CART's only European round of 2002 ran at Rockingham after a German race was cancelled, and Dario Franchitti won from fifth on the grid.
The 2002 Sure for Men Rockingham 500 was a 211-lap CART race at Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby, England, on 14 September 2002. Dario Franchitti won from fifth on the grid, and it was his first oval win in CART.
Run on 14 September 2002 at Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby, England, the Sure for Men Rockingham 500 was the only European round of the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) season that year. Team Green driver Dario Franchitti won the 211-lap race from fifth on the grid, ahead of Cristiano da Matta and Patrick Carpentier, and it was the only CART round held in Europe that year.
When and where was the 2002 Rockingham 500 held?
The race was held on 14 September 2002 at the 1.479-mile (2.380 km) oval in Corby, Northamptonshire. It covered 211 laps, a total distance of 312.069 miles (502.226 km). It was the 15th of the 19 scheduled CART races that season and the second Rockingham 500 to be run.
The track is a four-turn oval with banking of up to 7.9 degrees. The organisers expected a crowd of around 52,000, which was the track's maximum capacity, and the actual attendance was an estimated 38,000 people.
The last British CART race at Rockingham, a 211-lap win from fifth on the grid, and a debut driver ninth.
Why was the race held in Europe?
The race was the only event on the 2002 CART schedule in Europe. The German 500 had been planned for EuroSpeedway Lausitz, but it was cancelled when the track filed for insolvency. The Rockingham race went ahead as scheduled, and the Rockingham chief executive, David Grace, invited German fans to attend.
The race had been confirmed for the series back in November 2001, and it was expected to draw a large British audience. Grace had earlier said that the track had learned from the previous year's problems with heavy rain, and he expected the second event to run more smoothly.
Gil de Ferran had won the 2001 race, and he was the defending champion going into the event. Franchitti was considered the pre-race favourite by the media, and he said a win at Rockingham would be the highlight of his season. Brack, who had finished second in 2001, said he believed his good results in Europe could continue.
Da Matta said his team had made a large number of setup changes on the car for the ovals, and he hoped it would be better than it had been at Motegi. Carpentier said he was disappointed with his 2001 result at the track but was convinced he could improve on it.
What changes were made to the Rockingham track?
After heavy rain caused drainage problems at the 2001 race, workers sealed the tarmac and added a 35 mm (3.5 cm) layer of sealant that lets standing water drain through the surface. Grace said the track's owners understood the surface better and expected the race to run more smoothly this time.
The facilities at the speedway were also improved, with access roads and signage added for visiting spectators. Grace accepted that people expected more from the event in its second year, and the improvements were part of the response.
Who made a debut at the race?
Darren Manning made his CART debut. Dale Coyne Racing formed an all-English team, Team St George, for a single race, and Manning drove its No. 10 car. He had previously competed in the ASCAR series and was a British American Racing test driver in Formula One.
Manning completed 200 miles of shakedown running, which included a mandatory 100-mile test for rookies observed by former CART driver Nicolas Minassian. He said driving a Champ Car was a dream come true and that he wanted to impress the other teams, although he admitted he had not competed in the series before.
How did practice and qualifying go?
A single 135-minute practice session took place on Friday morning in dry, warm weather. Alex Tagliani was fastest at 24.811 seconds, with Tora Takagi, da Matta, Franchitti and Carpentier in the next four places. Seven yellow flags were shown, and one of them came when Michel Jourdain Jr.'s engine failed between turns three and four.
The qualifying session on Friday afternoon lasted 90 minutes, with one car on track at a time in reverse order of practice times. Kenny Brack set a new track record to take pole, the first of his season, his seventh in CART and his second at the circuit. His lap was 24.908 seconds.
Michael Andretti qualified second, two-hundredths of a second slower than Brack. Da Matta was third, while Takagi took fourth and Franchitti started fifth after an oversteer slide on his second lap. Junqueira qualified sixth, Paul Tracy seventh and Tony Kanaan eighth in a backup car. Fernandez was the fastest driver not to make the top ten.
What did the warm-up show?
The drivers went out for a 30-minute warm-up under cloudy skies. Andretti was fastest with a lap of 25.205 seconds, and Takagi was second-fastest ahead of Carpentier. Franchitti said after the session that the early laps would be treacherous, because the ASCAR support race had laid rubber that made the track slippery.
How did the race start?
The race began at 1:36 p.m. local time in cloudy weather, with temperatures between 16 and 18 degrees Celsius (61 and 64 degrees Fahrenheit) and a track temperature of 18 to 20 degrees Celsius (64 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit). CART set a mandatory pit window of 47 laps, so every driver had to make at least four stops.
Brack kept the lead into the first turn, and Tagliani drove alongside Carpentier before overtaking him for ninth place. Tracy slowed on the second turn with a power steering problem, and the first caution came out two laps later when his car stopped with a gearbox problem. Fittipaldi had his engine control unit changed during that caution.
What happened during the middle of the race?
Brack led the field back up to speed at the restart and pulled clear. Andretti began to close the gap in the laps that followed, but Brack held on. Tagliani retired with a battery problem after his crew removed the left sidepod, and a second caution was needed for debris at turn two.
Fittipaldi's car developed a fresh problem and he retired in the pit lane, and Franchitti stalled his car with a clutch issue. Brack maintained his lead through the stops, with Takagi second. Nakano lost grip at the front of his car and went into the turn four wall, which brought out a third caution.
Green-flag pit stops began on lap 94, and Brack stopped on that lap, which handed the lead to Franchitti. Franchitti's team manager, Kyle Moyer, had devised the plan to run in clean air. Andretti was given a stop-and-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane, and Manning briefly took the lead after Franchitti's stop.
How was the race decided at the end?
Manning made his pit stop on lap 114 and Brack reclaimed the lead. A third round of green-flag stops began fifteen laps later, when Brack became the first driver to pit. Franchitti inherited the lead until his stop on lap 143, which handed it back to Manning. That made Manning the first driver to lead on his debut race twice.
The fourth caution came when Manning's right-hand rear wing endplate came off and landed between the first and second turns. His crew chose not to repair the wing, and he said the change actually improved the balance of the car. Racing resumed on lap 163 with Brack leading a single-file restart.
Six laps later Kanaan's car hit the backstraight wall heavily and the final caution came out. Every driver, including Brack, made a stop under caution. A crew member on Brack's team dropped a left-rear wheel nut, which cost him ninth place, and Fernandez was penalised for speeding and sent to the back.
Franchitti regained the lead and held it at the lap 180 restart. Carpentier pressed da Matta late on, but could not find a way past. Vasser set the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap, and Franchitti crossed the line first after 211 laps.
Who finished where in the 2002 Rockingham 500?
| Finish | Driver | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| First | Dario Franchitti | Team Green; third win of 2002 and his first on an oval; tenth career win |
| Second | Cristiano da Matta | Newman/Haas Racing; worried about his points advantage |
| Third | Patrick Carpentier | Forsythe Racing; changes to his aero setup helped on rolling restarts |
| Fourth | Oriol Servia | Finished in the top four |
| Fifth | Bruno Junqueira | Finished the race in the top five |
| Sixth | Tora Takagi | Ran second for much of the race behind Brack |
| Seventh | Jimmy Vasser | Set the fastest lap on the penultimate lap |
| Eighth | Kenny Brack | Pole sitter; led 134 laps, the most of any driver |
| Ninth | Darren Manning | Debut race; a fantastic result by his team's account |
| Tenth | Michael Andretti | Finished the race in the top ten after a penalty |
What did the race mean for the championship?
The result increased da Matta's Drivers' Championship lead over Junqueira by five points, and he finished the race 58 points clear of Junqueira. Franchitti stayed third but reduced his deficit, finishing seven points behind Junqueira. Carpentier kept fourth place with 115 points, and Fittipaldi was fifth on 98.
In the manufacturers' standings, Toyota extended its lead over Honda to 32 points, while Ford Cosworth stayed third on 192 points. Four races remained in the season.
How did the drivers react to the race?
Franchitti said the win was very special to him, and that he had not expected it to be different at Rockingham. He said that after his first pit stop he did not believe he would be able to win the race.
Brack felt the lost chance was caused by a wheel nut dropped on his last stop. Da Matta said he was pleased with second place, although he worried about his points advantage and said the other drivers still had a mathematical chance of the title. Fernandez was angry about the pit lane speeding penalty and spent hours discussing it with officials.
John Lopes, the CART vice-president of racing operations, said the series would review the pit lane speeding rules, but no action could be taken until the end of the season. Manning said his ninth-place finish was a fantastic result, although he wished he had been able to practise before qualifying.
How did the media respond to the Rockingham race?
Rick Broadbent, writing in The Times, said Franchitti should become a household name after the win. Mike Nicks in The Observer called the win the greatest of Franchitti's career. Grace said that if the race did not sell the sport to Britain, nothing would.
The Stamford Mercury and Citizen described the noise of the cars at the circuit as a moment that raised goosebumps. The race was also seen as a chance for CART to show its more dramatic side to a British audience.
How was the race broadcast?
Highlights were shown the following day on the BBC Two sports programme Sunday Grandstand, with commentary from Johnny Herbert and Charlie Cox. Worldwide, about 60 million viewers in 190 countries watched the race.
The event was the last CART race at Rockingham, because the United Kingdom round was moved to Brands Hatch in Kent for 2003.
