2001 Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit

42°20′10″N 82°59′44″W

United States 2001 Detroit Grand Prix
Race details
7th round of the 2001 CART season
DateJune 17, 2001
Official nameTenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit
LocationDetroit, Michigan
CourseTemporary street circuit
2.35 mi / 3.78 km
Distance72 laps
168.9 mi / 271.8 km
WeatherTemperatures reaching up to 84 °F (29 °C); wind speeds up to 11.6 miles per hour (18.7 km/h)[1]
Pole position
DriverBrazil Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Time1:53:51.815
Podium
FirstBrazil Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
SecondScotland Dario Franchitti (Team Green)
ThirdBrazil Roberto Moreno (Patrick Racing)

The 2001 Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) race that was held on June 17, 2001 on the Raceway on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan for the final time for CART. It was the seventh race of the 2001 CART season. The race was won for the second consecutive year by Hélio Castroneves for Team Penske. Dario Franchitti finished second, and Roberto Moreno clinched third.

There were four cautions, totaling 14 laps during the race. It was Castroneves's second victory of the 2001 season, and the fifth of his CART career. Of the 25 drivers that started, 13 were listed as running at the end of the race; six retired after contact, and six retired with mechanical issues.

Report

Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske) returned to the site of his first victory in CART. After securing pole position he led every lap during the race to win the Detroit Grand Prix. Castroneves scored the maximum of 22 Championship points (20 for first place, 1 for Pole, 1 for leading most laps) which moved him within 5 points of Kenny Bräck (Team Rahal), series leader at that time. Dario Franchitti (Team Green) finished second. It was his first podium finish in 2001. Roberto Moreno (Patrick Racing) completed the podium to finish in third position. Michael Andretti (Team Green/Motorola) and Christian Fittipaldi (Newman-Haas Racing) followed in fourth and fifth position respectively.

The race ended early for Alex Zanardi (Mo Nunn) and Michel Jourdain Jr. (Bettenhausen Racing) after a collision in lap 3. Zanardi later expressed in an interview during ABC's coverage that he was not very happy with handling of the car and did not see Jourdain coming. Zanardi's teammate Tony Kanaan was withdrawn prior to the race after suffering a concussion during qualifying.

Max Wilson (Arciero-Blair Racing) and Scott Dixon (PacWest) suffered from gearbox problems which ended their race in lap 36 and 37 respectively .[2] Alex Tagliani (Forsythe) collided with the wall in lap 39. He later reported that his brake did not work which resulted in a heavy impact. His foot got stuck between the pedals of his car.

Ganassi drivers Minassian and Junqueira also suffered from mechanical damage on their Toyota Lolas after the first round of pit stops, Minassian was fired from Chip Ganassi Racing after race being replaced by Memo Gidley from the stage of Portland.[3] Jimmy Vasser (Patrick Racing) lost control of his car while trying to get heat in the tires during the pace car period in lap 43. Also, Oriol Servià (Sigma Autosport) and Bryan Herta (Forsythe Racing) made contact with the wall which ended their races effectively in laps 56 and 61 respectively.[3]

In the penultimate lap Paul Tracy (Team Green) ran out of fuel after having stopped earlier than any of his competitors which dropped him out of any point scoring position finishing in 14th position.[3]

Classification

Race results
Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 3 Brazil Hélio Castroneves Team Penske 72 1:53:51.815 1 221
2 27 Scotland Dario Franchitti Team Green 72 +0.702 4 16
3 20 Brazil Roberto Moreno Patrick Racing 72 +2.891 7 14
4 39 United States Michael Andretti Team Motorola 72 +3.386 13 12
5 11 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi Newman/Haas Racing 72 +13.465 8 10
6 1 Brazil Gil de Ferran Team Penske 72 +14.577 3 8
7 6 Brazil Cristiano da Matta Newman/Haas Racing 72 +15.084 17 6
8 32 Canada Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Racing 72 +15.829 6 5
9 8 Sweden Kenny Brack Team Rahal 72 +16.320 10 4
10 17 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin PacWest Racing 72 +19.675 12 3
11 7 Italy Max Papis Team Rahal 72 +20.055 24 2
12 51 Mexico Adrian Fernandez Fernández Racing 72 +26.854 15 1
13 52 Japan Shinji Nakano Fernández Racing 72 +26.991 9 —
14 26 Canada Paul Tracy Team Green 71 Mechanical 23 —
15 77 United States Bryan Herta Forsythe Racing 61 Contact 22 —
16 22 Spain Oriol Servia Sigma Autosport 56 Contact 22 —
17 12 France Nicolas Minassian (R) Chip Ganassi Racing 51 Mechanical 14 —
18 40 United States Jimmy Vasser Patrick Racing 43 Contact 5 —
19 4 Brazil Bruno Junqueira (R) Chip Ganassi Racing 41 Mechanical 2 —
20 5 Japan Tora Takagi (R) Walker Motorsport 40 Mechanical 25 —
21 33 Canada Alex Tagliani Forsythe Racing 39 Contact 20 —
22 18 New Zealand Scott Dixon (R) PacWest Racing 37 Mechanical 18 —
23 25 Brazil Max Wilson (R) Arciero-Blair Racing 36 Mechanical 21 —
24 66 Italy Alex Zanardi Mo Nunn Racing 3 Contact 16 —
25 16 Mexico Michel Jourdain Jr. Bettenhausen Racing 3 Contact 19 —
WD 55 Brazil Tony Kanaan Mo Nunn Racing 0 Injury (Concussion) 26 —
Source:[4]
  • 1– Includes two bonus points for leading the most laps and being the fastest qualifier.[5]

Standings after the race

References
  1. "2001 Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit weather information". Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  2. "CART // Detroit // Session Report // Race". Archived from the original on 24 February 2002. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  3. "2001 Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit - Racing-Reference.info". Racing-reference.info. 17 June 2001. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  4. "2001 Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved July 11, 2012.
  5. Championship Auto Racing Teams (March 2001). "CART FedEx Championship Series - 2001 Rule Book". Archived from the original on 2016-05-28. Retrieved 2017-06-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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