2001 CART season
2001 CART season | |
---|---|
FedEx Championship Series | |
Season | |
Races | |
Start date | March 11 |
End date | November 4 |
Awards | |
Drivers' champion | Gil de Ferran |
Constructors' Cup | Reynard |
Manufacturers' Cup | Honda |
Nations' Cup | Brazil |
Rookie of the Year | Scott Dixon |
The 2001 FedEx Championship Series season, the twenty-third in the CART era of U.S. open-wheel racing, consisted of 20 of the 22 originally scheduled races, beginning in Monterrey, Mexico on March 11 and concluding in Fontana, California on November 4. What would have been the third race in the season, the Firestone Firehawk 600 in Fort Worth, Texas was canceled after qualifying due to safety concerns. The FedEx Championship Series Drivers' Champion was Gil de Ferran, while the Rookie of the Year was Scott Dixon.
Off the track, the 2001 season was an unmitigated disaster for CART, featuring two race cancellations, a disastrous European tour that coincided with the September 11 attacks, infighting amongst engine manufacturers that saw litigation and the announced future departure of Honda and Toyota, the loss of the series' television contract, the loss of longtime tracks Michigan and Nazareth, and the withdrawal of Team Penske at the conclusion of the season.
Team Penske and Team Motorola joined Chip Ganassi Racing in having concurrent IRL teams to run in the 2001 Indianapolis 500, with Penske's Castroneves winning the race. In an unusual move, CART "sanctioned" the participation of teams in the race; This was an attempt to allow Penske's primary sponsor, Marlboro, to appear on cars in the 500 as they were prohibited from being in more than one racing series by the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. This legal maneuver was not successful, and Penske's cars ran without advertising. DaimlerChrysler shut down their CART program as an engine manufacturer via Mercedes-Benz brand as DaimlerChrysler decided to move to NASCAR Winston Cup Series via Dodge brand in the same year.
Drivers and constructors[]
The following teams and drivers competed in the 2001 CART Championship Series season. All cars ran on Firestone Tires. [1][2]
Team | Chassis | Engine | No | Drivers | Races | Primary Sponsors |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team Penske | Reynard 01i | Honda HR-1 | 1 | Gil de Ferran | All | Marlboro 19 Penske Racing 2 |
3 | Hélio Castroneves | All | ||||
Chip Ganassi Racing | Lola B1/00 | Toyota RV8E | 4 | Bruno Junqueira R | All | Target |
12 | Nicolas Minassian R | 1–7 | ||||
Memo Gidley | 8–21 | |||||
Walker Motorsport | Reynard 01i | Toyota RV8E | 5 | Toranosuke Takagi R | All | Pioneer 20 Walker Racing 1 |
Newman-Haas Racing | Lola B1/00 | Toyota RV8E | 6 | Cristiano da Matta | All | Texaco-Havoline |
11 | Christian Fittipaldi | All | Kmart | |||
Team Rahal | Lola B1/00 | Ford-Cosworth XF | 7 | Max Papis | All | Miller Lite 17 Miller Genuine Draft 4 |
8 | Kenny Bräck | All | Shell | |||
Bettenhausen Racing | Lola B1/00 | Ford-Cosworth XF | 16 | Michel Jourdain Jr. | All | Herdez |
PacWest Racing | Reynard 01i | Toyota RV8E | 17 | Maurício Gugelmin | All | Nextel |
18 | Scott Dixon R | All | Powerware 19 Nextel 2 | |||
Patrick Racing | Reynard 01i | Toyota RV8E | 19 | Townsend Bell | 16–17 | Visteon |
20 | Roberto Moreno | All | ||||
40 | Jimmy Vasser | All | OXXO 1 Patrick Racing 4 Visteon 15 | |||
Dale Coyne Racing | Lola B2K/00 | Ford-Cosworth XF | 19 | Michael Krumm | 1–2 | The Dark Dog |
21 | Luiz Garcia Jr. | 1–2 | Embratel | |||
Sigma Autosport | Lola B1/00 | Ford-Cosworth XF | 22 | Oriol Servià | All | Sigma Autosport |
Arciero-Blair Racing | Lola B2K/00 | Phoenix | 25 | Max Wilson R | 1–4 | winnerB2B.com 9 Driving 101 10 |
Ford-Cosworth XF | 6–10, 13–19 | |||||
Alex Barron | 20–21 | |||||
Team Green | Reynard 01i | Honda HR-1 | 26 | Paul Tracy | All | KOOL 19 Team Green 2 |
27 | Dario Franchitti | All | ||||
Forsythe Racing | Reynard 01i | Ford-Cosworth XF | 32 | Patrick Carpentier | All | Player's 19 Racing Since 1961 2 |
33 | Alex Tagliani | All | ||||
77 | Bryan Herta | All | Indeck | |||
Team Motorola | Reynard 01i | Honda HR-1 |
39 | Michael Andretti | All | Motorola |
Fernández Racing | Reynard 01i | Honda HR-1 | 51 | Adrián Fernández | All | Tecate |
52 | Shinji Nakano | All | Avex | |||
Mo Nunn Racing | Reynard 01i | Honda HR-1 | 55 | Tony Kanaan | All | Hollywood Cigarettes 19 No Limits 2 |
66 | Alex Zanardi | 1–16 | Pioneer 19 Mo Nunn Racing 1 | |||
Casey Mears R | 18–21 |
Season summary[]
Schedule[]
Rnd | Race Name | Circuit | City/Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tecate/Telmex Grand Prix of Monterrey | S Fundidora Park | Monterrey, Mexico | March 11 |
– | Rio 200 (Cancelled) | O Autódromo de Jacarepaguá | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | March 25 |
2 | Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach | S Streets of Long Beach | Long Beach, California | April 8 |
– | Firestone Firehawk 600 (Cancelled) | O Texas Motor Speedway | Fort Worth, Texas | April 29 |
3 | Lehigh Valley Grand Prix | O Nazareth Speedway | Nazareth, Pennsylvania | May 6 |
4 | Firestone Firehawk 500 | O Twin Ring Motegi | Motegi, Japan | May 19 |
5 | Miller Lite 225 | O Milwaukee Mile | West Allis, Wisconsin | June 3 |
6 | Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit | S The Raceway on Belle Isle Park | Detroit, Michigan | June 17 |
7 | Freightliner/G.I. Joe's 200 | R Portland International Raceway | Portland, Oregon | June 24 |
8 | Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland | S Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport | Cleveland, Ohio | July 1 |
9 | Molson Indy Toronto | S Exhibition Place | Toronto, Ontario | July 15 |
10 | Harrah's 500 | O Michigan International Speedway | Brooklyn, Michigan | July 22 |
11 | O Chicago Motor Speedway | Cicero, Illinois | July 29 | |
12 | Miller Lite 200 | R Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course | Lexington, Ohio | August 12 |
13 | Motorola 220 | R Road America | Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin | August 19 |
14 | Molson Indy Vancouver | S Concord Pacific Place | Vancouver, British Columbia | September 2 |
15 | The American Memorial | O EuroSpeedway Lausitz | Klettwitz, Germany | September 15 |
16 | Rockingham 500 | O Rockingham Motor Speedway | Corby, United Kingdom | September 22 |
17 | Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston | S George R. Brown Convention Center | Houston, Texas | October 7 |
18 | Honda Grand Prix of Monterey | R Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca | Monterey, California | October 14 |
19 | Honda Indy 300 | S Surfers Paradise Street Circuit | Surfers Paradise, Australia | October 28 |
20 | Marlboro 500 | O California Speedway | Fontana, California | November 4 |
O Oval/Speedway
R Dedicated road course
S Temporary street circuit
- The original calendar called for 22 races on five continents, by far the most ambitious calendar CART had ever attempted. With the race at Texas being canceled and the Rio 200 being dropped, the 2001 season ultimately had the same number of races as the previous year.
- For the first time, CART would race in the United Kingdom and Germany and also return to Mexico for the first time in almost twenty years.
- The original calendar released on August 5, 2000, had the first round of the season at Jacarepaguá in Brazil, but disagreements with the track owners several months later led to the event being dropped.
- The events at Homestead-Miami and Gateway were dropped after negotiations with the owners of the track; rival series Indy Racing League secured the contracts instead, and both tracks were featured in the 2001 Indy Racing League season.
- The removal of Gateway from the calendar meant that Memorial Day weekend would be empty, allowing several teams and drivers the opportunity to compete at the Indianapolis 500.
Race results[]
Final driver standings[]
|
|
- ^ Kenny Bräck also awarded 1 point for his pole position in Fort Worth. The race was canceled after qualifying due to excessively high speeds.
- ^ Toranosuke Takagi was penalized 2 points for rough driving in Toronto.
- ^ Alex Zanardi's car was impacted from the side by Alex Tagliani's car at EuroSpeedway Lausitz. He lost both of his lower legs in the impact. This signaled the end of his open-wheel racing career.
Nation's Cup[]
- Top result per race counts towards Nation's Cup.
Pos | Country | MTY | LBH | NAZ | MOT | MIL | DET | POR | CLE | TOR | MIC | CHI | MDO | ROA | VAN | LAU | ROC | HOU | LAG | SUR | FON | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Brazil | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 341 |
2 | United States | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 240 |
3 | Canada | 3 | 4 | 3 | 18 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 16 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 187 |
4 | Sweden | 5 | 25 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 20 | 17 | 1 | 20 | 14 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 25 | 5 | 26 | 163 |
5 | Italy | 12 | 17 | 20 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 1 | 18 | 4 | 16 | 9 | 19 | 13 | 22 | 2 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 118 |
6 | United Kingdom | 9 | 6 | 8 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 24 | 2 | 15 | 16 | 19 | 9 | 25 | 9 | 2 | 19 | 23 | 23 | 105 |
7 | New Zealand | 13 | 19 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 22 | 7 | 20 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 13 | 9 | 22 | 18 | 4 | 15 | 17 | 98 |
8 | Mexico | 17 | 13 | 9 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 15 | 21 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 17 | 3 | 6 | 17 | 19 | 14 | 10 | 7 | 16 | 75 |
9 | Japan | 10 | 12 | 14 | 8 | 16 | 13 | 18 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 18 | 15 | 7 | 6 | 17 | 4 | 13 | 12 | 15 | 42 |
10 | Spain | 14 | 14 | 9 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 9 | 17 | 23 | 11 | 18 | 9 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 26 | 17 | 25 | 11 | 42 |
11 | France | 11 | 8 | 18 | 15 | 19 | 17 | 7 | ||||||||||||||
12 | Germany | 23 | 15 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
Pos | Country | MTY | LBH | NAZ | MOT | MIL | DET | POR | CLE | TOR | MIC | CHI | MDO | ROA | VAN | LAU | ROC | HOU | LAG | SUR | FON | Pts |
Chassis Constructor's Cup[]
Pos | Chassis | Pts |
---|---|---|
1 | Reynard 01i | 378 |
2 | Lola B1/00 & B2K/00 | 335 |
Pos | Chassis | Pts |
Engine Manufacturer's Cup[]
Pos | Engine | Pts |
---|---|---|
1 | Honda | 342 |
2 | Toyota | 309 |
3 | & Ford-Cosworth |
297 |
4 | Phoenix | 0 |
Pos | Engine | Pts |
References[]
- Åberg, Andreas. "CART FedEx Champ Car World Series 2001". Driver Database. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
- "2001 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
- "CART Postpones Firestone Firehawk 600 Presented by Pioneer Due to Unprecedented Physical Demands on Drivers" (Press release). CART / PR Newswire. 2001-04-30.
- "Standings after Fontana". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
See also[]
- 2001 Toyota Atlantic Championship season
- 2001 Indianapolis 500
- 2001 Indy Racing League
- 2001 Indy Lights season
- Champ Car seasons
- 2001 in motorsport
- 2001 in American motorsport
- 2001 in CART