2001 Firestone Firehawk 500

The 2001 Firestone Firehawk 500 was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) motor race held on May 19, 2001 at Twin Ring Motegi in Tochigi, Japan. It was the 5th round of the 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series season. Team Rahal driver Kenny Bräck scored his first career win in CART despite not starting on the front row for the first time that season. Polesitter Hélio Castroneves finished 2nd and Tony Kanaan took 3rd.

2001 Firestone Firehawk 500
Race details
Race 5 of 21 in the 2001 CART season
DateMay 19, 2001
Official name2001 Firestone Firehawk 500
LocationTwin Ring Motegi, Tochigi, Japan
CourseOval
1.549 mi / 2.493 km
Distance201 laps
311.349 mi / 501.067 km
Pole position
Driver Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Time25.849
Fastest lap
Driver Alex Zanardi (Mo Nunn Racing)
Time26.715 (on lap 184 of 201)
Podium
First Kenny Bräck (Team Rahal)
Second Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Third Tony Kanaan (Mo Nunn Racing)

Bräck's win moved him five spots into 1st place in the drivers' standings, where he would remain for much of the season. It was Team Rahal's first win of the season and their first since 2000 at Miami-Homestead. Castroneves' podium put him at 2nd place overall in the standings; he and Bräck would continue to battle for 1st place for much of the season. Kanaan's podium was his first since his win at the 1999 U.S. 500 in Michigan and would be his and Mo Nunn Racing's only podium in 2001.

The race was a testament to Bräck and Castroneves' blistering race pace, as both were the only ones still on the lead lap at the end of the race; this was partially the result of the long, uninterrupted stretch of green-flag running between Laps 8 and 194. Throughout the race Brack was the last of the leaders to pit during each round of stops. He thus needed less fuel at his final pit stop and saved enough time to leap from third to first place. The race also saw heavy attrition, as almost half of the entrants ultimately retired with a variety of issues. Points leader Cristiano da Matta was taken out on Lap 1 by rookie Bruno Junqueira, who spun coming out of Turn 2. This dropped the points leader into a tie for 3rd in the standings.

Qualifying
May 18, 2001 - Qualifying Speeds
RankDriverTimeLeaderSpeed (mph)Team
1 Hélio Castroneves 25.849 — 215.591 Team Penske
2 Dario Franchitti 25.991 +0.142 214.413 Team Green
3 Gil de Ferran 25.993 +0.144 214.396 Team Penske
4 Tony Kanaan 26.022 +0.173 214.157 Mo Nunn Racing
5 Bruno Junqueira (R) 26.035 +0.186 214.050 Chip Ganassi Racing
6 Kenny Bräck 26.044 +0.195 213.976 Team Rahal
7 Michel Jourdain, Jr. 26.057 +0.208 213.870 Bettenhausen Racing
8 Alex Zanardi 26.088 +0.239 213.615 Mo Nunn Racing
9 Adrian Fernández 26.097 +0.248 213.542 Fernandez Racing
10 Patrick Carpentier 26.147 +0.298 213.132 Forsythe Racing
11 Michael Andretti 26.215 +0.366 212.581 Team Motorola
12 Cristiano da Matta 26.274 +0.425 212.103 Newman-Haas Racing
13 Shinji Nakano 26.280 +0.431 212.055 Fernandez Racing
14 Christian Fittipaldi 26.366 +0.517 211.363 Newman-Haas Racing
15 Nicolas Minassian (R) 26.378 +0.529 211.267 Chip Ganassi Racing
16 Paul Tracy 26.432 +0.583 210.835 Team Green
17 Max Papis 26.452 +0.603 210.676 Team Rahal
18 Oriol Servià 26.528 +0.679 210.072 Sigma Autosport
19 Alex Tagliani 26.530 +0.681 210.057 Forsythe Racing
20 Scott Dixon (R) 26.587 +0.738 209.606 PacWest Racing
21 Jimmy Vasser 26.600 +0.751 209.504 Patrick Racing
22 Bryan Herta 26.786 +0.937 208.049 Forsythe Racing
23 Roberto Moreno 26.800 +0.951 207.940 Patrick Racing
24 Tora Takagi (R) 26.840 +0.991 207.630 Walker Motorsport
25 Maurício Gugelmin 26.860 +1.011 207.476 PacWest Racing
Source:[1]

Race
PosNoDriverTeamLapsTime/retiredGridPoints
1 8 Kenny Bräck Team Rahal 201 1:44:48.888
178.113 mph		 6 20
2 3 Hélio Castroneves Team Penske 201 +3.650 1 181
3 55 Tony Kanaan Mo Nunn Racing 200 +1 Lap 4 14
4 11 Christian Fittipaldi Newman-Haas Racing 200 +1 Lap 14 12
5 40 Jimmy Vasser Patrick Racing 200 +1 Lap 21 10
6 7 Max Papis Team Rahal 200 +1 Lap 17 8
7 66 Alex Zanardi Mo Nunn Racing 199 +2 Laps 8 6
8 52 Shinji Nakano Fernandez Racing 199 +2 Laps 13 5
9 18 Scott Dixon (R) PacWest Racing 198 +3 Laps 20 4
10 20 Roberto Moreno Patrick Racing 198 +3 Laps 23 3
11 16 Michel Jourdain, Jr. Bettenhausen Racing 197 +4 Laps 7 2
12 17 Maurício Gugelmin PacWest Racing 197 +4 Laps 25 1
13 1 Gil de Ferran Team Penske 194 Oil line 3 —
14 22 Oriol Servià Sigma Autosport 191 +7 Laps 18 —
15 12 Nicolas Minassian (R) Chip Ganassi Racing 190 Contact 15 —
16 51 Adrian Fernández Fernandez Racing 148 Electrical 9 —
17 27 Dario Franchitti Team Green 126 Header 2 —
18 26 Paul Tracy Team Green 77 Gearbox 16 —
19 32 Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Racing 54 Oil tank 10 —
20 5 Tora Takagi (R) Walker Motorsport 51 Throttle 24 —
21 77 Bryan Herta Forsythe Racing 50 Header 22 —
22 33 Alex Tagliani Forsythe Racing 40 Gearbox 19 —
23 39 Michael Andretti Team Motorola 33 Gearbox 11 —
24 4 Bruno Junqueira (R) Chip Ganassi Racing 1 Contact 5 —
25 6 Cristiano da Matta Newman-Haas Racing 0 Contact 12 —
Source:[2]
  • 1– Includes two bonus points for leading the most laps and being the fastest qualifier.[3]

Race statistics
  • Lead changes: 9 among 5 drivers

Standings after the race

References
  1. "2001 Firestone Firehawk 500 Qualifying Results". Championship Auto Racing Teams. May 18, 2001. Archived from the original on June 11, 2003. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  2. "2001 Firestone Firehawk 500 Race Results". Championship Auto Racing Teams. May 18, 2001. Archived from the original on June 11, 2003. Retrieved June 1, 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 Firestone Firehawk 500K". Racing-Reference.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  5. "Firestone Firehawk 500 Sunday Press Notes". Championship Auto Racing Teams. May 19, 2001. Archived from the original on January 25, 2003. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
  6. "Standings After Motegi". Motorsport.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
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2001 Lehigh Valley Grand Prix		 CART Indycar World Series
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2001 Miller Lite 225
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2000 Firestone Firehawk 500		 Firestone Firehawk 500 Next race:
2002 Bridgestone Potenza 500
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