Brack back in the groove
BY JUSTIN LACY | 30th Jul 2001
Brack picked his way through the field from his eighth starting position to record his third win of the season and extend his lead in the drivers' championship.
The Swede had failed to finish in his last two outings and was desperate for a good result to consolidate his points lead.
"We've been struggling for a while, but today things came together and that's always nice, especially coming after last weekend where I had a misunderstanding with my teammate (Max Papis) when we crashed," a relieved Brack said.
"It was a great win for the Shell Ford Rahal team and it was a textbook race for us really. The car ran fine all day and we did good pit strategy and had good pit stops, so it was fairly easy."In six career starts on mile ovals, Brack has never finished worse than fourth and now has four podium finishes from the five oval races so far this season.
Patrick Carpentier's recent good form continued, with the Canadian backing up his maiden victory of a week ago with a second place finish. It was the third consecutive trip to the podium by a Team Player's driver, equalling the longest such streak in team history.
"You need luck, good timing, a little bit of everything, and this is what has been happening to Team Player's in the last three races," Carpentier said.
Gil de Ferran finished third for Marlboro Team Penske, just over five seconds behind winner Brack, while New Zealand rookie Scott Dixon continued to impress in his debut year to be the first Toyota driver home in fourth.
Memo Gidley earned his second career top-five finish to be fifth, ahead of Alex Tagliani, the Team Player's driver who started the current streak of success for the team. It was the fifth straight race in which he has been in the points.
Probably the most disappointed man was Dario Franchitti, who led the runners on a three-stop strategy for most of the race, but was caught speeding in the pits during his final stop and faded to 15th.
Brack's lead in the drivers' championship has now blown out to 22 points, after Franchitti closed to within three points heading into this round. Helio Castroneves moved into second with his seventh place finish and is one point ahead of Franchitti.
Dixon is up to sixth courtesy of another consistent points finish, while Carpentier has pushed his way into the top ten after scoring 36 of his 51 points in the last two races.
Honda continues to lead the manufacturers' standings, but Ford-Cosworth has now overtaken Toyota to be five points clear in second.
RACE RESULTS
1 Kenny Brack (Ford-Cosworth) 1hr45:12.835
2 P Carpentier (Ford-Cosworth) +4.480
3 G de Ferran (Honda) +5.190
4 S Dixon (Toyota) +5.563
5 M Gidley (Toyota) +9.651
6 A Tagliani (Ford-Cosworth) +13.037
7 Helio Castroneves (Honda) +13.597
8 Tony Kanaan (Honda) +14.558
9 Alex Zanardi (Honda) +17.157
10 Adrian Fernandez (Honda) +20.914DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
1 Brack (SWE) 104 points
2 Castroneves (BRA) 82
3 Franchitti (SCO) 81
4 Andretti (USA) 73
5 De Ferran (BRA) 72
6 Dixon (NZ) 69
7 Da Matta (BRA) 67
8 Tracy (CAN) 53
9 Carpentier (CAN) 51
10 Vasser (USA) 50MANUFACTURERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
1 Honda 190
2 Ford-Cosworth 171
3 Toyota 166Next round: Miller Lite 200, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, August 12