2001 Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit

2001 Detroit Grand Prix

Race details
7th round of the 2001 CART season
Date	June 17, 2001
Official name	Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit
Location	Detroit, Michigan
Course	Temporary street circuit 2.35 mi / 3.78 km
Distance	72 laps 168.9 mi / 271.8 km
Pole position
Driver	Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Time	1:53:51.815
Podium
First	Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Second	Dario Franchitti (Team Green)
Third	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. 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, totalling 14 laps during the race. It was Castroneves's third 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 Zanardi's teammate Tony Kanaan was withdrawn prior to the race after suffering a concussion during qualifying.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 . 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. 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.

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.

Classification

Race results

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Laps Led	Points
1	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	72	1:53:51.815	1	72	22
2	27	Dario Franchitti	Team Green	72	+0.702	4	0	16
3	20	Roberto Moreno	Patrick Racing	72	+2.891	7	0	14
4	39	Michael Andretti	Team Green	72	+3.386	13	0	12
5	11	Christian Fittipaldi	Newman/Haas Racing	72	+13.465	8	0	10
6	1	Gil de Ferran	Team Penske	72	+14.577	3	0	8
7	6	Cristiano da Matta	Newman/Haas Racing	72	+15.084	17	0	6
8	32	Patrick Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	72	+15.829	6	0	5
9	8	Kenny Brack	Team Rahal	72	+16.320	10	0	4
10	17	Maurício Gugelmin	PacWest Racing	72	+19.675	12	0	3
11	7	Max Papis	Team Rahal	72	+20.055	24	0	2
12	51	Adrian Fernandez	Fernández Racing	72	+26.854	15	0	1
13	52	Shinji Nakano	Fernández Racing	72	+26.991	9	0	0
14	26	Paul Tracy	Team Green	71	Mechanical	23	0	0
15	77	Bryan Herta	Forsythe Racing	61	Contact	22	0	0
16	22	Oriol Servia	Sigma Autosport	56	Contact	22	0	0
17	12	Nicolas Minassian	Chip Ganassi Racing	51	Mechanical	14	0	0
18	40	Jimmy Vasser	Patrick Racing	43	Contact	5	0	0
19	4	Bruno Junqueira	Chip Ganassi Racing	41	Mechanical	2	0	0
20	5	Tora Takagi	Walker Motorsport	40	Mechanical	25	0	0
21	33	Alex Tagliani	Forsythe Racing	39	Contact	20	0	0
22	18	Scott Dixon	PacWest Racing	37	Mechanical	18	0	0
23	25	Max Wilson	Arciero-Blair Racing	36	Mechanical	21	0	0
24	66	Alex Zanardi	Mo Nunn Racing	3	Contact	16	0	0
25	16	Michel Jourdain, Jr.	Bettenhausen Racing	3	Contact	19	0	0
Source: Racing-Reference

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Kenny Brack	73
2	Hélio Castroneves	69
3	Michael Andretti	48
4	Cristiano da Matta	46
5	Gil de Ferran	44
Source: Racing-Reference