championship race - held prior to the first round of the 2000 FedEx CART Championship Series to which he is aspiring.

Wheldon's qualifying speed of 124.870 mph - a time of 40.708 seconds - secured him his first Atlantic pole.

Said Wheldon: 'I have to credit the PPI Motorsports team for helping me to get this pole position. These guys know what they're doing and they worked really, really hard to prepare a great race car.'