rpm.espn.com: Three rookies from Brazil set

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Wednesday, April 18

Three rookies from Brazil set
Associated Press

The Brazilian pipeline to the Indianapolis 500 is still wide open.

Five drivers -- three of them rookies -- from the racing mecca of South America are entered in the May 27 race. They are the latest in a trickle that began with Emerson Fittipaldi, Raul Boesel and Roberto Moreno in the 1980s and swelled to almost a dozen in the past decade.

"I had been there before to watch the race, and I remember watching Emerson and those Brazilian guys racing there. So for me, this is a big deal to be there for the first time," said Indy Racing League rookie Felipe Giaffone.

His cousin, Affonso, drove at Indianapolis.

"My father used to be a race car driver and raced with Ayrton Senna and even with Emerson," Giaffone said from Brazil. "I always really liked Senna and Emerson ... but really Emerson was an inspiration for me to go to the States."

Giaffone is third in the IRL standings -- tops among rookies -- after finishing sixth in Avondale, Ariz., and fourth in Homestead, Fla. He's driving for Treadway-Hubbard Racing, and will have former winner Arie Luyendyk as a teammate at Indianapolis.

Helio Castroneves, third in the CART standings and the winner of last week's CART race in Long Beach, Calif., also is entered along with countrymen Gil de Ferran, Bruno Junquiera and Airton Dare. De Ferran and Castroneves are teammates with CART's Penske Racing.

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