A CART street race in Vancouver where a late red flag, broken drive shafts and a fuel-saving final stint decided the result.
Dario Franchitti won the 2002 Molson Indy Vancouver for Team Green, a 100-lap CART race on the Concord Pacific Place street circuit. Paul Tracy finished second, giving the team a one-two result, after a late red flag and a restart that favoured the leading car.
The 2002 Molson Indy Vancouver was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) race held on 28 July 2002 on the Concord Pacific Place street circuit in Vancouver. Dario Franchitti won the 100-lap event from third on the grid, with his Team Green teammate Paul Tracy second, and the result gave Team Green a one-two finish.
When and where was the 2002 Molson Indy Vancouver held?
The race was held on Sunday, 28 July 2002, in front of a crowd of 66,134 spectators. It was the tenth round of the 19-race CART FedEx Championship Series and the 13th running of the event. The race was the second of three Canadian rounds that season.
The circuit is a 12-turn street course of 1.781 miles (2.866 km) laid out at Concord Pacific Place. The Molson Indy had been an annual CART fixture since 1990, and it was moved from its traditional Labor Day weekend date to clear the calendar for the returning Denver Grand Prix.
A street race where a single red flag, four broken cars and a late restart decided who would finish first in Vancouver.
How did the championship stand before the race?
Cristiano da Matta led the Drivers' Championship with 120 points, 50 ahead of Bruno Junqueira in second. Dario Franchitti was third in the standings. Patrick Carpentier and Michel Jourdain Jr. were tied on 62 points each in fourth place.
Toyota led the manufacturers with 166 points, while Honda was second on 134 and Ford-Cosworth third on 114. Da Matta had already won five races by mid-season, including a four-win streak that was ended by a mechanical failure in the previous round at Cleveland.
Who were the drivers to watch?
Michael Andretti was set to start his 300th CART race, and he was a three-time winner of the Vancouver event. Carpentier was returning from an emotional win at Cleveland, and he was keen to race in front of his Canadian fans. Da Matta regarded Vancouver as one of his favourite race cities.
The field had 18 cars from 12 teams. Townsend Bell had been released by Patrick Racing after a run of crashes, and he had been placed on indefinite probation by CART after hitting Junqueira at the Toronto race. Oriol Servia replaced him for the next five races.
How did practice and qualifying go?
Two practice sessions were held before the race, one of 90 minutes on Friday and one of 75 minutes on Saturday. Kenny Brack set the pace on Friday morning with a lap of 1 minute and 1.359 seconds, followed by Franchitti, Paul Tracy, Christian Fittipaldi and Michel Jourdain Jr.
Friday qualifying ran in two sixty-minute sessions. Tracy set the fastest time at 1 minute and 1.888 seconds, with Scott Dixon 0.051 seconds behind and Brack third. Franchitti led for much of the first half but was dropped to fourth. Da Matta had fuel pressure trouble in his primary car, and he ended the day 16th after switching to a backup car too late to find a quicker time.
On Saturday Tracy again set the pace early, but da Matta claimed the pole with a lap of 1 minute and 0.339 seconds. It produced a speed of 106.260 mph (171.009 km/h) and beat the track record Franchitti had set in 2000. It was da Matta's fifth pole of the season and of his career at that point.
Tracy was second, 0.163 seconds slower, and Franchitti's team made changes to his car that slowed him on his second run. He started third, which was the position from which he would win.
How did the Saturday qualifying order take shape?
Overcast skies cooled the circuit on Saturday, which allowed 11 drivers to post quicker times than Tracy had managed on Friday. Many drivers completed their full allocation of 15 timed laps well before the session ended.
Dixon and Andretti matched their best qualifying results of the season, finishing fourth and fifth. Kanaan switched to a completely different setup and climbed from 12th to sixth, ahead of Fittipaldi and Tagliani. Vasser struggled with understeer and took ninth.
Carpentier, Dominguez and Jourdain withdrew their Friday times so they could improve their places with backup cars, but they ended up taking the final three spots on the grid.
How did the race begin?
The drivers took to the track at 9:30 a.m. Pacific time for a 30-minute warm-up, in which Christian Fittipaldi was quickest. Michel Jourdain Jr. spun while warming his tyres on the parade laps and had to change his nose and front wing before rejoining.
The race was scheduled for 100 laps over 178.1 miles (286.6 km), with a mandatory pit stop after a maximum stint of 32 laps. Jim Swintal waved the green flag at 1:37 p.m. local time, but the first lap was run under caution because of a water leak at turn eight.
Entering turn one, Michael Andretti collided with Christian Fittipaldi and skidded off the track. Jimmy Vasser then locked his brakes and spun, and Kenny Brack clipped him from behind. Brack and Vasser retired, and the second caution flew.
What happened during the middle of the race?
Once the track was cleared, da Matta brought the field back to racing speed for a single-file restart on lap six. He pulled 2.166 seconds clear of Tracy before Dixon suffered a right-front suspension failure in turn six and retired. Da Matta was then lapping half a second quicker than Tracy.
The mandatory stops came on lap 32, and the gap between da Matta and Tracy had grown to 4.886 seconds. Takagi tried to overtake Andretti on lap 35 and lost traction over a kerb, and the two collided into a tyre wall. Tracy assumed the lead after the stops but needed to pit twice more.
Servia retired with a gearbox failure after losing ninth place to Alex Tagliani. Tracy made his mandatory stop on lap 64 with a six-second lead over da Matta. On the next lap both Newman/Haas cars slowed with broken drive shafts. Da Matta's car was stopped between turns eight and nine, and a local caution was thrown to push it off the track.
Franchitti took the lead with a gap of 17 seconds over Kanaan, and both drivers made their final stops on lap 68. Tracy inherited the lead the next lap. He had collided with Junqueira's right-rear tyre at turn six, but both drivers continued without further trouble.
How did the red flag affect the race?
Tracy's 17.2-second advantage was not enough. He made his final stop on lap 85 and rejoined second behind Franchitti. Nakano then spun into the tyre wall at turn six and drove off without his rear wing, which stayed on the circuit until a fifth caution was called to retrieve it.
Franchitti led Tracy, Kanaan, Carpentier and Jourdain for the restart on lap 91. The cooler air had reduced the tyre temperatures, and Carpentier slid sideways at the high-speed fifth turn. Tagliani spun trying to avoid him and blocked the track, and Junqueira collided with Fernandez.
Tagliani's damaged car lost its left-front suspension, and the tyre bounced across the track. Safety crews needed 16 minutes and 40 seconds to remove Fernandez from his car. He was taken to Vancouver General Hospital with a severely bruised right hip.
What did the closing laps look like?
Kanaan overtook Jourdain for third in the first turn on the restart, and Franchitti stayed ahead for the rest of the race. Tracy could not make up ground on his teammate in the final laps, and Franchitti later said the team had expected Tracy to need a late stop and had planned around it.
Jourdain's run of points finishes continued, as he finished fourth to score in a tenth consecutive race. Carpentier held fifth to the flag. The race had five lead changes between three different drivers, and Tracy led the most laps with 45.
Who won the 2002 Molson Indy Vancouver?
Franchitti was the winner after the restart on lap 95. The cold tyres and slippery track kept Tracy from closing on his teammate, and Franchitti won by 1.239 seconds from Tracy. It was his first win of 2002, his second at Vancouver, and his eighth CART victory.
Kanaan came in third, which was the first podium of the season for himself and Mo Nunn Racing. Jourdain finished fourth to score points for the tenth consecutive race. Carpentier was the last driver on the lead lap in fifth. Andretti finished sixth, six laps behind, and Dominguez was tenth, ten laps down.
| Finish | Driver | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| First | Dario Franchitti | Team Green; eighth CART win; dedicated to Greg Moore |
| Second | Paul Tracy | Team Green teammate; led 45 laps across two spells |
| Third | Tony Kanaan | Mo Nunn Racing's first podium of the season |
| Fourth | Michel Jourdain Jr. | Points in a tenth consecutive race |
| Fifth | Patrick Carpentier | Last driver on the lead lap |
| Sixth | Michael Andretti | Six laps behind the leaders |
| Tenth | Mario Dominguez | Ten laps down |
What did the win mean for the standings?
Da Matta maintained his Drivers' Championship lead with 122 points. Franchitti moved up to second with 84 points, while Jourdain and Junqueira were tied for third on 74 points each. Carpentier fell to fifth on 72 points.
Toyota continued to lead the manufacturers with 171 points, although its advantage over Honda had shrunk to 16 points. Ford-Cosworth remained third on 126 points, with nine races left in the season.
How did the crowd and the driver react?
Franchitti dedicated the win to Greg Moore, a CART driver from Vancouver who died in the 1999 Marlboro 500. Moore's father, Ric, presented the winner's trophy. Franchitti said it meant a lot to win there, and that if Moore had been present they would have been out celebrating that night.
Tracy recalled that Team Green had taken a one-two finish at Vancouver in 2000, when Franchitti finished second behind him. Tracy said he could still picture Ric Moore on the podium that year, and that Franchitti had wanted the Vancouver win so badly for Greg's sake. Kanaan called the third-place finish the beginning of something good after a poor run of results, and said the podium in Moore's hometown was emotional for the three of them.
Franchitti earned $100,000 for the win, and Team Green's two cars filled the top two places, which Tracy described as a great day for the team. He credited the pit crew and team manager Kyle Moyer for the strategy, which had kept him ahead after the mandatory stops.
What happened to Adrian Fernandez?
Fernandez was released from hospital on the Monday morning after a precautionary ultrasound and a CT scan the previous evening were negative. CART's chief orthopaedic consultant, Dr Terry Trammell, described a very severe bruise on his right buttock and a small hairline fracture of the left pelvis.
He travelled to Indianapolis for rehabilitation and missed the next round at Mid-Ohio because of soreness. Max Papis took his seat before Fernandez returned at Road America.
