2001 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

The 2001 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) motor race held on April 8, 2001 on the streets of Long Beach, California, USA. It was the 2nd round of the 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series season. Team Penske driver Hélio Castroneves led all 82 laps from pole position ahead of Monterrey winner Cristiano da Matta and Penske teammate Gil de Ferran to win his fourth career race.

2001 Grand Prix of Long Beach
Race details
Race 2 of 21 in the 2001 CART season
DateApril 8, 2001
Official name2001 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
LocationLong Beach, California, United States
CourseTemporary Street Course
1.968 mi / 3.167 km
Distance82 laps
161.376 mi / 259.694 km
Pole position
Driver Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Time1:08.556
Fastest lap
Driver Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Time1:08.992 (on lap 71 of 82)
Podium
First Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Second Cristiano da Matta (Newman-Haas Racing)
Third Gil de Ferran (Team Penske)

While Castroneves dominated the race from the front, his lead was threatened with each of the four caution periods throughout the race, which grouped the field together behind the pace car and erased the gap between each driver. Nevertheless, Castroneves was able to pull away each time with little threat to his position. After starting in 2nd place, Kenny Bräck was forced to retire early due to a gearbox issue.

Castroneves jumped five places in the points standings to 3rd overall, while podium finishers da Matta and de Ferran remained 1st and 2nd, respectively. Meanwhile, Honda eked ahead of Toyota in the manufacturer's standings by one point. This would be the last CART race for Dale Coyne Racing's two drivers, Luiz Garcia Jr. and Michael Krumm; after competing full-time since 1984, the team withdrew from the series after the race and did not return until 2003.

Qualifying
April 7, 2001 - Qualifying Speeds
RankDriverTimeLeaderSpeed (mph)Team
1 Hélio Castroneves 1:08.556 — 103.343 Team Penske
2 Kenny Bräck 1:09.097 +0.541 102.534 Team Rahal
3 Tony Kanaan 1:09.223 +0.667 102.347 Mo Nunn Racing
4 Cristiano da Matta 1:09.312 +0.756 102.216 Newman-Haas Racing
5 Gil de Ferran 1:09.344 +0.788 102.169 Team Penske
6 Dario Franchitti 1:09.366 +0.810 102.136 Team Green
7 Michel Jourdain, Jr. 1:09.589 +1.033 101.809 Bettenhausen Racing
8 Jimmy Vasser 1:09.807 +1.251 101.491 Patrick Racing
9 Michael Andretti 1:09.853 +1.297 101.424 Team Motorola
10 Christian Fittipaldi 1:09.999 +1.443 101.213 Newman-Haas Racing
11 Alex Tagliani 1:10.013 +1.457 101.193 Forsythe Racing
12 Paul Tracy 1:10.073 +1.517 101.106 Team Green
13 Max Papis 1:10.903 +1.537 101.077 Team Rahal
14 Nicolas Minassian (R) 1:10.099 +1.543 101.068 Chip Ganassi Racing
15 Bryan Herta 1:10.146 +1.590 101.001 Forsythe Racing
16 Tora Takagi (R) 1:10.202 +1.646 100.920 Walker Motorsport
17 Patrick Carpentier 1:10.272 +1.716 100.820 Forsythe Racing
18 Scott Dixon (R) 1:10.303 +1.747 100.775 PacWest Racing
19 Maurício Gugelmin 1:10.670 +2.114 100.252 PacWest Racing
20 Alex Zanardi 1:10.675 +2.119 100.245 Mo Nunn Racing
21 Max Wilson (R) 1:10.683 +2.127 100.233 Arciero Racing
22 Roberto Moreno 1:10.769 +2.213 100.112 Patrick Racing
23 Shinji Nakano 1:11.871 +3.315 98.577 Fernandez Racing
24 Oriol Servià 1:11.919 +3.363 98.511 Sigma Autosport
25 Michael Krumm 1:11.974 +3.418 98.436 Dale Coyne Racing
26 Adrian Fernández 1:12.403 +3.847 97.852 Fernandez Racing
27 Luiz Garcia, Jr. 1:16.483 +7.927 92.632 Dale Coyne Racing
28 Bruno Junqueira (R) 1:39.916 +31.360 70.908 Chip Ganassi Racing
Source:[1]

Race
PosNoDriverTeamLapsTime/retiredGridPoints
1 3 Hélio Castroneves Team Penske 82 1:52:17.779 1 221
2 6 Cristiano da Matta Newman-Haas Racing 82 +0.534 4 16
3 1 Gil de Ferran Team Penske 82 +1.787 5 14
4 26 Paul Tracy Team Green 82 +2.435 12 12
5 40 Jimmy Vasser Patrick Racing 82 +3.342 8 10
6 27 Dario Franchitti Team Green 82 +4.855 6 8
7 55 Tony Kanaan Mo Nunn Racing 82 +5.915 3 6
8 12 Nicolas Minassian (R) Chip Ganassi Racing 82 +6.749 14 5
9 4 Bruno Junqueira (R) Chip Ganassi Racing 82 +7.565 28 4
10 77 Bryan Herta Forsythe Racing 82 +11.169 15 3
11 20 Roberto Moreno Patrick Racing 82 +11.588 22 2
12 52 Shinji Nakano Fernandez Racing 82 +12.364 23 1
13 7 Michel Jourdain, Jr. Bettenhausen Racing 82 +13.458 7 —
14 22 Oriol Servià Sigma Autosport 82 +18.602 24 —
15 19 Michael Krumm Dale Coyne Racing 82 +20.583 25 —
16 51 Adrian Fernández Fernandez Racing 81 +1 Lap 26 —
17 7 Max Papis Team Rahal 81 +1 Lap 13 —
18 33 Alex Tagliani Forsythe Racing 81 +1 Lap 11 —
19 18 Scott Dixon (R) PacWest Racing 81 +1 Lap 18 —
20 5 Tora Takagi (R) Walker Motorsport 74 Contact 16 —
21 25 Max Wilson (R) Arciero Racing 67 Contact 21 —
22 17 Maurício Gugelmin PacWest Racing 59 Contact 19 —
23 32 Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Racing 53 Contact 17 —
24 11 Christian Fittipaldi Newman-Haas Racing 47 Electrical 10 —
25 8 Kenny Bräck Team Rahal 31 Gearbox 2 —
26 66 Alex Zanardi Mo Nunn Racing 27 Overheating 20 —
27 21 Luiz Garcia, Jr. Dale Coyne Racing 18 Handling 27 —
28 39 Michael Andretti Team Motorola 3 Electrical 9 —
Source:[2]
  • 1– Includes two bonus points for leading the most laps and being the fastest qualifier.[3]

Race statistics
  • Lead changes: 0 among 0 drivers

Standings after the race

References
  1. "2001 Toyota Long Beach Grand Prix Qualifying Results". Championship Auto Racing Teams. April 7, 2001. Archived from the original on May 4, 2003. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  2. "2001 Toyota Long Beach Grand Prix Results". Championship Auto Racing Teams. April 9, 2001. Archived from the original on January 10, 2003. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  3. Championship Auto Racing Teams (March 2001). "CART FedEx Championship Series - 2001 Rule Book". Archived from the original on 2016-05-28. Retrieved 2017-05-22.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. "2001 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Results". Racing-reference.info. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
Previous race:
2001 Tecate/Telmex Monterrey Grand Prix		 CART Indycar World Series
2001 season		 Next race:
2001 Firestone Firehawk 600
Previous race:
2000 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach		 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Next race:
2002 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
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