2001 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

2001 Grand Prix of Long Beach

Race details
Race 2 of 21 in the 2001 CART season
Date	April 8, 2001
Official name	2001 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
Location	Long Beach, California, United States
Course	Temporary Street Course 1.968 mi / 3.167 km
Distance	82 laps 161.376 mi / 259.694 km
Pole position
Driver	Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Time	1:08.556
Fastest lap
Driver	Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Time	1:08.992 (on lap 71 of 82)
Podium
First	Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Second	Cristiano da Matta (Newman-Haas Racing)
Third	Gil de Ferran (Team Penske)

The 2001 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) motor race held on April 8, 2001 on the streets of Long Beach, California, USA. It was the 2nd round of the 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series season. Team Penske driver Hélio Castroneves led all 82 laps from pole position ahead of Monterrey winner Cristiano da Matta and Penske teammate Gil de Ferran to win his fourth career race.

While Castroneves dominated the race from the front, his lead was threatened with each of the four caution periods throughout the race, which grouped the field together behind the pace car and erased the gap between each driver. Nevertheless, Castroneves was able to pull away each time with little threat to his position. After starting in 2nd place, Kenny Bräck was forced to retire early due to a gearbox issue.

Castroneves jumped five places in the points standings to 3rd overall, while podium finishers da Matta and de Ferran remained 1st and 2nd, respectively. Meanwhile, Honda eked ahead of Toyota in the manufacturer's standings by one point. This would be the last CART race for Dale Coyne Racing's two drivers, Luiz Garcia Jr. and Michael Krumm; after competing full-time since 1984, the team withdrew from the series after the race and did not return until 2003.

Qualifying

April 7, 2001 - Qualifying Speeds
Rank	Driver	Time	Leader	Speed (mph)	Team
1	Hélio Castroneves	1:08.556	—	103.343	Team Penske
2	Kenny Bräck	1:09.097	+0.541	102.534	Team Rahal
3	Tony Kanaan	1:09.223	+0.667	102.347	Mo Nunn Racing
4	Cristiano da Matta	1:09.312	+0.756	102.216	Newman-Haas Racing
5	Gil de Ferran	1:09.344	+0.788	102.169	Team Penske
6	Dario Franchitti	1:09.366	+0.810	102.136	Team Green
7	Michel Jourdain Jr.	1:09.589	+1.033	101.809	Bettenhausen Racing
8	Jimmy Vasser	1:09.807	+1.251	101.491	Patrick Racing
9	Michael Andretti	1:09.853	+1.297	101.424	Team Motorola
10	Christian Fittipaldi	1:09.999	+1.443	101.213	Newman-Haas Racing
11	Alex Tagliani	1:10.013	+1.457	101.193	Forsythe Racing
12	Paul Tracy	1:10.073	+1.517	101.106	Team Green
13	Max Papis	1:10.903	+1.537	101.077	Team Rahal
14	Nicolas Minassian (R)	1:10.099	+1.543	101.068	Chip Ganassi Racing
15	Bryan Herta	1:10.146	+1.590	101.001	Forsythe Racing
16	Tora Takagi (R)	1:10.202	+1.646	100.920	Walker Motorsport
17	Patrick Carpentier	1:10.272	+1.716	100.820	Forsythe Racing
18	Scott Dixon (R)	1:10.303	+1.747	100.775	PacWest Racing
19	Maurício Gugelmin	1:10.670	+2.114	100.252	PacWest Racing
20	Alex Zanardi	1:10.675	+2.119	100.245	Mo Nunn Racing
21	Max Wilson (R)	1:10.683	+2.127	100.233	Arciero Racing
22	Roberto Moreno	1:10.769	+2.213	100.112	Patrick Racing
23	Shinji Nakano	1:11.871	+3.315	98.577	Fernandez Racing
24	Oriol Servià	1:11.919	+3.363	98.511	Sigma Autosport
25	Michael Krumm	1:11.974	+3.418	98.436	Dale Coyne Racing
26	Adrian Fernández	1:12.403	+3.847	97.852	Fernandez Racing
27	Luiz Garcia Jr.	1:16.483	+7.927	92.632	Dale Coyne Racing
28	Bruno Junqueira (R)	1:39.916	+31.360	70.908	Chip Ganassi Racing
Source:

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	82	1:52:17.779	1	221
2	6	Cristiano da Matta	Newman-Haas Racing	82	+0.534	4	16
3	1	Gil de Ferran	Team Penske	82	+1.787	5	14
4	26	Paul Tracy	Team Green	82	+2.435	12	12
5	40	Jimmy Vasser	Patrick Racing	82	+3.342	8	10
6	27	Dario Franchitti	Team Green	82	+4.855	6	8
7	55	Tony Kanaan	Mo Nunn Racing	82	+5.915	3	6
8	12	Nicolas Minassian (R)	Chip Ganassi Racing	82	+6.749	14	5
9	4	Bruno Junqueira (R)	Chip Ganassi Racing	82	+7.565	28	4
10	77	Bryan Herta	Forsythe Racing	82	+11.169	15	3
11	20	Roberto Moreno	Patrick Racing	82	+11.588	22	2
12	52	Shinji Nakano	Fernandez Racing	82	+12.364	23	1
13	7	Michel Jourdain Jr.	Bettenhausen Racing	82	+13.458	7	—
14	22	Oriol Servià	Sigma Autosport	82	+18.602	24	—
15	19	Michael Krumm	Dale Coyne Racing	82	+20.583	25	—
16	51	Adrian Fernández	Fernandez Racing	81	+1 Lap	26	—
17	7	Max Papis	Team Rahal	81	+1 Lap	13	—
18	33	Alex Tagliani	Forsythe Racing	81	+1 Lap	11	—
19	18	Scott Dixon (R)	PacWest Racing	81	+1 Lap	18	—
20	5	Tora Takagi (R)	Walker Motorsport	74	Contact	16	—
21	25	Max Wilson (R)	Arciero Racing	67	Contact	21	—
22	17	Maurício Gugelmin	PacWest Racing	59	Contact	19	—
23	32	Patrick Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	53	Contact	17	—
24	11	Christian Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing	47	Electrical	10	—
25	8	Kenny Bräck	Team Rahal	31	Gearbox	2	—
26	66	Alex Zanardi	Mo Nunn Racing	27	Overheating	20	—
27	21	Luiz Garcia Jr.	Dale Coyne Racing	18	Handling	27	—
28	39	Michael Andretti	Team Motorola	3	Electrical	9	—
Source:

• ¹– Includes two bonus points for leading the most laps and being the fastest qualifier.

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 0 among 0 drivers

Lap Leaders
Laps	Leader
1–82	Helio Castroneves

Total laps led
Leader	Laps
Helio Castroneves	82

Cautions: 4 for 18 laps
Laps	Reason
10-13	Garcia Jr. crashes
30-32	Takagi and Gugelmin collide
55-63	Carpentier and Papis collide
75-78	Takagi hits the barriers in Turn 1

Standings after the race

Drivers' standings

Pos	+/-	Driver	Points
1		Cristiano da Matta	37
2		Gil de Ferran	30
3	5	Hélio Castroneves	27
4	1	Paul Tracy	12
5	1	Jimmy Vasser	18

Constructors' standings

Pos	+/–	Constructor	Points
1	1	Reynard	38
2	1	Lola	37

Manufacturer's Standings

Pos	+/-	Manufacturer	Points
1	1	Honda	38
2	1	Toyota	37
3		Ford-Cosworth	14
4		Phoenix	0