2001 Lehigh Valley Grand Prix

2001 Lehigh Valley Grand Prix
Race details
Race 4 of 21 in the 2001 CART season

Map of the track.
Date May 6, 2001
Official name 2001 Lehigh Valley Grand Prix Presented by Toyota
Location Nazareth Speedway, Nazareth, Pennsylvania, USA
Course Oval
0.946 mi / 1.522 km
Distance 225 laps
212.85 mi / 342.45 km
Pole position
Driver Bruno Junqueira (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Time 19.700
Fastest lap
Driver Tony Kanaan (Mo Nunn Racing)
Time 21.170 (on lap 196 of 225)
Podium
First Scott Dixon (PacWest Racing)
Second Kenny Bräck (Team Rahal)
Third Paul Tracy (Team Green)

The 2001 Lehigh Valley Grand Prix was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) motor race held on May 6, 2001 at Nazareth Speedway in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, USA. It was the 4th round of the 2001 CART season. Rookie Scott Dixon won the race by just four tenths of a second over Kenny Bräck, while Paul Tracy took third.

Dixon scored his first and only CART win after he successfully gambled on a fuel-saving strategy that gave PacWest Racing its last win before the team folded in 2002 as well as its first win since 1997. Bräck's first podium of the season was the prelude to two consecutive wins at Motegi and Milwaukee, putting him in the championship hunt. For Tracy, it was his second podium in three races, but he would not record another for the rest of the season.

The race was the first after the Firestone Firehawk 600 fiasco, and there were concerns about the G-Forces experienced at Nazareth that were ultimately unfounded. This would also be the last time that CART raced at the speedway, allowing open-wheel rival Indy Racing League to run its own 225-lap race from 2002-2004.

Report

Background

The race weekend began just days after the 600-mile event at Texas Motor Speedway scheduled for April 29 was postponed and ultimately canceled due to extreme g-horses experienced by the drivers that made race conditions critically dangerous. Speedway and CART officials were still discussing options over possible dates later in the year for a make-up race, but after announcing that all ticket holders would receive refunds without word of a replacement event,[1] it became clear that any future for the series at Texas Motor Speedway was in serious doubt.

In the meantime, rumors spread that Nazareth Speedway would be cut from the 2002 schedule despite it being one of CART's longest-running events in an effort to reduce travel costs. On raceday itself, CART officials released a statement that the series would be reviewing its options after the race in Japan and make a decision then.[2]

...[O]ne of the things that has become clear to me in my five months at CART is that we must develop a process that allows us to more effectively determine where we conduct races. We have established more definitive criteria than were used in the past and are now approaching where we race in a more formal manner. This approach applies directly to the situation we face in the Lehigh Valley.
Joseph Heitzler, President and CEO of CART[2]

It was later decided that the series would not continue racing at Nazareth, dropping the venue, along with Belle Isle, Michigan, Lausitz, and Houston for the 2002 season.

PacWest driver Maurício Gugelmin, after being involved in a major crash in Texas the week before, withdrew from the event at Nazareth following the death of his six-year-old son, who had cerebral palsy.[3] Because it came on such short notice, no backup drivers were available to fill in for Gugelmin, and so the NEXTEL sponsorship from his car was placed onto his teammate's, Scott Dixon, instead.

Qualifying

May 5, 2001 - Qualifying Speeds
Rank Driver Time Leader Speed (mph) Team
1 Brazil Bruno Junqueira (R) 19.700 172.873 Chip Ganassi Racing
2 Sweden Kenny Bräck 19.738 +0.038 172.540 Team Rahal
3 Mexico Michel Jourdain, Jr. 19.950 +0.250 170.707 Bettenhausen Racing
4 Spain Oriol Servià 19.996 +0.296 170.314 Sigma Autosport
5 Brazil Helio Castroneves 20.007 +0.307 170.220 Team Penske
6 Mexico Adrian Fernández 20.059 +0.359 169.779 Fernandez Racing
7 United States Bryan Herta 20.064 +0.364 169.737 PacWest Racing
8 Canada Paul Tracy 20.148 +0.448 169.029 Team Green
9 Brazil Cristiano da Matta 20.162 +0.462 168.912 Newman-Haas Racing
10 Brazil Tony Kanaan 20.187 +0.487 168.703 Mo Nunn Racing
11 United States Jimmy Vasser 20.191 +0.491 168.669 Patrick Racing
12 United Kingdom Dario Franchitti 20.201 +0.501 168.586 Team Green
13 United States Michael Andretti 20.205 +0.505 168.552 Team Green
14 Italy Max Papis 20.297 +0.597 167.788 Team Rahal
15 Brazil Gil de Ferran 20.319 +0.619 167.607 Team Penske
16 Brazil Roberto Moreno 20.353 +0.653 167.327 Patrick Racing
17 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi 20.406 +0.706 166.892 Newman-Haas Racing
18 Japan Tora Takagi (R) 20.414 +0.714 166.827 Walker Racing
19 Japan Shinji Nakano 20.455 +0.755 166.492 Fernandez Racing
20 Canada Alex Tagliani 20.459 +0.759 166.460 Forsythe Racing
21 United States Alex Zanardi 20.505 +0.805 166.086 Mo Nunn Racing
22 Canada Patrick Carpentier 20.549 +0.849 165.731 Forsythe Racing
23 New Zealand Scott Dixon (R) 20.681 +0.981 164.673 PacWest Racing
24 Brazil Max Wilson (R) 21.117 +1.417 161.273 Arciero Racing
Source:[4]

Race

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/retired Grid Points
1 18 New Zealand Scott Dixon (R) PacWest Racing 225 1:51:12.419 23 20
2 8 Sweden Kenny Bräck Team Rahal 225 +0.366 secs 2 16
3 26 Canada Paul Tracy Team Green 225 +1.344 secs 8 14
4 40 United States Jimmy Vasser Patrick Racing 225 +1.744 secs 11 12
5 11 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi Newman-Haas Racing 225 +4.225 secs 17 10
6 39 United States Michael Andretti Team Green 225 +6.401 secs 13 8
7 4 Brazil Bruno Junqueira (R) Chip Ganassi Racing 225 +9.193 secs 1 6
8 27 United Kingdom Dario Franchitti Team Green 225 +9.292 secs 12 6
9 22 Spain Oriol Servià Sigma Autosport 225 +12.321 secs 4 5
10 6 Brazil Cristiano da Matta Newman-Haas Racing 225 +12.557 secs 9 4
11 3 Brazil Helio Castroneves Team Penske 225 +13.379 secs 5 3
12 20 Brazil Roberto Moreno Patrick Racing 225 +14.207 secs 16 2
13 16 Mexico Michel Jourdain, Jr. Bettenhausen Racing 224 +1 Lap 3 1
14 5 Japan Tora Takagi (R) Walker Racing 224 +1 Lap 18
15 52 Japan Shinji Nakano Fernandez Racing 224 +1 Lap 19
16 55 Brazil Tony Kanaan Mo Nunn Racing 224 +1 Lap 10
17 25 Brazil Max Wilson (R) Arciero Racing 222 +3 Laps 24
18 12 France Nicolas Minassian Chip Ganassi Racing 220 +5 Laps 25
19 51 Mexico Adrian Fernández Fernandez Racing 186 Electrical 6
20 66 Italy Alex Zanardi Mo Nunn Racing 167 Mechanical 21
21 77 United States Bryan Herta Forsythe Racing 132 Mechanical 7
22 33 Canada Alex Tagliani Forsythe Racing 120 Collision 20
23 1 Brazil Gil de Ferran Team Penske 120 Collision 15
24 7 Italy Max Papis Team Rahal 76 Gearbox 14
25 32 Canada Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Racing 28 Engine 22
Source:[5]

Race statistics

Lap Leaders [6]
Laps Leader
1–125 Kenny Bräck
126-189 Tony Kanaan
190-225 Scott Dixon

Total laps led [6]
Leader Laps
Kenny Bräck 125
Tony Kanaan 64
Scott Dixon 36

Standings after the race

Drivers' standings [6]
Pos Driver Points
1 Brazil Cristiano da Matta 40
Canada Paul Tracy 40
3 United States Jimmy Vasser 30
Brazil Gil de Ferran 30
5 Brazil Helio Castroneves 29

References

  1. "Texas Offers Refund for CART Race". Championship Auto Racing Teams. May 4, 2001. Archived from the original on June 9, 2001. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "CART Statement on Nazareth Speedway". Championship Auto Racing Teams. May 6, 2001. Archived from the original on March 25, 2003. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  3. "Gugelmin Withdraws Following Loss of Son". Championship Auto Racing Teams. May 4, 2001. Archived from the original on March 25, 2003. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  4. "2001 CART Lehigh Valley Grand Prix Qualifying Results". Championship Auto Racing Teams. May 5, 2001. Archived from the original on July 1, 2003. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  5. "Results: 2001 Lehigh Valley Grand Prix Presented by Toyota". Championship Auto Racing Teams. Archived from the original on July 2, 2003. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 "2001 CART Lehigh Valley Grand Prix". Championship Auto Racing Teams. June 24, 2001. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
Previous race:
2001 Firestone Firehawk 600 (Canceled)
CART Indycar World Series
2001 season
Next race:
2001 Firestone Firehawk 500
Previous race:
2000 Lehigh Valley Grand Prix
2001 Lehigh Valley Grand Prix Next race:
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Template:2001 CART Season

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