Brack wins CART race at Chicago

[MountaineerTom]

From cart.com

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CICERO, Ill.–-The fastest car won Sunday's Target Grand Prix Presented by Energizer, but everything that happened behind the victorious Kenny Brack was anything but conventional.

Dario Franchitti and Memo Gidley looked like good candidates to finish second and third, but instead wound up 15th and fifth, respectively.

Helio Castroneves led the most laps (68) in the Marlboro Honda/Reynard but had to settle for seventh place.

Polesitter Tony Kanaan was out in front for the first 51 laps and seldom out of the top five all afternoon yet could only take eighth place in the Hollywood Honda/Reynard.

And, after running as high as second, Alex Zanardi and Adrian Fernandez could only muster a ninth and 10th.

A combination of timely yellow flags, traffic and a wild scramble on the last restart enabled Patrick Carpentier to take second, Gil de Ferran to come home third and rookie Scott Dixon to place fourth.

“What a goofy race,” said Castroneves, who moved into second in the FedEx Championship but trails Brack by 22 points heading to Mid-Ohio next month. “We had a strong car today and the two things that hurt us the most were backmarkers and yellows.

“It's a shame because we had a good car and a good chance to get some big points.”

There were only three minor spins in the 225 laps around Chicago Motor Speedway, but the last one, by Mauricio Gugelmin on Lap 200, made it possible for Dixon, Gidley and sixth-place Alex Tagliani to make their third pit stops under caution. Everyone else in the top 10 only pitted twice.

“The pit strategy came into play when some guys pitted early and it worked out for them because of that last yellow,” said Fernandez, who started third in the Tecate/Quaker State/Telmex Honda/Reynard. “I was in the group with Helio and Tony and I guess the others had a better strategy today.

“It just wasn't our day in that respect.”

Franchitti, who led Laps 169-187 in the KOOL Honda/Reynard, saw a good drive go for naught with a pit speed violation that ended up costing him a lap.

“As I headed out of the pits on my last stop, I looked down and noticed my pit speed limiter had reset itself for some reason or gone off and I don't understand why,” said Franchitti, whose 81 points left him third in the standings.

“By the time I got the button down, I'd gone over the limit so that was the end of that.”

Gidley, who started fourth in the Target Toyota/Lola, was sitting second on the Lap 211 restart when he got balked by Franchitti and teammate Bruno Junqueira. By the time he got back up to speed, he'd lost three spots.

“The cars just stacked up in front of me and there was no place to go,” said Gidley, who also led nine laps. “I had to put on the brakes and that cost us a few places, as well as a possible victory.

“But I had a pretty solid car for most of the day and my engineers called a great race and we were able to make up a lot of positions with their pit strategy.”

Kanaan was miffed about traffic and yellows.

“Jourdain moved over for Kenny and then held us all up and then we all got screwed by that last yellow flag,” he said. “What a frustrating day.”

Papis Passes Many

Other than possibly his teammate, nobody passed more cars than Max Papis.

Starting last (25th) in the Miller Ford-Cosworth/Lola, Papis stormed all the way up to 12th before coasting to a stop on the final lap with a broken fuel pump.

“I was very proud of my effort today and my team did a fantastic job,” said Papis. “I was attacking like #### and I drove really hard to get that point for 12th place. I go home with zero and I don't think I deserve that.

“I couldn't believe my car slowed down on the last lap.”

Papis also unlapped himself from then-leader Castroneves on Lap 122 and Brack followed him through like a blocking back leading a halfback.

“I dove low and got by and looked in my mirror and saw Kenny right behind me. I guess I helped him get the lead. Maybe I should get some of his winning money.”

Another DNF for Andretti

After climbing back into the FedEx Championship Series points battle with his win at Toronto, Michael Andretti now has back-to-back pointless weekends. Sunday, his Motorola Honda/Reynard lost power while he was running eighth.

“The car wasn't handling very well but this is pretty disappointing,” said CART's all-time winner. “We need to regroup and get competitive for the next round of races. You can't finish half the time and expect to win the championship.”

Andretti is fourth in the points-–31 behind leader Brack.