Elsewhere in Racing
Updates from the Rest of the Racing World By Mark Alan Jones and David Wright, Australia
Atlas F1 Magazine Writers
Four That Matta
Cristiano da Matta is rubbing his rivals' noses in it at the moment. The streets of Toronto gave up a fourth consecutive victory to the Brazilian series leader, a victory that on Sunday did not look in doubt, despite the closeness of the opposition on Saturday.
Qualifying saw a desperate duel between da Matta, hometown hero Paul Tracy and Target Ganassi's Bruno Junqueira and Kenny Brack. Tracy finished his qualifying heroics with a 58.172 only for da Matta to pip the Canadian with a 58.135. While Tracy missed pole he was keen to make amends, too keen. When the field dived at the line, Tracy jumped early, da Matta held back, and starter Alex Zanardi, returning to the CART circus for the first time since his dreadful accident at the Eurospeedway, waved off the start. That was the last time anyone headed da Matta.
Da Matta got the jump next time around and led Tracy across the line from Junqueira, Brack and Christian Fittipaldi. By the end of the third lap da Matta was leading by over a second. Against a notorious fast starter like Tracy it was an impressive performance. At the end of the second lap Dixon was up to sixth as the Ganassi team exerted their influence on the minor placings.
Dario Franchitti had climbed to seventh place on lap 16 after a woeful start but the Scot's luck was not in today as the blue Team Green car pitted with a huge flat spot. Franchitti wasn't alone in pitting mid-stint as the pits also saw Townsend Bell and Tora Takagi, and CART announced that a pre-race fuel top off during the warm-up laps would see Michael Andretti held for three seconds once the stop was completed.
Mario Dominguez coasted into retirement on lap 30 with no power. Tracy was gradually closing on da Matta in traffic. With lap 34, the hard limit on the first stop approaching, Adrian Fernandez started the stops on lap 31 with the majority of the field waiting and hoping for a last minute yellow before pitting on lap 34. Tracy was in a lap early on lap 33, losing second to Junqueira for a lap only. Da Matta on the other hand never lost the lead at all, emerging from pitlane with Tracy catching but behind. Brack was still third but Fittipaldi had climbed to fourth jumping past Junqueira.
Shortly after the first round of pits, Andretti's chances faded as he had an off in Turn 3, before pitting to check the suspect wheel. Andretti's domination of Toronto would not be added to this year. Nakano was climbing back through the order, rising as far as fifth as the race reached half distance.
Almost exactly on half distance the yellows flew. Tony Kanaan was stopped on pit exit. The majority of the field pitted. At the green, da Matta skipped away as Tracy was caught up in traffic. Brack, Fittipaldi and Nakano followed. Tracy spins at turn 1 after almost running into Bell, dropping to the base of the top ten, effectively ending the chances of anyone catching da Matta. Tracy races on, clipping the wall a lap later, desperately trying to make up time. The Canadian scythed through the field, quickly climbing to seventh. But that would be as far as he got, crashing at turn one on lap 88. Tracy was pushstarted a lap later but drove straight to the pits and retired.
At the pace car restart, da Matta led Brack, Fittipaldi, Nakano and Dixon. The yellows flew again almost immediately, this time for Bruno Junqueira. The Ganassi car was in the wall, spun and crashed after contact with Bell. CART's chief steward Wally Dallenbach assigned sufficient blame for the incident on Bell and Bell was ordered to park the car for the day, and later in the week was fined for the incident.
At the green Michel Jourdain Jr and Dario Franchitti hit the wall after a clash with Alex Tagliani. Both continued, but with only a few laps to go Franchitti lost his rear wing. The Team Green Lola limped in to the pits.
Da Matta moved on to win by over five seconds from Brack and da Matta's Newman-Haas teammate Fittipaldi. Nakano finished an excellent fourth with Dixon next ahead of Jimmy Vasser.
CART moves on the Cleveland next, with da Matta now leading Junqueira by 48 points. Both of da Matta's nearest pointscore rivals scored no points. For the third year running it looks increasingly like a Brazilian will win the title.
Result of FedEx CART Championship Series, Round 8, Toronto, Canada:
Standings: Cristiano da Matta 118, Bruno Junqueira 70, Dario Franchitti 64, Michel Jourdain Jr 58, Christian Fittipaldi 57, Scott Dixon 52, Kenny Brack 48, Alex Tagliani 42, Patrick Carpentier 41, Paul Tracy 36 etc.
Al Unser Jr. Charged with Battery in Indianapolis
Racer Al Unser, Jr., was charged on Tuesday with domestic battery for allegedly hitting his girlfriend while she drove them home from a strip club and then leaving her by the side of a highway.
Unser, 40, a two-time winner of the Indy 500 race in 1992 and 1994, was arrested at his trailer at the famed Indianapolis raceway and released on $30,000 bond.
Maj. Mike Turk of the Marion County sheriff's office said Unser could face up to one year in jail and a $5,000 fine if convicted of the misdemeanor charge.
Police said Unser's girlfriend, Jena Soto, 38, said she was driving the couple back from a night out at a strip club when the intoxicated Unser began shifting the car's gears into neutral and reverse. She struck Unser, who hit her in the face.
After pulling over, Soto got out of the vehicle. She was left by the side of the highway as Unser drove off. Soto suffered an abrasion and swelling under her right eye from the blow, Turk said.
When confronted by police early on Tuesday, Unser at first denied knowing Soto, but then said she hit him first.
Recently, the two-time Championship Auto Racing Teams champion had gotten into better shape and pledged to revive his racing career. Driving for Kelley Racing since February, Unser placed a close second to Jeff Ward in the June 8 race at the Texas Motor Speedway.
Report provided by Reuters
Enge of the Beginning
Tomas Enge restored his flagging chances of claiming the International Formula 3000 Championship with a dominant lights to flag victory at Silverstone. Super Nova's Sebastien Bourdais limited the damage to his series lead, coming in second ahead of Ricardo Sperafico.
Enge had been the class of qualifying, comfortably clear of Bourdais who shared the front row. Enge got the best of the drag race to Copse and from there moved rapidly away from the field. Bourdais too was untroubled by those behind him and was never threatened. He was just powerless to close on Enge. Sperafico quickly slotted into third place and was able to control the final podium position as his nearest rivals squabbled.
Antonio Pizzonia took Giorgio Pantano around the outside of Copse on the opening lap in an exciting move that looked to have gone wrong when he dropped the left side of the car off the track. Pantano though looked to have the faster car and kept right on Pizzonia's gearbox, before taking the Williams test driver into Club Corner the following lap. Pantano was able to keep Pizzonia at bay for the remainder of the race.
At the front, Enge crossed the line 13 seconds ahead of Bourdais who in turn had 4.5 seconds on Ricardo Sperafico. As in a lot of Formula 3000 races in recent times, almost all the passing was done in the first two laps. Pantano led in Pizzonia by seven seconds, with Enge's Arden teammate Bjorn Wirdheim the claimant of the final point, just beating Patrick Friesacher to the money. Enrico Toccacelo lost seventh to Friesacher near the end but continued for eighth position.
Of the rest Derek Hill was lost in a clash on the opening lap, while Mario Haberfeld and Ricardo Mauricio eliminated each other in the middle running. Defending champion team Nordic continues to struggle with Ryan Briscoe 12th and Zsolt Baumgartner 14th.
Next for the junior Formula One circus is a trip to the new look 'middle' distance version of Hockenheim. On essentially a new circuit, the experienced teams' log book of settings will be less useful than last year. In the championship, Bourdais still has a nine point lead over Enge, who may now again be thinking of series glory in his fifth season.
Result of International Formula 3000 Championship, Round 7; Silverstone, Great Britain:
Standings: Sebastien Bourdais 40, Tomas Enge 31, Giorgio Pantano 20, Rodrigo Sperafico, 16, Antonio Pizzonia 15, Mario Haberfeld and Patrick Friesacher 13, Ricardo Sperafico 12, Bjorn Wirdheim 10, Ricardo Mauricio 7 etc.
Waltrip Wins!
Michael Waltrip took his second career Winston Cup win at Daytona in a race that was marred by early and late race cautions. The final caution of the day saw some fans throw debris onto the track as they were disappointed that NASCAR didn't red flag the event to ensure a one lap sprint to the flag under green. DEI showed they 'own' the track once again, as they made it five out of seven at Daytona from the 1999 Pepsi 400 to this weekend.
Polesitter Kevin Harvick took the lead at the start of the race. The first caution came out very early after Tony Stewart was spun out after contact off turn two on the second lap. The race soon resumed, though the race was soon under yellow again when Johnny Benson hit the turn three wall after light contact with Michael Waltrip entering the corner. Just after the restart, Jeff Gordon took the lead but the race was again soon under yellow when Mike Wallace spun after contact with Steve Park. Most of the field took the opportunity to pit at this time, Jeff Burton the new leader. Lap 25 and the fourth caution came out, a caution that NASCAR was going to call before the start of the race so teams could check how things were going.
Just as the cars resumed racing Jeff Gordon was forced to pit with a flat left rear tyre, dropping to the last car on the lead lap, running by himself. Up front Jeff Burton continued to lead as a small lead pack led the rest of the field. Lap 43 and Sterling Marlin took the lead as Burton got shuffled back as Harvick had earlier in the race. Eventually the lead pack caught and lapped Jeff Gordon, though Gordon was able to hang on to the lead pack. The yellows came out again on lap 60 when Kenny Wallace hit the turn four wall, everyone diving for the pits, Michael Waltrip emerging from the pits in the lead.
Soon Waltrip had teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr on his rear bumper, a familiar sight at Daytona over the last couple of years. These two led the lead pack as the field went around and around, lap after lap. The field took stops under green, Waltrip retaining the lead, but not long after the caution came out when Tony Stewart, running again after repairs, spun coming off turn two again. The race resumed for a few laps before a fourteen car collision in turn one on lap 137 eliminated several cars including Dale Jarrett and damaged others.
As the race restarted on lap 145 it was again Waltrip leading Earnhardt Jr. Up front the field ran fast and single file, as they planned their moves for the end of the race. Would Earnhardt Jr help his teammate or would he try to win the race himself? Lap 151 and debris brought out a caution, ensuring a close battle to the flag. The race restarted on lap 155 and it was everyone for themselves. Teammates Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman fought each other as Waltrip and Earnhardt Jr pulled away.
Coming through the tri-oval to complete lap 156, Geoff Bodine and his brother Todd made contact, pushing Geoff into Ryan Newman. Up front Earnhardt Jr decided it was time to go and attempted to pass Waltrip through turns one and two. He got alongside but the field lined up behind Waltrip and shuffled Junior back. As Earnhardt Jr lost positions down the back straight, Ryan Newman's contact with Geoff Bodine came back to haunt him, as a left rear tyre went flat and spun his car coming through turn two, collecting a couple of other cars on the way through, bringing out the last caution of the race.
Three laps to go, so would the race be red flagged? The answer was no, which meant that Earnhardt Jr's decision to go for the lead was badly timed, Earnhardt Jr dropping to sixth. Waltrip took the win, his second in Winston Cup and also his second at Daytona, his other win taking place at the 2001 Daytona 500 which took the life of his team owner, Dale Earnhardt. Jeff Gordon's day was improved by the late race incidents, finishing in 22nd place but still losing out to most of the drivers at the top of the points.
Result of NASCAR Winston Cup, Round 17; Daytona International Speedway, Florida, United States:
Standings: Sterling Marlin 2368, Mark Martin 2291, Jimmie Johnson 2254, Rusty Wallace 2224, Jeff Gordon 2218, Ricky Rudd 2168, Tony Stewart 2156, Matt Kenseth 2093, Bill Elliott 2084, Kurt Busch 2073 etc.
Airton Wins For AJ
Airton Dare took his first IRL win at Kansas Speedway after jumping reigining champion Sam Hornish Jr with two laps to go after a pace car restart. The Brazilian's victory also brought a first victory in three years for A.J. Foyt Racing. Hornish finished second ahead of series leader Helio Castroneves.
Tomas Scheckter took the lead at the start, leading from pole position ahead of Hornish. Scheckter quickly built a one second lead over Hornish as Eddie Cheever, Laruent Redon and Helio Castroneves lined up behind. Scheckter gradually extended his lead over the opening laps until the first yellow flag was called for debris on the track on lap 31. The field immediately dived for the pits with Castroneves leading the field out of the pits as the Penske crew again proved their prowess with the rattle gun. Hornish remained a second ahead of Mark Dismore, Scheckter and Redon.
At the restart Castroneves immediately jumped away by half a second over Hornish whilst Scheckter immediately recovered a position from Dismore. Four laps later and Scheckter took Hornish for second, but it was short lived as Hornish reasserted himself. By lap 46 Hornish reached Castroneves, taking him a lap later after a brief tussle. Gil de Ferran was also on the move, reaching fourth place. Scheckter regained second place, dropping Castroneves into the clutches of his teammate.
On lap 66 the yellows flew again, and the field made the easy decision and all stopped in their pit bays for servicing. Al Unser Jr this time led the field from the pits ahead of Castroneves, de Ferran, Scheckter and Hornish. Scheckter was once again on the boil at the green and was third within three laps, second within eight before taking little Al for the lead on lap 87.
After 103 laps Rick Treadway pitted with a suspected problem, rejoined but the car died completely, bringing out the yellows again. With the yellows occuring well within pit windows, the pitting decisions had thus far been easy. Unser again led the field from pitlane ahead of Scott Sharp, Hornish, Airton Dare and de Ferran.
At the restart there was mild chaos at the front, Dare taking advantage to snatch the lead from Unser. Scheckter quickly fought his way back into third with Hornish and Sharp next. Within five laps Scheckter was leading again. When the fourth pit stop window arrived there was no friendly yellow flag to pit in. Scheckter pitted under green on lap 150, handing the lead to Hornish from Dare. Dare pitted eight laps later while Hornish would last until lap 162.
The field reassembled with Hornish leading from Scheckter, Unser, Dare and Castroneves. Scheckter quickly assumed the lead. The two leaders swapped twice more until Scheckter spun and hit the wall hard on lap 191. The young South African climbed from the car, surely wondering what he has to do to win one of these races.
This left Hornish leading after the yellows. But with only three laps to go there wasn't time to respond to Dare's last minute attack and he took the win over Hornish by less than two tenths of a second.
The battle for the championship tightened slightly as Hornish finished second to the Penske drivers third and fifth. Giaffone in fourth also helped the top four move away from the rest, now led by Dare. The series' next stop is in Nashville.
Result of Indy Racing League, Round 9, Kansas Speedway, Kansas, United States:
Standings: Helio Castroneves 315, Gil de Ferran 307, Sam Hornish Jr 296, Felipe Giaffone 269, Airton Dare 226, Al Unser Jr 207, Jeff Ward 199, Alex Barron 193, Scott Sharp 184, Buddy Lazier 159 etc.
Road Audi
The Road America 500 was claimed in the emphatic style Audi has displayed in the past month with a 1-2 victory, this time the #2 car of Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen claiming the win from their teammates Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro. Third would be claimed by a privately-owned Champion Racing Audi of Johnny Herbert and Stefan Johansson. It was not a day to be seen driving anything else.
Tom Kristensen claimed pole in his Audi almost two seconds faster than Pirro in the second Audi. But Pirro still had half a second on the Panoz of Jan Magnussen. Bryan Herta in the second Panoz would be fourth, Jon Field fifth in the Intersport MG-Lola.
Field's excellent qualifying time would mean little though as the team were trying to trace an electrical problem when the pits closed, eventually joining the race half an hour after the start. Kristensen led the first lap from Pirro, Herbert and Bill Auberlen. Magnussen had tried a demon passing move into the first corner but it hadn't come off and the lead Panoz followed its teammate in fifth place.
As Field finally joined the race, the other Lola-MG cruised into retirement with a fire on board. Chad Block brought the car into the pits to check the fire. The team pushed the car away bringing Jeff Bucknum's Pilbeam-Nissan into the LMP675 lead. Shortly afterwards Pirro slipped by Kristensen into the race lead.
Just short of the one hour mark and Auberlen pitted the #51 Panoz with an electrical fire and the car was retired. Five minutues later Pirro pitted handing the race lead to Kristensen, who kept the lead after his own pit stop a lap later. Shortly afterward though Pirro would again take the lead on the track.
The order would remain unchanged for most of the next hour, when yellows would sprout from the flag points after Tom Grunnah had an off in a GTS Dodge Viper. Most of the field pitted once the pits opened with Kristensen pitting for Capello and gaining the lead with a quicker stop as Pirro stopped for Biela.
The yellows flew again at half distance after Johnny Mowlem had an off at turn 12. The lead Audis pitted under the yellow handing the lead to Stefan Johansson, now driving the Champion car. Johansson would pit later under the yellows though, so the lead was only ever cosmetic. Capello would regain the lead.
David Brabham broke a drive shaft in the survivng Panoz, leaving control of the race entirely in the hands of the Audis. Drama did not leave the battle for the lead though. Capello would be assigned a stop-go penalty for passing under yellows and Johansson beached the Champion car in the gravel. Johansson was restarted under the yellows for his off.
Biela pitted from the lead just after the green flag restart and Capello regained the lead and held it for the remainder of the race with the three Audis all finishing on the same lap.
Whilst the Intersport MG would have race long dramas, the Intersport Lola survived the race intact and led the rest of the field home as the only intact prototype save for the Audis, some seven laps down.
Fifth place was an amazing result for Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins and Franck Freon in the Chevy Corvette. Teammates Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell and Oliver Gavin would take second in the GTS class and sixth outright. Third in class and two laps behind the second Corvette would be the Team Olive Garden Ferrari 550 Maranello of ex-Formula One drivers Emanuele Naspetti and Domenico Schiattarella.
Behind the Ferrari in eighth outright would be the first of the GT cars, Timo Bernhard and Jorg Bergmeister leading a 1-2 finish for Alex Job Racing in class with Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr ninth in their Porsche 996 GT3-RS. Third in class was the Racers Group Porsche in eleventh driven by Kevin Buckler, Michael Schrom and Brian Cunningham.
A further lap down on the Alex Job Porsches in tenth was Ben Devlin, Peter MacLeod and Larry Oberto in the Lola-Millington Ford. Far from the fastest in the LMP675 class a consistent run would give them a finish when others wouldn't. Second in class was the Pilbeam-Nissan of Jimmy Adams, Joe Blacker and John Burke in twelfth. Third in class was the repaired KnightHawk Lola-MG of Steve Knight, Mel Hawkins and Chad Block in 19th outright.
Result of American Le Mans Series, Round 5, Road America, Wisconsin, United States:
Montagny and Leinders Share Monza
Franck Montagny and Bas Leinders each took a win and a second from Formula Nissan's visit to Monza in a pair of lights to flag wins around the Italian Autodromo, allowing the pair to close considerably on series leader Ricardo Zonta who could only manage a pair of fifths.
In the first race Leinders drove away from the the pursuing Montagny, gradually but surely leaving the top two positions on the podium beyond doubt. A four car battle developed for the final position between Justin Wilson, Angel Burgueno and Gabord teammates Zonta and Tuka Rocha. Zonta had scythed through the field from the back of the grid to reach this battle near the end of the race, but would only pass Burgueno before the chequer, leaving Wilson to take third from Burgueno.
Montagny led the field away in the second race from Couto, Wilson, Ander Vilarino and Zonta. Bas Leinders was very slow away, dropping to eighth on the first lap. Couto held second under pressure from Wilson. A great pitstop from the KTR crew delivered Leinders past them into second position however. Montagny went on the take the win this time, gradually moving away from Leinders in the second half of the race. Andre Couto took third from Wilson who fought his way past Zonta to claim fourth.
Early season front runner Jean Christophe Ravier was taken to hospital after a nasty accident with Narain Karthikeyan at the Rettifilo with a suspected broken foot, but Ravier was cleared of any serious injury.
Zonta's early season domination has come to an end, and the former BAR driver will have to fight to claim this championship.
Result of Telefonica Word Series, Round 4, Monza, Italy:
Standings: Ricardo Zonta 124, Bas Leinders 118, Franck Montagny 105, Justin Wilson 46, Jean Christophe Ravier 41, Nicolas Filiberti 32, Andre Couto 31, Peter Sundberg 27, Angel Burgueno 23, Tuka Rocha 19 etc.
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