Da Matta Carries Toyota Banner Into Points At Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. _ Driving a patient race and using a fuel conservation strategy, rookie Cristiano da Matta drove his way into an 11^th-place finish at the Budweiser/G.I. Joe_s 200 at the Portland International Raceway.

After qualifying a Toyota-best 15^th in a field that saw the first 22 cars separated by less than a second, da Matta patiently drove his way into the top 10 before finally getting nipped for the 10^th spot by Michael Andretti by six one-thousandths of a second as da Matta ran out of fuel as he crossed the finish line.

"Our teams experienced a myriad of problems today _ transmission, electrical and engine, so we_re happy that Cristiano was able to bring one home in the points," said Jim Aust, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. vice president of motorsports. "The field was unbelievably close this weekend and, although our best starting spot was only 15^th, we were just a half second off the pole so things are continuing to improve. We look forward to getting to Cleveland next week."

Robby Gordon (17^th) and Richie Hearn (22^nd) each were running at the checkered flag. Scott Pruett was forced out early due to engine difficulties to place 24th. Gualter Salles, in his first race with All American Racers, suffered transmission problems to finish 27^th following an impressive performance in qualifying after just one dry session in the car. All five Toyota-powered cars qualified less than one second behind the pole time.

In addition to the on-track action, Arciero-Wells signed a one-year contract extension with da Matta to campaign the 2000 FedEx Championship Series in the MCI WorldCom Toyota.