Updates from the Rest of the Racing World
Atlas F1 Magazine Writers
The Return of Da Matta
Da Matta made the most of his front row start to be well clear of the chaos that erupted in turn two, leading Brack and Bruno Junqueira. Behind them, Jimmy Vasser, Michel Jordain Jr, Adrian Fernandez, Townsend Bell, Dario Franchitti and Mario Dominguez had tangled. It would be a miserable 150th CART start for Fernandez as he and Franchitti were sidelined without completing a lap while the others pitted for running repairs.
Once green, da Matta pulled away from Brack who similarly started to gap his teammate, but it would only last a handful of laps as Paul Tracy shed a wheel and walled it. Tony Kanaan, who ran as high as fourth, picked up a pit lane penalty after running over a hose in the pits.
Fittipaldi also stabilised in second at this time ahead of Brack, Junqueira, Patrick Carpentier, Scott Dixon and Toranosuke Takagi. With only four laps to go Takagi spun off the course and retired just short of an excellent seventh. A seventh that would now be retrieved by Townsend Bell. Da Matta raced unopposed to a 19 second victory over his teammate, with the close following Brack in third.
The win saw da Matta return to the lead of the championship chase with previous leader Michel Jourdain Jr only ninth in this race. Fittipaldi's drive similarly punched him up the order to third. Again, there is only a week's gap to the next race, the G.I. Joe 200 at Portland, Oregon.
Result of FedEx CART Championship Series, Round 5, Laguna Seca, California, United States:
Standings: Cristiano da Matta 51, Michel Jordain Jr 46, Christian Fittipaldi 43, Bruno Junqueira 38, Dario Franchitti 35, Kenny Brack 33, Paul Tracy and Max Papis 32, Michael Andretti 30, Alex Tagliani 29 etc.
Jarrett's June Joy
Qualifying was rained out so the field lined up in championship standings order, Sterling Marlin on the pole. Marlin made a great start and led the field until Jeff Gordon passed him for the lead at turn one on lap three, while Ricky Rudd sprinted from the back of the field after making an engine change before the race. Rudd was up to fifteenth as the first caution came out for Joe Nemechek's crash in turn three. The Dodges of John Andretti and Kyle Petty led the field after pitting just before the caution came out. Lap 38 and Ricky Craven became the new leader as he moved ahead of Andretti, while lap 41 saw Newman take the lead from Craven and open a lead over the pack until lap 60 when he lost fuel pressure, Dale Jarrett the new leader.
After the field completed green flag stops, Newman was the cause of the next yellow on lap 87 after making repairs when he collided with Kurt Busch at turn one, who also was laps behind the leaders. Kenseth was the new leader after the pit stops under caution, though Bill Elliott took the lead very soon after, running just ahead of Dale Jarrett. John Andretti hitting the turn one wall brought out the next caution, Jarrett winning the race off pit road just ahead of Ricky Rudd. First lap of green running after the caution, lap 121, and Rudd was into the lead before turn two.
Everyone made a green flag stop, not much happening except for Jeff Gordon spinning his car entering the pits and Dale Earnhardt Jr running out of fuel, both losing several positions. Debris on the race track brought out the yellow flags once again, which guaranteed that all the cars could make the finish without another stop for fuel before the end, which was not the case without the caution. The field hit the pits, Jeff Burton winning the race off pit road as he took only fuel, Rudd taking four and dropping to fourth, as various drivers took zero, two or four tyres.
Rudd was leading with not many laps to go, just like he had been the week before. Surely it couldn't happen again? Jarrett was slowly closing the gap but Rudd was still running quickly. With six laps to go Jarrett was right on Rudd's rear bumper. This was not looking good for Rudd, and it looked even worse when Jarrett took the lead into turn three. How much further could he hang on and at what speed? Three to go and he was down to fourth, two to go and he was into the turn one fence as the right rear tyre failed, leading to the last lap being taken under caution, Jarrett cruising round to take the win, his first win in almost a year. Mark Martin had another good finish in second place, while the top three in points finished in the next three places, though not quite in championship order. Rudd got his car running again to finish seventeenth.
Result of NASCAR Winston Cup, Round 14, Pocono Raceway, Pennsylvania, United States:
Standings: Sterling Marlin 2064, Jimmie Johnson 1928, Jeff Gordon 1899, Mark Martin 1852, Rusty Wallace 1826, Tony Stewart 1820, Matt Kenseth 1794, Ricky Rudd 1728, Jeff Burton 1706, Kurt Busch 1699 etc.
Ward By A Whisker
The race started considerably different. Continuing his great pace from Indy, Tomas Scheckter took the lead at the start and quickly settled into lapping in low 24 second lap times, moving away from the field, with teammate and boss Eddie Cheever in the shotgun position. Scheckter led through the first yellow, caused by Rick Treadway and John de Vries touching on the straight sending Treadway towards the wall.
After the restart the hard charging Sam Hornish Jr climbed to second, but could do little about Scheckter, as the second generation South African open wheeler star sprinted away again. He would hold the lead until pitting for his first stop on lap 52, handing the lead briefly to Hornish, who in turn handed it to Unser, then to Scott Sharp. By this time the race had claimed its first major casulty as Gil de Ferran sat on pit row as the Penske team tore through the car's internals. After a couple of attempts to get the car running the crew launched into a gearbox change.
When the out of sequence Sharp pitted on lap 69 Scheckter regained the lead from Hornish, Sharp, Unser and Laurent Redon. Sharp would not last though, as the car smoked to a halt on lap 95. In the chaos that followed Hornish would lead the field out of the pits, lose a wheel and limp back to the pits. Scheckter meanwhile was struck by the errant wheel.
Hornish and Cheever touched, sending the Pennzoil Panther into the wall hard. Hattori pitted from the lead and Scheckter led again from Lazier who was soon relegated to third by Redon. Lap 160 and Scheckter pitted for his scheduled stop but did not re-emerge as the clutch destroyed itself. With Lazier and Redon having pitted as well, this lifted Unser to the lead and the sprint to the finish began.
Unser was being pursued very closely by Airton Dare in the A.J. Foyt car. With ten laps to go a series of splash'n'dashes sent the leaders pitwards. Castroneves emerged in the lead but couldn't hold back Unser. Into the last lap and Helio had dropped to fourth as Ward and Dare closed on the leader. After a last lap cat-and-mouse game, it was Ward up on the outside gradually inching, make that 'millimetring' clear. 0.05 of a second covered the top three, 0.6 of a second to Castroneves in fourth. All the finishers down to Hearn finished on the lead lap.
A fourth place helped to consolidate Castroneves's series lead, especially with Hornish in the wall and de Ferran limping around 41 laps down.
Result of Indy Racing League, Round 6, Texas Motor Speedway, Texas, United States:
Standings: Helio Castroneves 227, Gil de Ferran 183, Sam Hornish Jr 171, Felipe Giaffone 170, Jeff Ward 147, Al Unser Jr 136, Alex Barron 129, Airton Dare 126, Scott Sharp 117, Billy Boat 112 etc.
We're Gonna Rock Around The Clock Tonight
Each year a small section of French highway, and some smaller nearby country roads, and a couple of corners from a local race track are fenced off, and the world's fastest sportscars are unleashed on its straights and corners. In years gone by, the big Porsches, Ferraris, Jaguars, Nissans and Mazdas would wind out to over 400 clicks on the speedo as their sleek shapes screamed down the Mulsanne, through the night and through the rain.
Today even Le Mans has bowed to the pressures of modern circuit safety and is much changed. The speeds of the late 80s and early 90s will never be seen again. That's not to say the present generation is slow.
The champions now of the past two races, Audi, go in as favourites. Four Audis lead the 21-car LMP900 field. The Audi backed Joest team has three R8s. The lead car for Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Tom Kristensen, and cars for Rinaldo Capello, Johnny Herbert and Christian Pescatori, and Philip Peter, Marco Werner and Michael Krumm. Multiple winner Yannick Dalmas will also be leading a Japanese-run car. They will be hard to beat. There is also the 'de facto Audi' to consider. Menacing in the famous British Racing Green, it is the Bentley EXP Speed 8 to be driven by Andy Wallace, Eric van de Poele and Butch Leitzinger.
Cadillac returns with their second generation Northstar machines crewed by names such as Wayne Taylor, Max Angelelli, Christophe Tinseau, Eric Bernard, Emmanuel Collard and JJ Lehto.
While most of those cars have been racing stateside, the cars of the FIA Sportscar series should not be discounted. The mostly Judd-powered field have raced rapidly this season. Leading this group is ORECA. Their Dallara-Judds formerly known as Chryslers have developed into excellent sports racers and with a driving list of Sarrazin, Montagny, Johansson, Beretta, Minassian and Comas, they will suffer for nothing. There is a pair of Domes, one from Japan and the other more serious car from the Netherlands led by Jan Lammers. There is also the factory Courage-Judd and Henri Pescarolo's pair of Courage-Peugeots. Add an Ascari and one of the reborn Panoz LMP07 Mugens, and a pair of French movie cars.
In LMGTS four Chrysler Vipers will fight with three Saleen S7Rs, two Chevrolet Corvettes and a Ferrari 550 Maranello for honours.
The LMGT class will see the traditional Porsche dominance threatened for the first time in many years. Seven Porsche 996 GT3s face off against three Ferrari 360 Modenas. Add to that a Spyker and the field's oddball entry of a Morgan Aero 8 and the field is set for practice, qualifying and racing of the 70th 24 Heures Du Mans.
Bayliss Edges Out Edwards (Again)
Troy Bayliss added another two race wins to his previous nine to take his season's tally to eleven from fourteen starts as he won both races at the Lausitzring in Germany. Bayliss edged out Colin Edwards in both races as the two riders continued to show that the 2002 champion will be either the 2000 champ Edwards or reigning 2001 champ Bayliss, both riders once again seemingly riding on another level compared to the rest of the field. Despite his impressive win total, Bayliss could lose his lead in the title race with just one bad weekend at one of the upcoming rounds.
At the start of race one, polesitter Troy Bayliss was beaten into turn one by Colin Edwards on his Honda, followed by Ben Bostrom, Neil Hodgson, Noriyuki Haga and Ruben Xaus. In the first group of corners Haga had a problem and dropped back to tenth. As they completed the first lap, the top five had begun to break away from the field, while Haga had made his way back up to eighth. As Xaus moved down the inside of Hodgson at the end of the back straight on lap two, Hodgson lowsided and crashed out into the grass, eventually forcing him to retire later in the race. Early on lap three Bostrom lost a lot of time, dropping him back from the lead pack and into the clutches of Haga who was now up to fifth and Pierfrancesco Chili. Late on lap three Haga took fourth only to lose it to Bostrom at the next turn.
Up front Edwards had eked out a second over Bayliss, who had a couple of seconds over his teammate Xaus. Bayliss then began to edge slowly towards Edwards, and by lap eleven was right on his rear wheel. Lap thirteen saw Haga finally move ahead of Bostrom, just a few seconds behind Xaus, as Edwards and Bayliss continued to battle for the lead. On lap fifteen, Bayliss had a look early in the lap and failed, halfway through the lap Bayliss tried again and took Edwards for the lead succesfully. Bayliss edged ever so slightly away from Edwards before the gap stabilised, as the two of them continued to leave the rest of the field in their wake. This is how it stayed to the finish, Bayliss taking the win just ahead of Edwards who finished well clear of Xaus.
Race two saw more of the same. At the start Bostrom led from Bayliss who was almost immediately passed by Edwards, followed by Hodgson, Haga, James Toseland and Xaus. Halfway through lap one and Bayliss moved past Edwards, setting off after Bostrom who had already opened up a small gap, while further back in the field Xaus was up to sixth before the end of lap one, as the top six broke away. Lap two and Bayliss tried to repeat the move he made on Edwards the lap before but failed, trying again on the next straight with the same unsuccessful result. Xaus was up to fifth at the end of lap two as Haga began to drop back.
Lap three and Bayliss easily took the lead as Bostrom ran wide and slid on the exit of a corner, allowing Bayliss an easy pass, as Xaus continued his move up through the field as he passed Hodgson for fourth. Bayliss opened up about a second gap as Bostrom began to fall back, Edwards moving up to second on lap four with Xaus passing Bostrom on the next lap. Lap seven and Xaus moved up to second ahead of Edwards, as he began to close in on his teammate and race leader Troy Bayliss. The gap between Xaus and Bayliss remained steady for a few laps before Xaus closed in again, having a big look at Bayliss at the end of the back straight on lap thirteen before making the move successfully a lap later, Bayliss retaking the lead a couple of corners later.
For a lap or so Xaus sat right on Bayliss's tail, before he began to fall into Edwards's clutches. Edwards eventually took second place from Xaus on lap nineteen, though Xaus hung on to Edwards's tail for a couple laps after being passed. Bayliss went on to take the win just over a second and a half ahead of Edwards, who finished three seconds clear of Xaus.
Result of World Superbike Championship, Round 7, Lausitzring, Germany:
Standings: Troy Bayliss 310, Colin Edwards 271, Neil Hodgson 165, Noriyuki Haga 153, Ruben Xaus 152, Ben Bostrom 143, James Toseland 99, Chris Walker 80 etc.
Who Else But Skaife?
The first race of the weekend again was a sprint race, held the day previous to the two other races. Race two was a reverse grid race, with both of these races featuring a compulsory stop for tyres. The third and final race was a mini-enduro, featuring a compulsory stop for tyres and a compulsory stop for fuel, the race distance being the combined length of the first two races.
Race one began with polesitter Craig Lowndes being squeezed at the first turn, losing the lead to Jason Bright, Lowndes followed by Greg Murphy, Steven Richards and Skaife, moving up from his season-worst qualifying position of sixth. Early on lap one Lowndes sneaked past Bright into the lead, and opened a small gap over the chasing pack. At the end of lap two Bright and Richards made their compulsory tyre stop with several other drivers doing the same, Todd Kelly amongst others doing the same a lap later. One lap further on and Lowndes, Skaife and Murphy pitted amongst the leaders, Skaife losing a place in pit lane as he had to wait for Murphy to exit before him. Murphy returned to the track just ahead of Bright, the two dicing hard around the circuit.
After moving ahead of Richards with the pitstops, and gaining two places when Lowndes and Bright were penalised, Skaife was now third behind Craig Baird who was the only car yet to stop, and Murphy. Skaife was soon the leader as he began lap sixteen as almost simultaneously Baird pitted and Murphy's car failed. Skaife held on comfortably until the end, the rest of the field remaining fairly static over the closing laps. Lowndes made his way up to ninth after passing several cars, Bright making it up into sixteenth place. Max Wilson and Russell Ingall both suffered late-race front suspension failures.
Race two saw the finishers from race one line up in reverse order, Cameron McLean the new polesitter, while first race winner Skaife started 29th. Fellow front row starter Russell Ingall took the lead at the start of the race, opening a couple of seconds over the field before taking his compulsory stop at the end of lap two. Down the back of the field, most drivers had made up a few places though race one winner Skaife had moved up only one place after lap one. Two drivers who failed to finish race one, Rick Kelly and Greg Murphy, were again early retirements in race two. Ingall, Lowndes, Skaife and Todd Kelly were among those who stopped at the end of lap two, Lowndes losing places as the team fixed some body damage.
The race restarted on lap 10, Cameron McLean leading the field,yet to pit, though most cars had already pitted. Ingall and Ambrose had done well, now running third and ninth respectively, while Skaife and Lowndes were mired down in 17th and 21st. Ingall took the lead on lap 12, passing McLean, with Bright moving up to second just before McLean's stop, which is how they finished the race. Ambrose made it all the way up to sixth, Skaife to thirteenth and Lowndes to sixteenth, with almost every car in the field finishing with body damage, bonnets featuring heavily.
Race three saw the cars lining up in order of the aggregate finishing positions of races one and two. Ambrose's efforts in moving through the field in races one and two earned him the pole, while Skaife was in fourth, Bright sixth and Lowndes tenth. Steven Richards, starting from second on the grid got the best start and was followed by Skaife and Todd Kelly into turn one, Ambrose dropping to fourth place. Further back Larry Perkins forced teammate Russell Ingall into a light glancing blow with the tyre wall.
When Baird made his first stop the lead was handed to Glenn Seton for a lap before it returned to Bright once again, who pitted soon after for his second and final compulsory stop. When he returned to the track he resumed just in front of Ambrose, who made an attack on Bright and suffered front left body damage, forcing him to pit and drop down towards the rear of the field. The lead was temporarily taken by Brad Jones before he made his second stop, returning the lead to race two winner Mark Skaife. Despite being only halfway through the pit window, almost the entire field had made two their two stops, as everyone made sure they didn't get caught out by a safety car period. Steven Richards was a close second just ahead of Todd Kelly, with Bright and Lowndes a short distance behind. Paul Radisich's bad weekend continued with another DNF after a suspension failure in race two.
A spun Wayne Wakefield at the first turn brought the safety car, bunching the field up one again before they were let loose again, Bright moving ahead of Kelly towards the end of lap 26, Lowndes moving immediately on to Kelly's tail and looking everywhere for a way past. Meanwhile Bright quickly moved up to Richards and harrassed him until lap 33 when Bright locked up his brakes and took them both out of top five contention at turn one.
Result of Canberra 400, V8Supercar Championship Series, Round 5, Canberra, Australia:
Standings: Mark Skaife 1384, Todd Kelly 725, Greg Murphy 702, Marcos Ambrose 613, Craig Lowndes 598, Jason Bright 580, Steven Richards 563, Garth Tander 459, Steven Johnson 411, David Besnard 385 etc.
Rumours continue to circulate that BMW is joining the series as well. While motorsport head Gerhard Berger has denied it, the rumours are getting stronger. BMW already supply support vehicles including the Safety Car to the series, as well as the BMW Boxer Cup supporting four rounds of this year's MotoGP series.
CART
The season started with a magnificent Da Matta victory. At Laguna Seca he treated us to another. He took pole position, then led all bar five laps of the race after a green flag pitstop. And just to inch the smiles of Carl Haas and Paul Newman a little wider, Christian Fittipaldi followed his teammate home in second position. Third was another driver bucking recent form with Kenny Brack leading the Chip Ganassi effort home in third.
Da Matta again started to pull clear of Brack, with Bell now chasing in third in a stirring drive for the rookie who must have feared his day over as cars jostled through the opening lap. The top order ran with little change until the first round of pitstops. Brack led briefly before Fittipaldi. After the pitstops were completed da Matta had resumed his lead, a lead he now would never lose.
Pos Driver Car
1. Cristiano da Matta Lola-Toyota
2. Christian Fittipaldi Lola-Toyota
3. Kenny Brack Lola-Toyota
4. Bruno Junqueira Lola-Toyota
5. Patrick Carpantier Reynard-Ford
6. Scott Dixon Lola-Toyota
7. Townsend Bell Reynard-Toyota
8. Jimmy Vasser Lola-Ford
9. Michel Jourdain Jr Lola-Ford
10. Alex Tagliani Reynard-Ford
NASCAR
Dale Jarrett at Pocono took another victory for the 'veterans' over the last month as Ricky Rudd suffered his second late race problem to deny him victory again. Jimmie Johnson showed that the 'young guns' are not a spent force however as he continues to press Sterling Marlin for the lead of the championship battle.
The race resumed on lap 173, Rudd moving to third almost immediately. Lap 176 and Rudd was past Marlin into second as another previous leader Jarrett moved up to fourth. Rudd then led as he passed Burton, his teammate following him past Burton soon after as Bill Elliott retired with an engine problem after a good race up to that point. Meanwhile Jeff Gordon was making good use of his four fresh tyres as he made his way back up through the field, back up to ninth with 18 laps to go.
Pos Driver Car
1. Dale Jarrett Ford Taurus
2. Mark Martin Ford Taurus
3. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Monte Carlo
4. Sterling Marlin Dodge Intrepid
5. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Monte Carlo
6. Jeff Burton Ford Taurus
7. Tony Stewart Pontiac Grand Prix
8. Michael Waltrip Chevrolet Monte Carlo
9. Rusty Wallace Ford Taurus
10. Dave Blaney Ford Taurus
IRL
It was a long time coming but Jeff Ward did hit the front at Texas Motor Speedway when it counted, in the charge for the finish line. The Chip Ganassi driver thus won his first IRL race at his 51st attempt, by the smallest margin in IRL history. Ward held off Al Unser Jr to the tune of 0.0111 of a second.
Just past the 100 lap mark and Shigeki Hattori took the lead of an IRL event for the first time when he overtook Felipe Giaffone into turn 2. Within ten laps though Hattori would be embroiled in a fight with the recovering Scheckter with five more cars following in close formation, NASCAR-style, as Hattori led Scheckter, Unser, Buddy Lazier, Hornish, Giaffone and Helio Castroneves.
Pos Driver Car
1. Jeff Ward GForce-Chevrolet
2. Al Unser Jr Dallara-Chevrolet
3. Airton Dare Dallara-Chevrolet
4. Helio Castroneves Dallara-Chevrolet
5. Felipe Giaffone GForce-Chevrolet
6. Shigeaki Hattori Dallara-Infiniti
7. Billy Boat Dallara-Chevrolet
8. Buddy Lazier Dallara-Chevrolet
9. Richie Hearn Dallara-Chevrolet
10. Alex Barron Dallara-Chevrolet
Le Mans
They may not have been thinking of Le Mans when the song was written, but it certainly can apply, when the normally staid countryside near Le Mans in France erupts into one of the most spectacular light and sound shows seen this year.
Leading the fight against the Audis will be their regular protagonists, Panoz. The latest version of the LMP01 Roadsters will be crewed by David Brabham, Jan Magnussen and Bryan Herta and supported by Gunnar Jeannette, Bill Auberlen and David Donohue. There is also a Panoz-powered Riley & Scott.
In the seven car LMP675 field the question is simpler. Can the MGs be beaten? If so it will be on reliability. Here two very impressively manned factory MGs and a privateer MG will line up against a pair of Reynard-Lehmanns, a WR-Peugeot and a rotary Mazda powered Autoexe.
Superbikes
Race One
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Troy Bayliss Ducati 998 F 02
2. Colin Edwards Honda VTR 1000 SP2
3. Ruben Xaus Ducati 998 F 02
4. Noriyuki Haga Aprilia RSV 1000
5. Ben Bostrom Ducati 998 F 02
6. Pierfrancesco Chili Ducati 998 RS
7. James Toseland Ducati 998 F 01
8. Gregorio Lavilla Suzuki GSX-R750 Y
9. Steve Martin Ducati 998 RS
10. Lucio Pedercini Ducati 998 RS
Race Two
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Troy Bayliss Ducati 998 F 02
2. Colin Edwards Honda VTR 1000 SP2
3. Ruben Xaus Ducati 998 F 02
4. Ben Bostrom Ducati 998 F 02
5. Noriyuki Haga Aprilia RSV 1000
6. Pierfrancesco Chili Ducati 998 RS
7. James Toseland Ducati 998 F 01
8. Neil Hodgson Ducati 998 F 01
9. Chris Walker Kawasaki ZX-7RR
10. Lucio Pedercini Ducati 998 RS
V8Supercars
Mark Skaife had his worst V8Supercar round of the year in Canberra. Despite this, he won two of the weekend's three races and made it five round wins from five rounds, and ten race wins from thirteen races. Not surprisingly Skaife's lead over the rest of the field is still gigantic, as his closest rival until this round, Greg Murphy, only finished one of the weekend's three races. Throughout the weekend most cars suffered damage of one type or another, front airdams and bonnets suffering the most with a swag of front suspension failures thrown in for good measure. Skaife's lead means that even if he fails to finish the next three rounds and Todd Kelly wins all seven races over those three rounds, Skaife will still remain in the championship lead!
With Lowndes keeping in front of those who had already pitted, it seemed it was going to be a good day for Lowndes. On lap seven it became obvious it wouldn't be, receiving a drive through penalty for touching the yellow pit exit line, dropping him to 23rd. This was followed soon after with Jason Bright suffering the same punishment for not exiting the pits in the 'fast lane', dropping him to 22nd. Most of the leading contenders pitted early except for Marcos Ambrose, who stayed after qualifying fourteenth in the shootout. Ambrose finally pitted as he completed lap twelve, resuming in seventh.
Ambrose again stayed out a few laps longer, pitting at the end of lap 6, just as Rodney Forbes caused mayhem by trying to stay around the outside as Brad Jones passed him, the two cars bumping sending Forbes into the wall. Cars following had little time to take avoiding action, some suffering glancing blows while Simon Wills and Steve Ellery had nowhere to go and clouted into Forbes car, bringing out the safety car.
Skaife made an early compulsory stop for tyres on lap three, Ambrose and Ingall following suit a lap later, followed two laps later by leader Steven Richards stopping for fuel, who pitted a lap later for tyres, getting both stops out of the way early. Bright led until lap nine when he made his first stop, a lap after Lowndes made his first stop and Skaife made his second, handing the lead to Baird who had yet to make any stops. Ingall suffered a drivethrough penalty for the same reason as Lowndes had in race one, for touching the yellow pit exit line, dropping him to 33rd. To say the race was confusing to those watching would be an understatement. Some drivers had not yet stopped at all, some had made one of the two required, and a few had already made two. Would an early or late pitting strategy work best?
Meanwhile Murphy was on a charge, having moved up from tenth on lap 19 to fourth on lap 33, having started the race way back in 32nd after two early retirements in races one and two. The safety car came out to recover Ellery's stranded car, and so Murphy was now on the tail of Lowndes, Lowndes in a KMart Racing sandwich as he continued to chase teammate Kelly. Despite some very close racing and the safety car, from lap 33 until the end of the race there was no change of place in the top seven, Skaife going on to win from Kelly, Lowndes and Murphy. Bright recovered to finish ninth one place behind Richards.
Race One
Pos Driver Car
1. Mark Skaife Holden Commodore VX
2. Steven Richards Holden Commodore VX
3. Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VX
4. Marcos Ambrose Ford Falcon AU
5. David Besnard Ford Falcon AU
6. Larry Perkins Holden Commodore VX
7. Garth Tander Holden Commodore VX
8. Paul Radisich Ford Falcon AU
9. Craig Lowndes Ford Falcon AU
10. Steven Johnson Ford Falcon AU
Race Two
Pos Driver Car
1. Russell Ingall Holden Commodore VX
2. Jason Bright Holden Commodore VX
3. Jason Richards Holden Commodore VT
4. John Faulkner Holden Commodore VT
5. Tony Longhurst Ford Falcon AU
6. Marcos Ambrose Ford Falcon AU
7. Garth Tander Holden Commodore VX
8. Jason Bargwanna Holden Commodore VX
9. Steven Richards Holden Commodore VX
10. Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VX
Race Three
Pos Driver Car
1. Mark Skaife Holden Commodore VX
2. Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VX
3. Craig Lowndes Ford Falcon AU
4. Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VX
5. David Besnard Ford Falcon AU
6. Steven Johnson Ford Falcon AU
7. John Bowe Ford Falcon AU
8. Steven Richards Holden Commodore VX
9. Jason Bright Holden Commodore VX
10. Russell Ingall Holden Commodore VX
Briefs
Bobby Rahal announced at Laguna Seca the signing of young American racer Danica Patrick to the CART ladder series development deal for Team Rahal. Initially Patrick will compete in several Barber Dodge events before contesting a full season of Formula Atlantic in 2003. 2002 saw Patrick's return to the US after several years trying to break into Europe. Her second at the 2000 Formula Ford Festival was both the best performance by a woman and equal best by an American.
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