A wet start, a 47-minute stoppage and a heavy crash gave Bruno Junqueira his first CART victory at Road America.
Held on 19 August 2001 on the Road America road course in Wisconsin, the Motorola 220 was the 14th round of that year's CART season. Bruno Junqueira of Chip Ganassi Racing won after a wet start, a flood and a 47-minute stoppage.
The 2001 Motorola 220 was a CART race that turned into one of the most disrupted events of the season. A flooded backstraight, a 47-minute stoppage and a violent crash at turn 13 shaped the afternoon. Bruno Junqueira won his first CART race after a collision between Fittipaldi and Andretti handed him the lead.
Where and when was the 2001 Motorola 220 run?
The 2001 Motorola 220 was held on 19 August 2001 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. It was the 14th race of 21 scheduled CART events that year, and the 19th consecutive running of the race in the series. Bruno Junqueira won it.
The circuit is a 14-turn permanent road course 6.515 km (4.048 mi) long. The race was the sixth and final event in the Midwest on the CART calendar that season. Support races included the Barber Dodge Pro Series, the Trans-Am Series and the Toyota Atlantic Championship.
A wet start, a long stoppage and a crash that stopped the race for good sent the title battle in a new direction.
Who led the championship before Road America?
Kenny Brack of Team Rahal led the Drivers' Championship on 104 points, one point ahead of Team Penske's Helio Castroneves. Gil de Ferran was third on 89 points. Honda led the manufacturers' title, while Reynard led the constructors' standings by 41 points over Lola.
Michael Andretti was under extra pressure, having won at Road America three times before. Castroneves had won the previous race at Mid-Ohio and wanted to keep up that momentum. Paul Tracy was the defending race winner from the 2000 event, and Brack said his car needed to be faster on the straights.
How did practice and qualifying shape the grid?
Practice was far from smooth. Two red flags interrupted the first Friday session, one after Roberto Moreno stalled on an out lap and one after Dixon spun into the turn five gravel trap. Tora Takagi set the early pace, and de Ferran was fastest in the second session with a time of 1:41.055.
Saturday brought cloudy skies and more trouble. Tagliani spun into the turn six gravel trap and stalled, and Brack's engine failed heading into turn twelve. De Ferran was fastest again, with 1:40.511, and after the session Alex Zanardi stopped his car in Fernandez's pit stall to keep him from entering it. Zanardi then nudged Fernandez in an accusatory manner before others stepped in.
Brack took pole with a time of 2:03.531, his fifth of the season, and he was joined on the front row by Alex Tagliani. Scott Dixon qualified third on his first visit to Road America. The starting order was settled in a wet, slippery session that required every car to use wet-weather tyres.
Qualifying was split into two groups, each with 30 minutes on track and a 15-minute gap between them. Rain returned as the second group went out, and several drivers slid off the track without serious damage. Tagliani slowed for Castroneves during his final two timed laps, which cost him the pole.
Castroneves used the team's wet-weather backup car and started sixth, while de Ferran spun twice and changed his car before taking fourth. Michael Andretti, Memo Gidley, Christian Fittipaldi and Bruno Junqueira completed the top ten. Jimmy Vasser, Patrick Carpentier and Tora Takagi were next, and Paul Tracy's session ended early after a reported transmission failure.
What happened when the race began?
The start came at 12:15 p.m. local time with the pace car leading the field, after more than an inch of rain fell in less than half an hour. Officials declared a wet start and every car began on rain tyres. A jet dryer was sent out on lap two to help clear the standing water.
Junqueira clashed wheels with Fittipaldi at turn five and spun, dropping from tenth to the back of the field. Tagliani briefly took the lead from Brack but ran too fast into the corner, and Brack reclaimed the position. On the lap-10 restart Andretti passed Dixon for sixth, and Dixon then hit the rear of Andretti's car, which spun in turn five.
Why was the race stopped for 47 minutes?
Chief steward Chris Kneifel stopped the race because standing water had collected on the backstretch, where the run-off area drained across the track. Course officials dug a ditch against the inside wall, and teams were allowed to alter their cars during the stoppage. The race restarted 47 minutes later on slick tyres.
Several drivers complained about the decision to start in those conditions. Gugelmin said the race should never have started, and that red flagging it was the right call. Brack argued that teams which changed their cars during the stop gained an unfair advantage. Servia said all cars should have been held in parc ferme conditions.
How did the field restart after the stoppage?
Castroneves led the restart, with Carpentier and Jourdain behind him after their pit stops for slick tyres. Jourdain went around Carpentier on the approach to turn six and took second, while Castroneves kept the lead. Tagliani passed Brack at the Carousel but lost ground when he went off at turn twelve while trying to pass his teammate Carpentier.
Carpentier challenged Castroneves on the outside at the first corner but could not complete the move. Fittipaldi later out-braked Brack at turn five to take fourth. By the end of the seventeenth lap, Castroneves led Jourdain, with Fittipaldi, Carpentier and Brack in the next three places.
The sixth caution on lap 21 came when Gidley lost rear grip, and the field was held up again. Castroneves did not pit during that yellow and led the lap-29 restart, with Carpentier and de Ferran close behind. De Ferran got past Carpentier at turn twelve, and da Matta and Moreno later followed, leaving Carpentier fifth.
How serious was Gidley's crash?
Gidley's car hit a concrete bridge support at turn 13 at about 233 km/h (145 mph) after he lost rear grip on a damp kerb. The car split in two, flipped and rolled several times, and landed upside down in the gravel. Gidley was briefly unconscious, but he was awake by the time safety crews reached him.
Debris from the crash was scattered across the track, and Dixon was struck on the helmet by a piece of it. The incident brought out a sixth caution on lap 21. Gidley was taken to HSHS St. Nicholas Hospital in Sheboygan for precautionary X-rays and a CT scan, and he later learned that his right thigh bone had a fracture.
How did Junqueira take the win?
Junqueira moved ahead after Fittipaldi and Andretti made contact at turn five. Fittipaldi suffered a broken front-left suspension arm and retired, while Andretti's steering column was skewed but he kept going. By the start of the fortieth lap, Junqueira led by 2.931 seconds and kept pulling away from Andretti.
Fernandez conserved fuel and let Andretti through into second on the forty-fourth lap. Junqueira crossed the line after 45 laps, with an average speed of 146.001 km/h (90.721 mph). Andretti finished 2.687 seconds behind, and Fernandez took the final podium place in third.
Who finished where at Road America?
Junqueira, Andretti and Fernandez filled the podium, and Dixon matched his best road-course result of the season in fourth. De Ferran, da Matta and Castroneves took fifth to seventh. Tagliani and Carpentier were eighth and ninth, while Servia finished tenth.
| Finish | Driver | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Bruno Junqueira | First CART victory, dedicated to teammate Gidley |
| Second | Michael Andretti | Finished 2.687 seconds behind after the collision with Fittipaldi |
| Third | Adrian Fernandez | Ran short of fuel in turn two but still made the podium |
| Fourth | Scott Dixon | Equalled his best road-course result of the season |
| Fifth | Gil de Ferran | Teammate of Castroneves at Team Penske |
| Sixth | Cristiano da Matta | Part of the Brazilian trio that finished fifth to seventh |
| Seventh | Helio Castroneves | Led 24 laps, the most of any driver |
| Eighth | Alex Tagliani | Best qualifying of his road-course year |
| Ninth | Patrick Carpentier | Finished one place behind Tagliani |
| Tenth | Adrian Servia | Ran in the top ten at the finish |
How did the drivers and teams react?
Junqueira was delighted to win on such a demanding track, and he said he had been frightened by Gidley's crash and asked about him over the radio. Andretti described an unbelievable day and accepted second place, even after his contact with Fittipaldi. Fernandez said the car ran well all afternoon, with the changing conditions forcing him to manage fuel.
Andretti joked that Fittipaldi might have been wearing blinders, adding that he was not the only car Fittipaldi had hit. Fittipaldi said he had doubted his strategy after the last stop, but he believed his car could have challenged for a podium. He said he finished eighteenth because his car was too damaged to carry on.
Fernandez's engineer had been unsure whether the race would be a timed event, and the team had been forced to save fuel once it was. Fernandez ran short in turn two but reached the line, which he described as just making it. Gidley compared his aches after the crash to the day after a first skiing trip in years.
Herta and Gugelmin criticised the decision to start on a flooded track, and Gugelmin likened the cars to powerboats in those conditions. Kneifel acknowledged that his judgement would come under scrutiny, and the decision to let teams work on their cars during the stoppage became a talking point for weeks afterwards.
What did the result mean for the title race?
Castroneves took the Drivers' Championship lead with a five-point margin over Brack. Honda increased its advantage over Toyota in the manufacturers' title to 35 points, while Ford Cosworth dropped to third. Reynard still led the constructors, but its margin over Lola shrank with seven races left in the season.
For Junqueira, the win was the first of his CART career. He dedicated it to his teammate Gidley, who had been hurt in the crash, and he said he was scared when he saw the accident and was relieved to hear that Gidley was safe.
