Cristiano da Matta won the penultimate CART round in Queensland, while Gil de Ferran's fourth place secured his second straight championship.
Cristiano da Matta won the 2001 Honda Indy 300 for Newman/Haas Racing, while Gil de Ferran's fourth place secured his second straight CART title. The race was the penultimate round of the 2001 season.
Run under the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) banner, the 2001 Honda Indy 300 took place on 28 October 2001 at Surfers Paradise, Queensland. Cristiano da Matta won for Newman/Haas Racing from third on the grid, while Gil de Ferran's fourth place was enough to secure his second straight CART Drivers' Championship.
Why did the 2001 Honda Indy 300 matter?
It was the 20th race of the 2001 CART FedEx season and the one before the finale. The event was in its 11th running, and it was the seventh and final 2001 round held abroad.
The 2.795 mile (4.498 km) circuit has 12 turns. Crowds were large, with 110,187 attending the race itself.
Security was a concern. Organisers feared a US ban on flights to Australia, should the situation in Afghanistan worsen, could force cancellation. CART kept the event on schedule with increased security, and the race's chairman, Geoff Jones, took a business-as-usual line.
A rain-hit weekend at Surfers Paradise ended with Da Matta on top and de Ferran's second championship sealed in fourth place.
Who was in the championship fight?
De Ferran topped the Drivers' Championship on 179 points, a lead of 26 over Kenny Brack, who was second. Helio Castroneves was third on 141 points, Michael Andretti fourth on 125 and Dario Franchitti fifth on 105.
With 44 points left in the season, de Ferran needed to stay well clear of Brack to win a second straight title. Honda had clinched the manufacturers' title at Monterey and held a 316-point margin before this round.
In the Constructors' Championship Reynard led with 345 points.
How had de Ferran built his lead?
De Ferran's charge started in July at Chicago's Grand Prix. Back-to-back wins at the Rockingham 500 and in Houston during the season's second half carried him to the top of the table.
Brack was not ready to concede. He had won all four of his 2001 oval races, and he argued that the title was still open, since his deficit to de Ferran at the same stage the year before had been larger.
The final rounds also brought a change at Arciero-Blair Racing, where Barron took over the No. 25 from Max Wilson. Team owner Larry Blair made the switch based on Barron's late 2000 results at Surfers Paradise and Fontana, and because the team needed his experience to move forward.
What happened in practice?
Three practice sessions came before Sunday's race. Rain on Thursday night had left the track slightly wet, and a light drizzle during the first session turned into a deluge that flooded the circuit.
Jimmy Vasser set the fastest time of the first session at 1:36.911, almost a tenth of a second quicker than Castroneves in second. Casey Mears was fastest in the second session at 1:57.751, run in very difficult conditions, and de Ferran topped the third session at 1:33.511.
Several incidents interrupted the running. Scott Dixon went broadside into the turn one chicane, Patrick Carpentier spun at turn seven and broke a front suspension wishbone, and Da Matta stalled at the turn fourteen hairpin.
The third session was the most eventful. Shinji Nakano and Kanaan ran wide at turns eight and nine, and Kanaan then slid at turn two and hit the left-hand barrier heavily, ending his session. Tora Takagi brushed the barrier at turn four, and Herta ran out of fuel with 15 minutes left, bringing out a red flag.
De Ferran's 1:33.511 was the best of that session, and Andretti had used the break to discuss a setup change with his chief engineer before qualifying.
How was qualifying disrupted?
Qualifying was dominated by red flags. The 75-minute session saw five stoppages, starting with an early crash for Tora Takagi and followed by a hard impact for Mauricio Gugelmin and a fire for Barron.
Qualifying ran in two groups of thirteen. Each group had half an hour on track, with a 15-minute interval between them, and the times set in the two groups decided the grid.
Gugelmin was taken to hospital with a fractured right wrist. Barron's car trailed fire after a broken oil line, and Vasser's crash broke the suspension and gearbox of his car. Papis's session ended when his front-left wheel came off after a slide into the turn eleven barrier.
Roberto Moreno took pole with a time of 1:32.095, his second career pole, and it came in his 100th CART start. De Ferran had held the pole until Moreno's final lap, but he was 0.311 seconds slower and had been serving an eight-minute penalty.
Behind the front row, Alex Tagliani lost around 100 hp (75 kW) when a wedged engine valve cut power, leaving him seventh. Dixon was eighth, Carpentier ninth, Vasser tenth, Castroneves eleventh, Adrian Servia twelfth and Brack thirteenth.
Papis, Fittipaldi, Jourdain, the Fernandez and Nakano pair, Kanaan and Takagi lined up behind them, and the back of the grid was filled by Junqueira, Herta, Gidley, Mears, Gugelmin and Barron.
What was the warm-up like?
Under dry, warm and clear skies, the warm-up opened at 10:00 local time. Gugelmin was cleared to take part by CART's director of medical affairs after fitness tests.
Michel Jourdain Jr. was fastest, with Castroneves and Moreno behind him. Carpentier ended the session early after sliding off at the third turn.
How did the race begin?
The start came at 13:57 local time under dry, sunny skies, with 24 to 26 C (76 to 78 F) in the air and the track reading 114 to 128 F (46 to 53 C). Around 110,187 people were in attendance.
The first caution came on the opening lap, when Mears tried to pass Gidley on the right, braked too late and spun at the turn one chicane. He retired with damage to his car.
Racing resumed on lap three, when Da Matta moved ahead of Tracy into fourth at turn three. Moreno and de Ferran pulled clear at the front, while Tagliani could not keep pace.
Servia retired with a gearbox failure on lap eleven. The first round of green-flag stops came on lap 20, and Franchitti had to pit three laps early when a fuel pressure fault made his engine misfire.
A second caution came on lap 24, when Franchitti spun at turn four under acceleration. He retired on lap 36 with an engine failure, and Castroneves spun and dropped to 22nd, a lap down.
Who led the race, and when did the lead change?
Moreno and de Ferran swapped the lead through the first round of stops, and Moreno retook first after Dixon's pit stop on lap 25. Two laps on, the pace car came off and Moreno stayed in front while de Ferran took second and Da Matta third.
Da Matta passed Moreno on lap 47, and Andretti moved up behind him. Moreno's gearbox lost oil pressure around lap 54, and he retired soon afterwards.
Tagliani took second from de Ferran on lap 54, as the Penske cars struggled with brake fade. Tracy got past de Ferran for fifth on the following lap. Roger Penske proposed that de Ferran let Brack through, but de Ferran held back, believing he was quicker than Brack even with his own braking issues.
Junqueira hit the barrier at turn three and retired. Andretti had closed to within 4.6 seconds of da Matta, but his crew told him to save fuel so that he could finish.
How did the race finish?
With two laps to run Dixon lost ground with gearbox trouble, sliding from eighth to fifteenth. A rear fire broke out on Tracy's car at turn eight on the final lap, and he stopped on the straight while crews put it out.
Da Matta crossed the line first after 65 laps, his second win of the year and third in his career. Andretti followed 5.786 seconds back, and Tagliani completed the podium. De Ferran took fourth and the championship, because Brack had not closed the gap on his points tally.
Vasser, Jourdain, Fittipaldi, Papis and Gidley, with Brack among them, closed out the top ten. Eleventh to fourteenth went to Carpentier, Nakano, Barron and Tracy, in that order. Dixon finished 15th without scoring points, but he was named Rookie of the Year.
Eight lead changes involved five drivers. Moreno led more laps than anyone else, 24 in total, and Da Matta led twice for 16 laps.
| Finish | Driver | Team | Highlight |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | Cristiano da Matta | Newman/Haas Racing | Started third; 65 laps; second win of 2001 |
| Second | Michael Andretti | Team Motorola | 5.786 seconds behind the winner |
| Third | Alex Tagliani | Forsythe Racing | Passed de Ferran on lap 54 |
| Fourth | Gil de Ferran | Marlboro Team Penske | Won the Drivers' Championship |
| Fifth | Kenny Brack | Team Rahal | Second in the standings, 28 points behind |
What did the result mean for the championship?
De Ferran won his second straight CART Drivers' Championship with 191 points, and the title was worth $1 million to him. Brack finished 28 points behind, while Castroneves kept third place in the standings.
Da Matta moved up to fifth in the standings with 120 points and earned $100,000 for the win. He said afterwards that he was still chasing a big win in the United States before the season ended.
Brack was disappointed, and he put the loss down to his lack of success on road courses. He vowed to return to the front in 2002.
Roger Penske praised de Ferran's consistency, noting that he had recovered from behind in the standings and was quick when it counted. De Ferran likened the achievement to a Formula One title, though Penske had not operated in Formula One since 1976.
How did the manufacturers and constructors finish?
Honda remained ahead in the manufacturers' table, leading by 34 points after the race. Toyota passed Ford Cosworth for second place.
Reynard kept the constructors' lead, now 49 points ahead of Lola with one race left in the season.
Why is the 2001 Honda Indy 300 remembered?
The race was the last 2001 round held outside the United States, and it confirmed de Ferran's second straight title. For de Ferran it closed a season in which his charge to the lead had only begun in July. It was also the 11th running of an event that had been part of CART's schedule for many years.
Smaller storylines added to the weekend, including Moreno's pole in his 100th CART start and Dixon's rookie award despite a 15th-place finish. They played out in front of 110,187 spectators at a round that had gone ahead despite the security concerns.