IRL: Indy 500: Day three summary

Rookie Matsuura Leads Day 3 at Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS, Tuesday, May 11, 2004 -- The speeds keep climbing.

IRL IndyCar® Series rookie Kosuke Matsuura turned the fastest lap of the month in the afternoon May 11 at 221.857 mph (40.5666 seconds) on the third day of practice for the 88th Indianapolis 500.

"It was a great day," said Matsuura, driver of the No. 55 Panasonic/ARTA Panoz G Force/Honda Firestone. "It is not qualifying; it is a test day, but it was a good day. Our car was very good, and the Honda engine, as well, and the team did a very good job. Adrian (Fernandez) and I, both our cars were very quick and very strong, which is good. We will see for this Saturday. It depends on the weather and how conditions change, but it is the same for everyone. We need some luck for the qualifying, but I am very confident."

Matsuura's team co-owner, Adrian Fernandez, was second at 221.705 mph, in his No. 5 Quaker State/Telmex/Tecate Panoz G Force/Honda Firestone and Tony Kanaan was third at 220.855 mph, as Honda took four of the top-five spots on the speed chart.

Felipe Giaffone (No. 24 Team Purex/Dreyer & Reinbold Dallara/Chevrolet/Firestone) was involved in the only incident of the day, when he made light contact with the right rear of the car with the wall in the short chute between Turns 3 and 4, then made hard secondary contact with the SAFER Barrier with the right front of the car in Turn 4. Giaffone was uninjured in the incident.

<pre> FASTEST SPEEDS OF DAY Pos. Car Name C/E/T Speed 1 55 Kosuke Matsuura G/H/F 221.857 mph 2 5 Adrian Fernandez G/H/F 221.705 3 11 Tony Kanaan D/H/F 220.855 4 3 Helio Castroneves D/T/F 219.937 5 7 Bryan Herta D/H/F 219.900

WEDNESDAY'S SCHEDULE (all times local): 9 a.m. Public Gates Open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. IndyCar Series Practice 6 p.m. Track Closes

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