2001 CART season explained

The 2001 FedEx Championship Series season was the twenty-third in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era of American open-wheel car racing. It consisted of 20 of the 22 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 under the leadership of Joseph Heitzler. It included two race cancellations; a disastrous European tour that coincided with the September 11 attacks and witnessed a severe accident to former series champion Alex Zanardi in which he lost both of his legs; infighting amongst engine manufacturers that saw litigation and the announced future departure of Honda and Toyota; the loss of the series' television contract with ABC/ESPN; the departure of longtime tracks Michigan International Speedway and Nazareth Speedway; the loss of Firestone as the series' tire supplier and its replacement by parent company Bridgestone; and the defection of Team Penske to the rival Indy Racing League (IRL) 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 Helio 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.^{[1] [2]} DaimlerChrysler shut down their CART program as an engine manufacturer via Mercedes-Benz brand as the company decided to move to NASCAR Winston Cup Series via the Dodge brand in the same year.

Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed in the 2001 CART Championship Series season. All cars ran on Firestone Tires.^{[3] [4]}

Team	Chassis	Engine	No	Drivers	Races	Primary Sponsors
Team Penske	Reynard 01i	Honda HR-1	1	Gil de Ferran	All	Marlboro Penske Racing
			3	Hélio Castroneves	All
Chip Ganassi Racing	Lola B01/00	Toyota RV8E	4		All	Target
12		1–7
	Memo Gidley	8–21
Walker Motorsport	Reynard 01i	Toyota RV8E	5	nowrap		All	Pioneer Walker Racing
Newman-Haas Racing	Lola B01/00	Toyota RV8E	6	Cristiano da Matta	All	Texaco-Havoline
			11	Christian Fittipaldi	All	Kmart
Team Rahal	Lola B01/00	Ford-Cosworth XF	7	Max Papis	All	Miller Lite Miller Genuine Draft
		8	Kenny Bräck	All	Shell
Bettenhausen Racing	Lola B01/00	Ford-Cosworth XF	16	Michel Jourdain Jr.	All	Herdez
PacWest Racing	Reynard 01i	Toyota RV8E	17	Maurício Gugelmin	All	Nextel
			18		All	Powerware Nextel
Patrick Racing	Reynard 01i	Toyota RV8E	19	Townsend Bell	16–17	Visteon
			20	Roberto Moreno	All
			40	Jimmy Vasser	All	OXXO Patrick Racing Visteon
Dale Coyne Racing	Lola B2K/00	Ford-Cosworth XF	19	Michael Krumm	1–2	The Dark Dog
			21	Luiz Garcia Jr.	1–2	Embratel
Sigma Autosport	Lola B01/00	Ford-Cosworth XF	22	Oriol Servià	All	Sigma Autosport
Arciero-Blair Racing	Lola B2K/00	Ilmor	25		1–4	winnerB2B.com Driving 101
		Ford-Cosworth XF			6–11, 13–19
				Alex Barron	20–21
Team Green	Reynard 01i	Honda HR-1	26	Paul Tracy	All	KOOL Team Green
			27	Dario Franchitti	All
Forsythe Racing	Reynard 01i	Ford-Cosworth XF	32	Patrick Carpentier	All	Player's Racing Since 1961
			33	Alex Tagliani	All
			77	Bryan Herta	All	Indeck
Team Motorola	Reynard 01i	Honda HR-1	39	Michael Andretti	All	Motorola
Fernández Racing	Reynard 01i	Honda HR-1	51	Adrián Fernández	All	Tecate
			52	Shinji Nakano	All	Avex
Mo Nunn Racing	Reynard 01i	Honda HR-1	55	Tony Kanaan	All	nowrap	Hollywood Cigarettes No Limits
			66	Alex Zanardi	1–16	Pioneer Mo Nunn Racing
					18–21

Season summary

Schedule

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

Oval/Speedway
Road/Street course

• 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 owners of the track; 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.
• The 2001 season was the final time Michigan Speedway appeared on the calendar.

Race results

Rnd	Race Name	Pole position	Fastest lap	Lead most laps	Winning driver	Winning team	Report
1	Monterrey	Kenny Bräck	Dario Franchitti	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	nowrap	Newman-Haas Racing	Report
2	Long Beach	nowrap	Hélio Castroneves	nowrap	Hélio Castroneves	nowrap	Hélio Castroneves	nowrap	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Report
3	Texas	Kenny Bräck	Race cancelled	Report
4	Nazareth		Tony Kanaan	Kenny Bräck		PacWest Racing	Report
5	Motegi	Hélio Castroneves	Alex Zanardi	Hélio Castroneves	Kenny Bräck	Team Rahal	Report
6	Milwaukee	Kenny Bräck	Dario Franchitti	Kenny Bräck	Kenny Bräck	Team Rahal	Report
7	Belle Isle	Hélio Castroneves	Michael Andretti	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Report
8	Portland	Max Papis	Max Papis	Max Papis	Max Papis	Team Rahal	Report
9	Cleveland	Maurício Gugelmin	Roberto Moreno	Memo Gidley	Dario Franchitti	Team Green	Report
10	Toronto	Gil de Ferran	Hélio Castroneves	Gil de Ferran	Michael Andretti	Team Motorola	Report
11	Michigan	Kenny Bräck	Patrick Carpentier	Max Papis	Patrick Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	Report
12	Chicago	Tony Kanaan	Kenny Bräck	Hélio Castroneves	Kenny Bräck	Team Rahal	Report
13	Mid-Ohio	Gil de Ferran	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Report
14	Road America	Kenny Bräck		Hélio Castroneves		Chip Ganassi Racing	Report
15	Vancouver	Alex Tagliani	Hélio Castroneves	Alex Tagliani	Roberto Moreno	Patrick Racing	Report
16	EuroSpeedway	Gil de Ferran	Tony Kanaan	Kenny Bräck	Kenny Bräck	Team Rahal	Report
17	Rockingham	Kenny Bräck	Patrick Carpentier	Gil de Ferran	Gil de Ferran	Team Penske	Report
18	Houston	Gil de Ferran	Jimmy Vasser	Gil de Ferran	Gil de Ferran	Team Penske	Report
19	Laguna Seca	Gil de Ferran	Hélio Castroneves	Gil de Ferran	Max Papis	Team Rahal	Report
20	nowrap	Surfers Paradise	Roberto Moreno	Jimmy Vasser	Roberto Moreno	Cristiano da Matta	Newman-Haas Racing	Report
21	Fontana	Alex Tagliani	Max Papis	Max Papis	Cristiano da Matta	Newman-Haas Racing	Report

Final driver standings

Pos Driver MTY LBH TXS NAZ MOT MIL DET POR CLE TOR MIC CHI MDO ROA VAN HOU LAG SUR FON Pts 1 Gil de Ferran 2 3 C 23 13 7 6 13 4 14* 24 3 2 5 2 8 1* 1* 3* 4 6 199 2 Kenny Bräck 5 25 C 2* 1 1* 9 11 6 20 17 1 20 14 8 1* 2 7 25 5 26 163 3 Michael Andretti 4 28 C 6 23 2 4 8 15 1 19 24 26 2 3 4 5 21 14 2 7 147 4 Hélio Castroneves 8 1* C 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 C 10 25 25 7 10 7 15 4 19 10 6 20 26 3 6 20 1 1 140 6 Max Papis 12 17 C 24 6 8 11 1* 18 8 16* 13 24 16 22 2 11 9 1 9 2* 107 7 Dario Franchitti 9 6 C 8 17 9 2 6 1 24 2 15 16 19 9 25 9 2 19 23 23 105 8 13 19 C 1 9 3 22 7 20 5 10 4 12 4 13 9 22 18 4 15 17 98 9 Tony Kanaan 7 7 C 16 3 6 DNS 24 16 10 21 8 5 12 4 7 8 12 8 17 5 93 10 Patrick Carpentier 25 23 C 25 19 17 8 5 26 21 1 2 3 9 16 3 16 10 26 11 10 91 11 Alex Tagliani 21 18 C 22 22 12 21 12 9 2 6 6 7 8 23* 21 14 19 15 3 3 80 12 Jimmy Vasser 6 5 C 4 5 21 18 16 5 26 23 14 23 21 19 15 7 11 5 6 12 77 13 Roberto Moreno 27 11 C 12 10 15 3 2 8 11 12 20 6 11 1 23 13 22 22 22* 19 76 14 Paul Tracy 3 4 C 3 18 24 14 21 24 6 7 12 4 26 26 10 6 24 18 14 24 73 15 Christian Fittipaldi 20 24 C 5 4 18 5 3 11 12 18 25 8 18 11 19 24 8 9 8 13 70 16 22 9 C 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 C 19 16 5 12 19 21 3 25 10 22 3 21 24 23 14 10 19 18 45 19 Oriol Servià 14 14 C 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 C 13 11 13 25 15 25 16 3 23 17 17 6 17 19 25 23 7 16 30 21 10 20 C 14 20 DSQ 20 18 14 22 13 11 21 22 7 6 26 4 13 16 15 29 22 Bryan Herta 16 10 C 21 21 22 15 14 3 18 5 21 25 24 17 27 15 13 12 18 25 28 23 Alex Zanardi 24 26 C 20 7 11 24 26 13 4 20 9 19 13 24 20 24 24 Maurício Gugelmin 15 22 Wth 12 10 10 20 10 7 15 22 14 23 15 16 20 20 16 24 20 17 25 28 21 C 17 23 23 4 19 25 Wth 15 25 25 18 21 16 24 12 26 Shinji Nakano 18 12 C 15 8 16 13 22 22 9 22 16 18 15 14 22 17 15 21 12 21 11 27 11 8 C 18 15 19 17 7 28 17 11 26 8 7 29 Alex Barron 13 9 4 30 13 12 1 31 23 15 0 32 Luiz Garcia Jr. 26 27 0 Pos Driver MTY LBH TXS NAZ MOT MIL DET POR CLE TOR MIC CHI MDO ROA VAN 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) Not competing align=center colspan=2 In-line notation Bold Pole position Italics Ran fastest race lap *| align=center|Led most race laps|-|style="text-align:center" | |align=center|Rookie of the Year|-|style="text-align:center" | |align=center|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 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. Nations' Cup Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup. Pos Country MTY LBH NAZ MOT MIL DET POR CLE TOR MIC CHI MDO ROA VAN 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 HOU LAG SUR FON Pts Chassis Constructors' Cup Pos Chassis Pts 1 Reynard 01i 378 2 Lola B1/00 & B2K/00 335 Pos Chassis Pts Engine Manufacturers' Cup Pos Engine Pts 1 Honda 342 2 Toyota 309 3 Ford-Cosworth 297 4 Ilmor 0 Pos Engine Pts References Web site: CART FedEx Champ Car World Series 2001 . Åberg, Andreas . Driver Database . 2009-05-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081231134217/http://www.driverdb.com/standings/5-2001/ . 2008-12-31 . live . Web site: 2001 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series . Champ Car Stats . 2009-05-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081122113851/http://www.champcarstats.com/year/2001.htm . 2008-11-22 . live . CART Postpones Firestone Firehawk 600 Presented by Pioneer Due to Unprecedented Physical Demands on Drivers. CART / PR Newswire. 2001-04-30. Web site: Standings after Fontana . Champ Car World Series . 2009-05-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081022080405/http://www.champcar.ws/Results/Standings.asp?Year=2001 . 2008-10-22 . dead . See also 2001 Toyota Atlantic Championship season 2001 Indianapolis 500 2001 Indy Racing League 2001 Indy Lights season

Notes and References

1. News: May 25, 2001 . Penske must drop Marlboro logos for Indy 500 . November 29, 2024 . Autosport.
2. Web site: 2001-05-25 . Indy 500 wasn’t in Marlboro country; team drops logo . 2024-11-29 . Maryland Daily Record . en-US.
3. Web site: Honda Championship Auto Racing Highlights. April 2002.
4. Web site: 2002 Toyota RV8F CART engine.