Toronto: Fact sheet and notes of interest

Fact Sheet
The CART Toyota Atlantic Championship
Round 7, Molson Indy Toronto
July 5-6, 2002, Canadian National Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Event:
Round 7 of the 12-event CART Toyota Atlantic Championship will be held on the 1.755-mile temporary street course, as the weekend's opening event at the Molson Indy Toronto. Saturday's race will mark the twelfth time since 1990 the Atlantic series has competed on the streets of Toronto. The Atlantic Championship did not run in Toronto in 1999

Race Series:
The CART-sanctioned Toyota Atlantic Championship is a key rung on CART's "Ladder System", and is noted for its long history of graduating its stars into CART competition. Among the drivers who have graduated from the Atlantic series are CART Champ car stars Michael Andretti, Jimmy Vasser, Patrick Carpentier and Alex Tagliani, former Champ Car stars Bobby Rahal and Danny Sullivan, as well as 1997 FIA Formula One Champion, Jacques Villeneuve.

Atlantic Schedule at Toronto:

Friday, July 6:
Practice 11:45 a.m. -- 12:25 p.m.
Qualifying 4:00 p.m. -- 4:30 p.m.

Saturday, July 7:
Qualifying 9:00 a.m. -- 9:40 a.m.
RACE 3:30 p.m. -- 4:30 p.m. (35 laps/61.425 miles)

Last Year in Toronto:
David Rutledge made it three in row for Canadian drivers in 2001 and regained the Championship points lead over Brazil's Hoover Orsi. Orsi entered last year's event with a two point lead over Rutledge, but the Toronto weekend belonged to the home country driver driving for Lynx Racing.

Rutledge captured the pole and for the third time in the 2001 season, won the race from the first place starting position. Several early yellow flags allowed Orsi chances to try and overtake Rutledge on restarts, but Lynx's driver was just too strong on this day. Rutledge pulled off and won the race by 3.697 seconds over Orsi. Grant Ryley charged from his tenth place starting spot to complete the podium. Argentina's Martin Basso finished fourth with Joey Hand rounding out the top five.

Atlantic History at Toronto:
The CART Toyota Atlantic Championship has raced on the streets of Toronto eleven times dating back to the 1990 season. The previous Atlantic winners at Toronto were; Freddy Rhemrev (1990), Stuart Crow (1991), David Emphingham (1992), Claude Bourbonnais (1993), Richie Hearn (1994, 1995), Patrick Carpentier (1996), Memo Gidley (1997), Alexandre Tagliani (1998), Andrew Bordin (2000), and David Rutledge (2001).

Television Broadcast:
The Speed Channel will broadcast Saturday's Round 7 race from Toronto LIVE on Saturday, July 6, at 3:30 p.m. ET, while Atlantic fans in Canada can watch the race on RDS on Sunday, July 14 at 10:00 a.m. ET. Speed Channel will rebroadcast the race on Monday, July 8, at 9:30 p.m. ET.

Race Video Highlights:
CART Toyota Atlantic highlights from the Molson Indy Toronto, Saturday, July 6, 2002 will be included in the following VNR (Video News Release):

5:30 P.M. -- 5:45 P.M. ET, Sunday July 7th, 2002
Galaxy 11
KU15 Transponder
Downlink Frequency 12000, Audio 6.2/6.8 (Horizontal Polarization)

Next Race:
The CART Toyota Atlantic Championship heads to Cleveland, Ohio at the Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland next week for its final race of a tough stretch in the schedule that saw the series in action in six of seven weekends. After Cleveland, the series takes a two week break before returning to action at the historic Grand Prix of Trois-Rivieres.

-cart/atlantic-