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INDYLIGHTS: Shigeaki Hattori Wins First MCI Fast Pace Award in 1998

17 March 1998

Homestead, Fla., -Shigeaki Hattori won his first PPG-Dayton Indy Lights race in the Miami opener and also set the race record lap to win the MCI Fast Pace Award . Veteran driver Shigeaki Hattori (Epson Lola) passed Sea-Doo/Ski-Doo pole-sitter Sergio Paese on lap four and held off all challenges - leading 64 of 67 laps - for the victory. Hattori averaged a record 114.825 mph and led second-place finisher Cristiano da Matta across the finish line by 0.468 of a second. According to official Omega Timing and Scoring, Hattori's lap time of 30.271 at 178.626mph on Lap 61was the race's best.

The MCI Fast Pace Award pays a $1,000 bonus at each event to the driver that sets the fastest race lap. Competitors must display the MCI logo on their race cars and driver's uniform to be eligible.

"MCI wants to play an important role across the entire spectrum of CART racing and our PPG-Dayton Indy Lights sponsorship and contingency award program is a natural extension of our FedEx Championship Series association," said Jim Freudenberg, General Manager, MCI Racing. "Indy Lights emphasizes team preparation and driver skill, our MCI Fast Pace Award directly rewards the best performance is those areas."

The PPG-Dayton Indy Lights Championship is internationally recognized as the last stop for talented race car drivers before moving on to the FedEx Championship Car Series. Indy Lights races are sprints that range between 75 and 100 miles in cars designed and built to identical standards - to keep the competition even.

"These drivers and teams are every bit as competitive as those in the CART series and many of this year's stars will most likely move up to that series in 1998, " added Craig Hoffmann, Program Development Manager, MCI Racing. "We expect to witness some really fast laps this season."

MCI Racing is a group within MCI, which spearheads all of MCI's motorsport initiatives including series sponsorships with NASCAR, CART, Indy Lights, Atlantic and Historic Sportscar Racing. As well as team sponsorships with Arciero Wells/MCI Racing Team IN CART, the MCI Toyota Atlantic Team, the MCI Toyota Off-Road Truck Team, PacWest Racing Team in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series , Mattei Motorsports in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and Stewart Grand Prix in Formula One. Over the Miami race weekend, MCI announced its new sponsorship of the inaugural FedEx Championship Series Fantasy Racing Game.

MCI, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a leading provider of local-to- global communication services to business and residential users. The company's fast-growing portfolio of advanced data, Internet and IT services now accounts for nearly a quarter of MCI's $19.7 billion in annual revenue. MCI operates one of the world's largest and most advanced digital networks, connecting local markets in the U.S to more than 280 countries and locations worldwide. MCI has agreed to merge with WorldCom, one of the world's fastest-growing communications companies. The merger, which is expected to be completed by mid- 1998, will create MCI WorldCom, a company uniquely positioned in the U.S. local and long distance markets as well as the global data and Internet markets.