Team Penske repeat 1-2 finish

HELIO Castroneves has closed in on the lead in the Fed Ex CART championship after scoring his second consecutive victory in the Miller Lite 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course yesterday.

In what was virtually a carbon copy of last year's race, Castroneves and teammate Gil de Ferran dominated the weekend in their Marlboro Team Penske Honda/Reynards, starting on the front row of the grid and ending the day with a 1-2 finish.

De Ferran took pole position in the final minutes of qualifying and led the race for the first 28 laps, but it was Castroneves who saw the chequered flag first after passing his teammate during the first round of pit stops.

"The first pit stop was the key for us," Castroneves said. "I was running second and I was going to pit on lap 29 with Gil (de Ferran) who was in the lead, but at the last minute I radioed and said I'm going to stay out one more lap, which allowed me to take the lead. I was able to get a good in-lap and pit without any traffic which helped me to stay in first."Patrick Carpentier scored his third consecutive podium finish to take third as well as continuing his climb up the championship ladder, picking up 50 points from the last three races. Since his victory on the Michigan super oval three weeks ago, the Canadian has risen from 21st to be eighth in the points standings.

Another Canadian Paul Tracy had a quiet but successful day to finish fourth in his Team Kool Green Honda/Reynard, after starting from eighth on the grid.

Mo Nunn Racing's Tony Kanaan finished fifth ahead of Roberto Moreno in the first of the Toyota-powered cars. Moreno turned in a standout performance in the Visteon/Patrick Racing Toyota/Reynard to finish in the points after starting the race back in 15th position.

"I used the same strategy today that I did here two years ago when I started way back in the pack," Moreno said. "The trick to passing cars here at Mid-Ohio is to get a good run out of Turn 2 and get in the slipstream."Series leader Kenny Brack finished 20th after being knocked out of contention by his Team Rahal teammate Max Papis for the second time in the last three races. The two drivers came together when Brack made a mistake exiting the Turn 5 esses and Papis tried to overtake him.

Castroneves' third win of the season has pushed him back into the championship picture, as he now trails Brack by just one point, while De Ferran's second place has moved him from fifth into third, 15 points behind his teammate.

The rest of the top ten has been shuffled back at least one position courtesy of De Ferran's climb up the leader board, while Jimmy Vasser has dropped out of the main bunch, replaced by Christian Fittipaldi who finished eighth.

Honda has extended its lead in the manufacturers' championship with points from four of the top five race finishers. Ford-Cosworth remains in second, although they have also increased their lead over third placed Toyota.

RACE RESULTS
1 Helio Castroneves (Honda) 1hr44:54.931
2 G de Ferran (Honda) +1.568
3 P Carpentier (Ford-Cosworth) +2.548
4 P Tracy (Honda) +5.326
5 T Kanaan (Honda) +6.155
6 R Moreno (Toyota) +6.703
7 Alex Tagliani (Ford-Cosworth) +7.537
8 C Fittipaldi (Toyota) +11.322
9 Oriol Servia (Ford-Cosworth) +14.561
10 Cristiano da Matta (Toyota) +15.247DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
1 Brack (SWE) 104
2 Castroneves (BRA) 103
3 De Ferran (BRA) 89
4 Franchitti (SCO) 81
5 Andretti (USA) 73
=6 Da Matta (BRA) 70
=6 Dixon (NZ) 70
=8 Carpentier (CAN) 65
=8 Tracy (CAN) 65
10 Fittipaldi (BRA) 54MANUFACTURERS' CHAMPIONSHIP
1 Honda 211
2 Ford-Cosworth 185
3 Toyota 175Next round: Motorola 220, Road America, Elkhart Lake, August 19