2001 CART season

2001 CART season
2001 CART season
FedEx Championship Series
Season
Races	22 20
Start date	March 11
End date	November 4
Awards
Drivers' champion	Gil de Ferran
Constructors' Cup	Reynard
Manufacturers' Cup	Honda
Nations' Cup	Brazil
Rookie of the Year	Scott Dixon
	← 2000 2002 →

The 2001 FedEx Championship Series season, the twenty-third in the CART era of U.S. open-wheel racing, consisted of 20 of the 21 originally scheduled races, beginning in Monterrey, Mexico on March 11 and concluding in Fontana, California on November 4. What would have been the third race in the season, the Firestone Firehawk 600 in Fort Worth, Texas was canceled after qualifying due to safety concerns. The FedEx Championship Series Drivers' Champion was Gil de Ferran, while the Rookie of the Year was Scott Dixon.

Off the track, the 2001 season was an unmitigated disaster for CART, featuring two race cancellations, a disastrous European tour that coincided with the September 11 attacks, infighting amongst engine manufacturers that saw litigation and the announced future departure of Honda and Toyota, the loss of the series' television contract, the loss of longtime tracks Michigan and Nazareth, and the withdrawal of Team Penske at the conclusion of the season.

Team Penske and Team Motorola joined Chip Ganassi Racing in having concurrent IRL teams to run in the 2001 Indianapolis 500, with Penske's Castroneves winning the race. In an unusual move, CART "sanctioned" the participation of teams in the race; This was an attempt to allow Penske's primary sponsor, Marlboro, to appear on cars in the 500 as they were prohibited from being in more than one racing series by the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. This legal maneuver was not successful, and Penske's cars ran without advertising.

Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed in the 2001 CART Championship Series season. All cars ran on Firestone Tires. ^[1]^[2]

Team	Chassis	Engine	No	Drivers	Races	Primary Sponsors
Team Penske	Reynard 01i Dallara (Indy only)	Honda HR-1 Oldsmobile (Indy only)	1	Gil de Ferran	All	Marlboro 19 Penske Racing 2
Team Penske	Reynard 01i Dallara (Indy only)	Honda HR-1 Oldsmobile (Indy only)	3	Hélio Castroneves	All	Marlboro 19 Penske Racing 2
Chip Ganassi Racing	Lola B1/00 G-Force (Indy only)	Toyota RV8E Oldsmobile (Indy only)	4	Bruno Junqueira R	All	Target
			12	Nicolas Minassian R	1-7
			12	Memo Gidley	8-21
Walker Motorsport	Reynard 01i	Toyota RV8E	5	Toranosuke Takagi R	All	Pioneer 20 Walker Racing 1
Newman-Haas Racing	Lola B1/00	Toyota RV8E	6	Cristiano da Matta	All	Texaco-Havoline
Newman-Haas Racing	Lola B1/00	Toyota RV8E	11	Christian Fittipaldi	All	Kmart
Team Rahal	Lola B1/00	Ford-Cosworth XF	7	Max Papis	All	Miller Lite 17 Miller Genuine Draft 4
Team Rahal	Lola B1/00	Ford-Cosworth XF	8	Kenny Bräck	All	Shell
Bettenhausen Racing	Lola B1/00	Ford-Cosworth XF	16	Michel Jourdain, Jr.	All	Herdez
PacWest Racing	Reynard 01i	Toyota RV8E	17	Maurício Gugelmin	All	Nextel
PacWest Racing	Reynard 01i	Toyota RV8E	18	Scott Dixon R	All	Powerware 19 Nextel 2
Patrick Racing	Reynard 01i	Toyota RV8E	20	Roberto Moreno	All	Visteon
Patrick Racing	Reynard 01i	Toyota RV8E	40	Jimmy Vasser	All	OXXO 1 Patrick Racing 4 Visteon 15
Sigma Autosport	Lola B1/00	Ford-Cosworth XF	22	Oriol Servià	All	Sigma Autosport
Arciero-Blair Racing	Lola B2K/00	Phoenix	25	Max Wilson R	1-4	winnerB2B.com 9 Driving 101 10
		Ford-Cosworth XF		Max Wilson R	6-10, 13-19
		Ford-Cosworth XF		Alex Barron	20-21
Team Green	Reynard 01i	Honda HR-1	26	Paul Tracy	All	KOOL 19 Team Green 2
Team Green	Reynard 01i	Honda HR-1	27	Dario Franchitti	All	KOOL 19 Team Green 2
Forsythe Racing	Reynard 01i	Ford-Cosworth XF	32	Patrick Carpentier	All	Player's 19 Racing Since 1961 2
			33	Alex Tagliani	All	Player's 19 Racing Since 1961 2
			77	Bryan Herta	All	Indeck
Team Motorola	Reynard 01i Dallara (Indy only)	Honda HR-1 Oldsmobile (Indy only)	39	Michael Andretti	All	Motorola
Fernández Racing	Reynard 01i	Honda HR-1	51	Adrián Fernández	All	Tecate
Fernández Racing	Reynard 01i	Honda HR-1	52	Shinji Nakano	All	Avex
Mo Nunn Racing	Reynard 01i	Honda HR-1	55	Tony Kanaan	All	Hollywood Cigarettes 19 No Limits 2
			66	Alex Zanardi	1-16	Pioneer 19 Mo Nunn Racing 1
			66	Casey Mears R	18-21	Pioneer 19 Mo Nunn Racing 1
Part Time Entries
Dale Coyne Racing	Lola B2K/00	Ford-Cosworth XF	19	Michael Krumm	1-2	The Dark Dog
Dale Coyne Racing	Lola B2K/00	Ford-Cosworth XF	21	Luiz Garcia, Jr.	1-2	Embratel
Patrick Racing	Reynard 01i	Toyota RV8E	19	Townsend Bell	16-17	Visteon

R Eligible for Rookie of the Year

Season summary

Schedule

Rnd	Race Name	Circuit	City/Location	Date
1	Tecate/Telmex Grand Prix of Monterrey	S Fundidora Park	Monterrey, Mexico	March 11
-	Rio 200 (Cancelled)	O Autódromo de Jacarepaguá	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	March 25
2	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	S Streets of Long Beach	Long Beach, California	April 8
-	Firestone Firehawk 600 (Cancelled)	O Texas Motor Speedway	Fort Worth, Texas	April 29
3	Lehigh Valley Grand Prix	O Nazareth Speedway	Nazareth, Pennsylvania	May 6
4	Firestone Firehawk 500	O Twin Ring Motegi	Motegi, Japan	May 19
NC	85th Indianapolis 500	O Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	May 27
5	Miller Lite 225	O Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin	June 3
6	Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit	S The Raceway on Belle Isle Park	Detroit, Michigan	June 17
7	Freightliner/G.I. Joe's 200	R Portland International Raceway	Portland, Oregon	June 24
8	Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland	S Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport	Cleveland, Ohio	July 1
9	Molson Indy Toronto	S Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario	July 15
10	Harrah's 500	O Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	July 22
11	Target Grand Prix of Chicago	O Chicago Motor Speedway	Cicero, Illinois	July 29
12	Miller Lite 200	R Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio	August 12
13	Motorola 220	R Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin	August 19
14	Molson Indy Vancouver	S Streets of Vancouver	Vancouver, British Columbia	September 2
15	The American Memorial	O EuroSpeedway Lausitz	Klettwitz, Germany	September 15
16	Rockingham 500	O Rockingham Motor Speedway	Corby, United Kingdom	September 22
17	Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston	S Streets of Houston	Houston, Texas	October 7
18	Honda Grand Prix of Monterey	R Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca	Monterey, California	October 14
19	Honda Indy 300	S Surfers Paradise Street Circuit	Surfers Paradise, Australia	October 28
20	Marlboro 500	O California Speedway	Fontana, California	November 4

O Oval/Speedway
R Dedicated road course
S Temporary street circuit

The original calendar called for 22 races on five continents, by far the most ambitious calendar CART had ever attempted. With the race at Texas being canceled and the Rio 200 being dropped, the 2001 season ultimately had the same number of races as the previous year.
For the first time, CART would race in the United Kingdom and Germany and also return to Mexico for the first time in almost twenty years.
The original calendar released on August 5, 2000 had the first round of the season at Jacarepaguá in Brazil, but disagreements with the track owners several months later led to the event being dropped.
The events at Homestead-Miami and Gateway were dropped after negotiations with the tracks owners failed; rival series Indy Racing League secured the contracts instead, and both tracks were featured in the 2001 Indy Racing League season.
The removal of Gateway from the calendar meant that Memorial Day weekend would be empty, allowing several teams and drivers the opportunity to compete at the Indianapolis 500.

Race results

Rnd	Race Name	Pole position	Fastest lap	Lead most laps	Winning driver	Winning team	Report
1	Tecate/Telmex Grand Prix of Monterrey	Kenny Bräck	Dario Franchitti	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Newman-Haas Racing	Report
2	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Report
3	Firestone Firehawk 600	Kenny Bräck	Race cancelled				Report
4	Lehigh Valley Grand Prix	Bruno Junqueira R	Tony Kanaan	Kenny Bräck	Scott Dixon R	PacWest Racing	Report
5	Firestone Firehawk 500	Hélio Castroneves	Alex Zanardi	Hélio Castroneves	Kenny Bräck	Team Rahal	Report
NC	Indianapolis 500	Scott Sharp	Sam Hornish Jr.	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Report
6	Miller Lite 225	Kenny Bräck	Dario Franchitti	Kenny Bräck	Kenny Bräck	Team Rahal	Report
7	Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit	Hélio Castroneves	Michael Andretti	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Report
8	Freightliner/G.I. Joe's 200	Max Papis	Max Papis	Max Papis	Max Papis	Team Rahal	Report
9	Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland	Maurício Gugelmin	Roberto Moreno	Memo Gidley	Dario Franchitti	Team Green	Report
10	Molson Indy Toronto	Gil de Ferran	Hélio Castroneves	Gil de Ferran	Michael Andretti	Team Motorola	Report
11	Harrah's 500	Kenny Bräck	Patrick Carpentier	Max Papis	Patrick Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	Report
12	Target Grand Prix of Chicago	Tony Kanaan	Kenny Bräck	Hélio Castroneves	Kenny Bräck	Team Rahal	Report
13	Miller Lite 200	Gil de Ferran	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Report
14	Motorola 220	Kenny Bräck	Bruno Junqueira R	Hélio Castroneves	Bruno Junqueira R	Chip Ganassi Racing	Report
15	Molson Indy Vancouver	Alex Tagliani	Hélio Castroneves	Alex Tagliani	Roberto Moreno	Patrick Racing	Report
16	The American Memorial	Gil de Ferran	Tony Kanaan	Kenny Bräck	Kenny Bräck	Team Rahal	Report
17	Rockingham 500	Kenny Bräck	Patrick Carpentier	Gil de Ferran	Gil de Ferran	Team Penske	Report
18	Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston	Gil de Ferran	Jimmy Vasser	Gil de Ferran	Gil de Ferran	Team Penske	Report
19	Honda Grand Prix of Monterey	Gil de Ferran	Hélio Castroneves	Gil de Ferran	Max Papis	Team Rahal	Report
20	Honda Indy 300	Roberto Moreno	Jimmy Vasser	Roberto Moreno	Cristiano da Matta	Newman-Haas Racing	Report
21	Marlboro 500	Alex Tagliani	Max Papis	Max Papis	Cristiano da Matta	Newman-Haas Racing	Report

Final driver standings

Pos	Driver	MTY	LBH	NAZ	MOT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIC	CHI	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAU	ROC	HOU	LAG	SUR	FON	Pts
1	Gil de Ferran	2	3	23	13	7	6	13	4	14*	24	3	2	5	2	8	1*	1*	3*	4	6	199
2	Kenny Bräck¹	5	25	2*	1	1*	9	11	6	20	17	1	20	14	8	1*	2	7	25	5	26	163
3	Michael Andretti	4	28	6	23	2	4	8	15	1	19	24	26	2	3	4	5	21	14	2	7	147
4	Hélio Castroneves	8	1*	11	2*	26	1*	17	12	19	8	7*	1*	7*	18	12	4	5	6	20	22	141
5	Cristiano da Matta	1*	2	10	25	25	7	10	7	15	4	19	10	6	20	26	3	6	20	1	1	140
6	Max Papis	12	17	24	6	8	11	1*	18	8	16*	13	24	16	22	2	11	9	1	9	2*	107
7	Dario Franchitti	9	6	8	17	9	2	6	1	24	2	15	16	19	9	25	9	2	19	23	23	105
8	Scott Dixon RY	13	19	1	9	3	22	7	20	5	10	4	12	4	13	9	22	18	4	15	17	98
9	Tony Kanaan	7	7	16	3	6	Wth	24	16	10	21	8	5	12	4	7	8	12	8	17	5	93
10	Patrick Carpentier	25	23	25	19	17	8	5	26	21	1	2	3	9	16	3	16	10	26	11	10	91
11	Alex Tagliani	21	18	22	22	12	21	12	9	2	6	6	7	8	23*	21	14	19	15	3	3	80
12	Jimmy Vasser	6	5	4	5	21	18	16	5	26	23	14	23	21	19	15	7	11	5	6	12	77
13	Roberto Moreno	27	11	12	10	15	3	2	8	11	12	20	6	11	1	23	13	22	22	22*	19	76
14	Paul Tracy	3	4	3	18	24	14	21	24	6	7	12	4	26	26	10	6	24	18	14	24	73
15	Christian Fittipaldi	20	24	5	4	18	5	3	11	12	18	25	8	18	11	19	24	8	9	8	13	70
16	Bruno Junqueira R	22	9	7	24	4	19	23	23	13	9	17	13	1	12	11	25	23	7	21	4	68
17	Memo Gidley							25	2*	17	14	5	11	20	10	14	18	3	2	10	14	65
18	Adrián Fernández	19	16	19	16	5	12	19	21	3	25	10	22	3	21	24	23	14	10	19	18	45
19	Oriol Servià	14	14	9	14	14	16	9	17	23	11	18	9	10	5	5	10	26	17	25	11	42
20	Michel Jourdain, Jr.	17	13	13	11	13	25	15	25	16	3	23	17	17	6	17	19	25	23	7	16	30
21	Toranosuke Takagi R	10	20	14	20	20²	20	18	14	22³	13	11	21	22	7	6	26	4	13	16	15	29
22	Bryan Herta	16	10	21	21	22	15	14	3	18	5	21	25	24	17	27	15	13	12	18	25	28
23	Alex Zanardi	24	26	20	7	11	24	26	13	4	20	9	19	13	24	20⁴						24
24	Maurício Gugelmin	15	22		12	10	10	20	10	7	15	22	14	23	15	16	20	20	16	24	20	17
25	Max Wilson R	28	21	17		23	23	4	19	25			15	25	25	18	21	16	24			12
26	Shinji Nakano	18	12	15	8	16	13	22	22	9	22	16	18	15	14	22	17	15	21	12	21	11
27	Nicolas Minassian R	11	8	18	15	19	17															7
28	Casey Mears R																	17	11	26	8	7
29	Alex Barron																			13	9	4
30	Townsend Bell R															13	12					1
31	Michael Krumm R	23	15																			0
32	Luiz Garcia, Jr.	26	27																			0
Pos	Driver	MTY	LBH	NAZ	MOT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIC	CHI	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAU	ROC	HOU	LAG	SUR	FON	Pts

Color	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	4th-6th place
Light Blue	7th-12th place
Dark Blue	Finished (Outside Top 12)
Purple	Did not finish
Red	Did not qualify (DNQ)
Brown	Withdrawn (Wth)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
Blank	Did not participate (DNP)
Blank	Not competing

In-line notation
Bold	Pole position
Italics	Ran fastest race lap
*	Led most race laps
RY	Rookie of the Year
R	Rookie

^ Kenny Bräck also awarded 1 point for his pole position in Fort Worth. The race was canceled after qualifying due to excessively high speeds.
^ Toranosuke Takagi was excluded from the race on Lap 134 for taking out Jimmy Vasser as he was being lapped.
^ Toranosuke Takagi was penalized 2 points for rough driving in Toronto.
^ Alex Zanardi's car was impacted from the side by Alex Tagliani's car at EuroSpeedway Lausitz. He lost both of his lower legs in the impact. This signaled the end of his open-wheel racing career.

Nation's Cup

Top result per race counts towards Nation's Cup.

Pos	Country	MTY	LBH	NAZ	MOT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIC	CHI	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAU	ROC	HOU	LAG	SUR	FON	Pts
1	Brazil	1	1	5	2	4	1	2	4	7	5	3	1	1	1	7	1	1	3	1	1	341
2	United States	4	5	4	5	2	4	8	2	1	4	5	11	2	3	4	5	3	2	2	7	240
3	Canada	3	4	3	18	12	8	5	9	2	1	2	3	8	16	3	6	10	15	3	3	187
4	Sweden	5	25	2	1	1	9	11	6	20	17	1	20	14	8	1	2	7	25	5	26	163
5	Italy	12	17	20	6	8	11	1	18	4	16	9	19	13	22	2	11	9	1	9	2	118
6	United Kingdom	9	6	8	17	9	2	6	1	24	2	15	16	19	9	25	9	2	19	23	23	105
7	New Zealand	13	19	1	9	3	22	7	20	5	10	4	12	4	13	9	22	18	4	15	17	98
8	Mexico	17	13	9	11	5	12	15	21	3	3	10	17	3	6	17	19	14	10	7	16	75
9	Japan	10	12	14	8	16	13	18	14	9	13	11	18	15	7	6	17	4	13	12	15	42
10	Spain	14	14	9	14	14	16	9	17	23	11	18	9	10	5	5	10	26	17	25	11	42
11	France	11	8	18	15	19	17															7
12	Germany	23	15																			0
Pos	Country	MTY	LBH	NAZ	MOT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIC	CHI	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAU	ROC	HOU	LAG	SUR	FON	Pts

Chassis Constructor's Cup

Pos	Chassis	Pts
1	Reynard 01i	378
2	Lola B1/00 & B2K/00	335
Pos	Chassis	Pts

Engine Manufacturer's Cup

Pos	Engine	Pts
1	Honda	342
2	Toyota	309
3	& Ford-Cosworth	297
4	Phoenix	0
Pos	Engine	Pts

References

Åberg, Andreas. "CART FedEx Champ Car World Series 2001". Driver Database. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
"2001 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
"CART Postpones Firestone Firehawk 600 Presented by Pioneer Due to Unprecedented Physical Demands on Drivers" (Press release). CART / PR Newswire. 2001-04-30.
"Standings after Fontana". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-19.

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