Honda Racing Report
Sunday, September 2, 2001
Molson Indy Vancouver Race Report
Circuit: Concord Pacific Place (1.78 mile street circuit),
Vancouver, B.C.
2000 Winner: Paul Tracy (Honda) 85.034 mph average speed
Weather: Partly sunny, mild, 74-degrees F
Race Results: Fn. St. Driver Manufacturer Laps Average Speed/Notes 01. 07. Roberto Moreno Toyota 98 80.543 mph 02. 03. Gil de Ferran Honda 98 -4.687 seconds 03. 11. Michael Andretti Honda 98 -6.971 seconds 04. 13. Tony Kanaan Honda 98 -10.499 seconds 05. 22. Oriol Servia Ford Cosworth 98 -13.497 seconds 06. 21. Michel Jourdain Ford Cosworth 98 -13.850 seconds 07. 18. Tora Takagi Toyota 98 -14.520 seconds 08. 04. Kenny Brack Ford Cosworth 98 -14.812 seconds 09. 19. Dario Franchitti Honda 98 -15.122 seconds 10. 20. Memo Gidley Toyota 98 -16.224 seconds 11. 12. Christian Fittipaldi Toyota 98 -16.536 seconds 12. 06. Bruno Junqueira Toyota 98 -21.186 seconds 14. 24. Shinji Nakano Honda 98 -22.394 seconds 18. 05. Helio Castroneves Honda 95 Running 21. 10. Adrian Fernandez Honda 79 Not running - contact 24. 23. Alex Zanardi Honda 40 Not running - contact 26. 08. Paul Tracy Honda 29 Not running - contact
De Ferran Takes Over Championship Lead
Although passed by eventual race winner Roberto Moreno with just 10 laps remaining, second place was enough for Honda-powered Gil de Ferran to take over the lead in the CART FedEx Championship Series at the Molson Indy Vancouver.
Starting third, the defending series champion avoided trouble all day in an incident-packed street race and had his own private battle with Moreno throughout the event. That became a duel for the victory during the final 20 laps, but when de Ferran brushed the wall on the 88th lap Moreno squeezed through to lead the rest of the way.
Just behind the lead pair, both Michael Andretti and Tony Kanaan also posted excellent runs, driving past the mistakes of others to finish third and fourth after starting mid-field. Dario Franchitti, however, lost out a possible top-three finish when low fuel levels forced him to enter a closed pit lane. The resulting penalty, being moved to the back of the pack for the restart, dropped the Team KOOL Green driver to a ninth place finish.
Helio Castroneves, the points leader coming into today's race, was forced off course by Kenny Brack on the opening lap, then dropped several more laps off the pace when an electrical fault caused his Honda-Reynard to stall on course. He is now tied with Brack for second in the series points standings.
Shinji Nakano lost out on a possible top-ten finish when he was forced to make an additional pit stop after debris picked up by his tires during a caution period caused a vibration aboard his Fernandez Racing entry.
Paul Tracy had his day end early when contact from Cristiano da Matta flattened a rear tire on the Team KOOL Green entry, while Alex Zanardi and Adrian Fernandez ended their days with contact against the tire barriers.
After one weekend off, the CART FedEx Championship Series now heads to Europe for the first time in two decades, with back-to-back oval races at the new Eurospeedway in Lausitz, Germany and Rockingham Speedway in the midlands of England.
Driver's Championship (after 15 of 21 races) Manu. Championship01. Gil de Ferran 115 points 1. Honda 245 points
02. Kenny Brack 110 2. Toyota 214
03. Helio Castroneves 110 3. Ford Cosworth 203
04. Michael Andretti 103
05. Dario Franchitti 85
06. Scott Dixon 82
07. Cristiano da Matta 78 Rookie of the Year
08. Roberto Moreno 74 1. Scott Dixon 82 points
09. Patrick Carpentier 69 2. Bruno Junqueira 48
10. Tony Kanaan 66 3. Max Wilson 12
11. Paul Tracy 65 4. Tora Takagi 9
12. Christian Fittipaldi 56
17. Adrian Fernandez 42
22. Alex Zanardi 24
25. Shinji Nakano 10
Gil de Ferran (#1 Marlboro Team Penske Honda) Started 3rd, finished 2nd, takes over driver's championship points lead: "Coming out of here with the points lead is great for us and it shows the strength of the team and the consistency that we have had throughout the year. To finish first, first you have to finish and that philosophy has a lot of implications for us. We will keep on challenging ourselves. There are six races to go and still a lot of work to be done. Roberto (Moreno) drove a great race and we and Kenny (Brack) were back and forth throughout the race. It was a pretty exciting race for me. We had a chance to beat Roberto, but couldn't quite do it, but it was still a very good race for us."
Michael Andretti (#39 Team Motorola Honda) Started 11th, finished 3rd: "We just tried to play it as cool and calm as we could and that seemed to pay off. The team did a good job on the pit stops and I gained a position at each stop. It was one of those days where we kept our noses clean, in fact, I don't think we have a mark on the car! We're quietly getting ourselves back into this thing. We dropped out of three races in a row and that hurt us a bit, but in the last couple we have been clawing our way back into it. This team is capable of doing it. They are not going to give up and I'm not going to give up."
Tony Kanaan (#55 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Honda): Started 13th, finished 4th: "It was a tough day. A tough weekend, actually, after we started so well (with the fastest lap in the opening practice). We put ourselves through a lot. Me and my engineer Eric (Cowdin) were all over each other all weekend. It was a very difficult time for us. But today's result, even though we were one short of the podium, leaves us feeling pretty good after all we've been through. After Friday morning, it seemed like everything we tried just wasn't working. We were 19th in warm-up this morning and I thought it was going to be another one of those days. But we stuck with it. And we actually had some good luck on the racetrack for a change. Now we're in the top 10 in the points, where we definitely feel we belong, and hopefully we're there to stay."