Moreno makes mark on Molson

ROBERTO Moreno claimed his second career CART victory yesterday, taking out the Molson Indy Vancouver in Canada by just under five seconds.

The 42-year-old veteran mastered the tight street circuit in his Visteon-sponsored Reynard to give the Patrick Racing team its first win since switching to Toyota power.

In doing so he became the 10th different winner in the 14 rounds completed so far this season and with six rounds still remaining, the CART record of 11 different winners in a season looks likely to be broken.

A second place finish to defending CART champion Gil de Ferran earned him enough points to move into the lead in the drivers' championship by five points.

Michael Andretti was third in the Motorola Honda/Reynard, ahead of Tony Kanaan in another Honda/Reynard, this time for Mo Nunn Racing.

Sigma Autosport's Oriol Servia was fifth in the first of the Ford-Cosworth entries, notching up his best finish of the season, while Michael Jourdain Jr picked up some much needed points for himself and the Herdez Bettenhausen team after coming home sixth.

Tora Takagi's seventh place finish was a career best for the Japanese rookie and his second top ten performance.

Pole-sitter Alex Tagliani led the race for the first 68 laps, but dropped out after his Player's/Forsythe Ford-Cosworth/Reynard suffered gearbox problems.

From there it was a battle of the Brazilians, with the lead shared by Christiano da Matta, Mauricio Gugelmin and De Ferran before Moreno pushed his way to the front with nine laps remaining.

Helio Castroneves, the drivers' championship points leader prior to the race, is now back in equal second after his Marlboro Team Penske Honda/Reynard experienced electrical problems and he finished in 18th place, three laps down.

Mid-season leader Kenny Brack now shares second place with Castroneves after scoring just nine points in the last three races. Andretti is now also in contention for the title, just 12 points behind De Ferran.

Although around 20 points further back, Dario Franchitti and rookie Scott Dixon are still in the hunt for championship glory, while Da Matta and Moreno cannot be totally discounted either.

Honda still holds a commanding 31-point lead over Toyota in the manufacturers' championship, while Ford-Cosworth has slipped another 11 points behind in third.

RACE RESULTS:
1 Roberto Moreno (Toyota/Reynard) 2hr10:01.276
2 G de Ferran (Honda/Reynard) +4.687
3 M Andretti (Honda/Reynard) +6.971
4 T Kanaan (Honda/Reynard) +10.499
5 O Servia (Ford-Cosworth/Lola) +13.497
6 M Jourdain Jr (Ford-Cosworth/Lola) +13.850
7 Tora Takagi (Toyota/Reynard) +14.520
8 Kenny Brack (Ford-Cosworth/Lola) +14.812
9 Dario Franchitti (Honda/Reynard) +15.122
10 Memo Gidley (Toyota/Lola) +16.224
DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP:
1 De Ferran (BRA) 115
=2 Brack (SWE) 110
=2 Castroneves (BRA) 110
4 Andretti (USA) 103
5 Franchitti (SCO) 85
6 Dixon (NZ) 82
7 Da Matta (BRA) 78
8 Moreno (BRA) 74
9 Carpentier (CAN) 69
10 Kanaan (BRA) 66 MANUFACTURERS' CHAMPIONSHIP:
1 Honda 245
2 Toyota 214
3 Ford-Cosworth 203 Next round (15 of 20): German 500, Lausitz EuroSpeedway, Germany, September 15