Despite leading much of the first half of the race and starting on the pole, Team Rahal driver Kenny Bräck finished 5th after he first experienced engine difficulties and then brake problems later on. Multiple drivers and teams experienced difficulties with their cars as this was the first full race of the season.
The race distance was shortened from 80 to 78 laps to comply with the two-hour time limit. There were five lead changes and three cautions. The race was considered a huge success for an inaugural event, and it remained on the CART calendar until 2006; its success inspired a second event in Mexico City from 2002 to 2007.
The event, which marked the series' first race in Mexico since 1981, was organized by CART team owners Pat Patrick and Gerald Forsythe.[3] CART Chairman and CEO Andrew Craig explained that the race gave the series a presence throughout all of North America and provided additional value to many of the series' sponsors.[4] The race was also expected to economically benefit Monterrey, especially its hotel industry, and increase tourism in the city.[5]
The race at Monterrey debuted a new engine formula that CART mandated which reduced the maximum amount of manifold pressure from 40 inches (1,000mm) to 37 inches (940mm) in an attempt to decrease the cars' speeds and improve competitiveness.[17] Castroneves and de Ferran both anticipated the race in Monterrey, despite the latter's lack of testing with the new aerodynamic package in the offseason.[18] Da Matta and Christian Fittipaldi both acknowledged the uncertainties of preparing a racing setup at a circuit which the drivers hadn't raced on before, with da Matta commenting that "no one will still have it completely figured out."[19]Paul Tracy believed the challenges of the new track in Monterrey would "level the playing field" and expressed excitement after completing several tests in the offseason.[20] Fernández—one of two Mexican drivers competing in the race—aimed to avoid driving aggressively in order to finish well; he also admitted that he was suffering from wrist pain caused by intersection syndrome.[21]
Practice
Three practice sessions preceded the race on Sunday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The sessions ran for 120 minutes on Friday morning, 105 minutes on Friday afternoon, and 90 minutes on Saturday morning.[22] Castroneves lapped the fastest time of the first session at 1 minute and 43.539, nearly three seconds quicker than second-place Fittipaldi; Michael Krumm, Roberto Moreno, and Maurício Gugelmin rounded out the top five.[23] Despite the session being held under warm and sunny conditions,[24] several drivers opted to use rain tires to navigate through the slickened track surface.[25] CART Chief Steward Chris Kneifel called off the first session after 40 minutes and allowed the support series to commence their practice sessions in order to add grip to the surface. The second practice session was also extended by 30 minutes.[26]
De Ferran became the fastest driver of the day during the second session by posting a time of 1 minute, 18.581 seconds, beating da Matta, Castroneves, Kenny Bräck, and Patrick Carpentier.[27] Six red flags were issued during the session; the first was for a collision in turn ten involving Castroneves and Tracy, the second for Andretti spinning and Minassian subsequently stalling in turn eleven, the third for a track clean-up, the fourth for Junqueira spinning and stalling in turn eleven, the fifth for Carpenter spinning and stalling in turn two, and the sixth for Tracy slamming into a wall at the exit of turn twelve.[28]
On Saturday morning, the weather conditions had become cloudy and teams utilized rain tires once again, although no rain was forecasted to interrupt on-track activity.[29]Dario Franchitti led the third practice session with a fastest time of 1 minute and 16.349 seconds. De Ferran was three tenths of a second slower in second, followed by da Matta in third, Tony Kanaan fourth, and Dixon fifth.[30] The session was paused for 28 minutes to repair a dislodged layer of bricks beneath the turf in the fifth and sixth turns. After a stoppage for a spin involving da Matta in turn four, the session was brought to an early end when Zanardi's engine burst into flames on the front stretch.[29] While Zanardi was uninjured, the incident forced him to resort to a backup car.[31]
Saturday afternoon's 75-minute qualifying session implemented a new format which split the competitors into two groups based on their placement in the Drivers' Championship the previous season. Each group was permitted 30 minutes of time to put down laps, with a 15-minute interval in between the groups, and the race's starting order would be determined by the drivers' fastest laps.[22][32] Conditions cooled during the qualifying session, which improved the track surface and increased speeds.[33] Bräck earned his first career pole position with a fastest time of 1 minute and 15.244 seconds.[34] He was joined on the grid's front row by da Matta, who was 0.195 seconds slower and held the pole position until Bräck's lap.[35][36] De Ferran persevered through extreme stomach pains to qualify third, one spot ahead of teammate Castroneves, while Andretti's lap at the end of the session improved his position from the middle of the grid to fifth.[37] Despite spinning in turn two, Carpentier matched his career-best qualifying effort on road courses in sixth.[38][39] Franchitti, Oriol Servià, and Patrick Racing teammates Vasser and Moreno rounded out the top-ten qualifiers.[35]
Max Papis struggled with a loss of grip as the session progressed and qualified 11th,[40] ahead of Kanaan in 12th and Alex Tagliani in 13rd.[35] Dixon, who took 14th, was the highest-qualifying rookie in the grid.[41] Tracy only mustered a 15th-place qualifying effort due to his poorly handling car.[42] Fittipaldi, in 16th, experienced numerous mechanical issues throughout the weekend and complained of a lack of grip.[43] Gugelmin, Bryan Herta, Fernández (who spun in turn four with one minute left in the session),[38] and Junqueira took the remaining positions in the top-20.[35] Minassian believed traffic prevented him from qualifying higher than 21st.[37] Zanardi took 22nd, with Krumm in 23rd, Michel Jourdain Jr. 24th, Takagi 25th, and Wilson 26th.[35] Nakano caused the lone stoppage of the qualifying session on his sixth lap when he spun into the tire barrier in turn seven, leaving him to start 27th.[38][44]Luiz Garcia Jr. had difficulties with oversteer and took the 28th and final position on the grid.[45]
The drivers took to the track on Sunday at 11:00 AM CST (UTC−06:00) for a 30-minute warmup session.[22] Castroneves turned the quickest lap of the session with a time of 1 minute and 16.425 seconds, besting second-fastest driver Bräck by four tenths of a second. Andretti was third, Junqueira fourth, and Kanaan fifth.[47] Garcia Jr., Junqueira, and Papis all drove off-course and Jourdain Jr.'s car expelled debris onto the track, although the red flag wasn't issued until Garcia Jr. spun and stalled in turn one with two minutes remaining, forcing the session to prematurely end.[48]
Race
As sunlight remerged above the circuit, weather conditions warmed significantly, with air temperatures reaching 86°F (30°C) and track temperatures measuring around 106°F (41°C).[49] Multiple accidents were expected to occur throughout the race, especially at instances when the field would be bunched together.[48] Hispanic athletes José Antonio Fernández and Fernando Canales commanded the drivers to start their engines and the green flag was waved at 3:06 PM CST to signify the start of the race.[49]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
Kenny Bräck (Team Rahal)
Dario Franchitti (Team Green)
Cristiano da Matta (Newman/Haas Racing)
Paul Tracy (Team Green)
