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2002 Honda Indy 300
The 2002 Honda Indy 300 was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) motor race held on October 27, 2002 at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Queensland, Australia in front of 103,351 fans. It was the seventeenth round of the 2002 CART season, the twelfth running of the event, and the only race of the year to be held in Australia. Herdez Competition driver Mario Domínguez earned his first career CART win in the shortened 40-lap race. Patrick Carpentier, driving for Forsythe Racing, finished second, and Paul Tracy brought home the third position for Team Kool Green.
The race, originally scheduled to be 70 laps, was marred by extremely wet conditions. The initial start resulted in a multi-car crash injuring Adrián Fernández and Tora Takagi. CART officials shortened the race to 50 laps and allowed teams to repair their cars or pull out backups. After a long delay, the race was restarted on lap 3 with slightly improved conditions. Pole sitter Cristiano da Matta led the first 10 laps. Bruno Junqueira took the lead as da Matta and several other drivers took their first mandatory pit stop under caution, though he gave the lead back to da Matta on lap 18 after making his pit stop. Da Matta led the next eleven laps until he pitted again on lap 30. Michael Andretti inherited the lead thereafter, and he and his team believed they were in position to win once the race reached official race status of the full lap past the halfway point (35 laps plus one) of the original distance (70 laps), since they had already pitted once. However, CART officials made the controversial decision to wait until lap 40 to end the race, which meant that most teams would be forced to pit twice. After Andretti pitted on lap 36, Domínguez inherited the lead and led the final four laps en route to victory.
The finishing order of the race led to da Matta, who had already clinched the Drivers' Championship after Miami, extending his lead to 75 points over Junqueira with two races remaining in the season. Dario Franchitti, Carpentier, and Christian Fittipaldi rounded out the top five. Lola, which also clinched the Constructors' Championship at Denver, lengthened their lead over Reynard to 148 points. With Kenny Bräck's fourth-place finish, Toyota secured the Manufacturers' Championship with a 46-point lead over Honda. The race was criticized for its officiating, and marked another dent in CART's reputation.
The Honda Indy 300 was confirmed as part of CART's 2002 schedule in November 2001. It was the 17th of 19 scheduled races by CART, and was held on October 27, 2002 at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. The track is a street circuit which features 12 turns and is 2.795 miles (4.498 km) in length. This was the twelfth annual edition of the event, dating back to 1991. Cristiano da Matta was the defending race winner. Over 300,000 people were expected to attend the event, and track organizers erected several new grandstands due to the growing ticket demand for the race. Preluding festivities for the event began on October 20, a week prior to the race, as fans were allowed to spend the day on pit road. Because of the success of the event, CART and the track organizers announced the signing of a new contract on October 24, which allowed the event to be held every year through 2008.
Heading into the event, Newman/Haas Racing driver da Matta had already clinched the Drivers' Championship due to his win in the Grand Prix Americas at Miami the race prior. He earned 212 points at this point in the season, 69 ahead of Bruno Junqueira. Dario Franchitti sat in third with 129 points, while Patrick Carpentier, with 115 points, and Christian Fittipaldi, with 114 points, rounded out the top five. Lola had also clinched the Constructors' Championship with Junqueira's win at Denver, gaining a total of 335 points. Reynard held second with 193 points. As for the Manufacturers' Championship, Toyota obtained 287 points and extended their lead to 46 points over Honda. Ford was 81 points behind Toyota and was eliminated from championship contention after Miami. Toyota had a chance to lock up the championship by scoring at least 20 points in the remaining three races.
Da Matta was relived that he had clinched his first CART championship. He admitted that he felt "lighter" after winning the championship and focused his efforts on winning the final three races of the season, starting with Surfers Paradise. On October 24, da Matta honored his championship efforts by donning the #1 on his car, which remained from Surfers Paradise to the season finale in Mexico. Fittipaldi, da Matta's teammate, reminisced about his various experiences in Australia, including his severe crash during the event in 1997 and his podium finish a year later. Numerous drivers, such as Team KOOL Green teammates Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti, Oriol Servià, Michael Andretti, and Jimmy Vasser all sung their praises about the track and its fans.
Despite the excitement leading up to the race, CART had suffered a big loss in sponsorship. On October 25, CART president Chris Pook announced that FedEx would no longer be the series' title sponsor after 2002. Pook explained: "As a series sponsor, we loved them. But the fact of the matter is in these sort of series, you have to have a series sponsor who activates to the retail market. That was not FedEx's game plan, that was never their game plan." FedEx pulling their sponsorship was another huge blow to CART, which had suffered from a string of drivers, teams, and engine manufacturers switching to CART's rival sanctioning body, the Indy Racing League, in the past two years.
Pook also played down the rumors about a possible merger between CART and Formula One in 2003, saying he only talked to F1 executive Bernie Ecclestone for advice: "I'm not going to deny to anybody that I've talked with Bernie Ecclestone. He's a friend. He's also the most intelligent man in motor racing in the world. And there is no doubt that I am rebuilding this series. So it's logical that I would go to someone like that and say, 'Hey, am I going in the right direction?' That's what's going on." He went on to call the rumors "flattering from [CART's] point of view, but also very embarrassing", and firmly denied them.
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2002 Honda Indy 300
The 2002 Honda Indy 300 was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) motor race held on October 27, 2002 at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Queensland, Australia in front of 103,351 fans. It was the seventeenth round of the 2002 CART season, the twelfth running of the event, and the only race of the year to be held in Australia. Herdez Competition driver Mario Domínguez earned his first career CART win in the shortened 40-lap race. Patrick Carpentier, driving for Forsythe Racing, finished second, and Paul Tracy brought home the third position for Team Kool Green.
The race, originally scheduled to be 70 laps, was marred by extremely wet conditions. The initial start resulted in a multi-car crash injuring Adrián Fernández and Tora Takagi. CART officials shortened the race to 50 laps and allowed teams to repair their cars or pull out backups. After a long delay, the race was restarted on lap 3 with slightly improved conditions. Pole sitter Cristiano da Matta led the first 10 laps. Bruno Junqueira took the lead as da Matta and several other drivers took their first mandatory pit stop under caution, though he gave the lead back to da Matta on lap 18 after making his pit stop. Da Matta led the next eleven laps until he pitted again on lap 30. Michael Andretti inherited the lead thereafter, and he and his team believed they were in position to win once the race reached official race status of the full lap past the halfway point (35 laps plus one) of the original distance (70 laps), since they had already pitted once. However, CART officials made the controversial decision to wait until lap 40 to end the race, which meant that most teams would be forced to pit twice. After Andretti pitted on lap 36, Domínguez inherited the lead and led the final four laps en route to victory.
The finishing order of the race led to da Matta, who had already clinched the Drivers' Championship after Miami, extending his lead to 75 points over Junqueira with two races remaining in the season. Dario Franchitti, Carpentier, and Christian Fittipaldi rounded out the top five. Lola, which also clinched the Constructors' Championship at Denver, lengthened their lead over Reynard to 148 points. With Kenny Bräck's fourth-place finish, Toyota secured the Manufacturers' Championship with a 46-point lead over Honda. The race was criticized for its officiating, and marked another dent in CART's reputation.
The Honda Indy 300 was confirmed as part of CART's 2002 schedule in November 2001. It was the 17th of 19 scheduled races by CART, and was held on October 27, 2002 at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. The track is a street circuit which features 12 turns and is 2.795 miles (4.498 km) in length. This was the twelfth annual edition of the event, dating back to 1991. Cristiano da Matta was the defending race winner. Over 300,000 people were expected to attend the event, and track organizers erected several new grandstands due to the growing ticket demand for the race. Preluding festivities for the event began on October 20, a week prior to the race, as fans were allowed to spend the day on pit road. Because of the success of the event, CART and the track organizers announced the signing of a new contract on October 24, which allowed the event to be held every year through 2008.
Heading into the event, Newman/Haas Racing driver da Matta had already clinched the Drivers' Championship due to his win in the Grand Prix Americas at Miami the race prior. He earned 212 points at this point in the season, 69 ahead of Bruno Junqueira. Dario Franchitti sat in third with 129 points, while Patrick Carpentier, with 115 points, and Christian Fittipaldi, with 114 points, rounded out the top five. Lola had also clinched the Constructors' Championship with Junqueira's win at Denver, gaining a total of 335 points. Reynard held second with 193 points. As for the Manufacturers' Championship, Toyota obtained 287 points and extended their lead to 46 points over Honda. Ford was 81 points behind Toyota and was eliminated from championship contention after Miami. Toyota had a chance to lock up the championship by scoring at least 20 points in the remaining three races.
Da Matta was relived that he had clinched his first CART championship. He admitted that he felt "lighter" after winning the championship and focused his efforts on winning the final three races of the season, starting with Surfers Paradise. On October 24, da Matta honored his championship efforts by donning the #1 on his car, which remained from Surfers Paradise to the season finale in Mexico. Fittipaldi, da Matta's teammate, reminisced about his various experiences in Australia, including his severe crash during the event in 1997 and his podium finish a year later. Numerous drivers, such as Team KOOL Green teammates Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti, Oriol Servià, Michael Andretti, and Jimmy Vasser all sung their praises about the track and its fans.
Despite the excitement leading up to the race, CART had suffered a big loss in sponsorship. On October 25, CART president Chris Pook announced that FedEx would no longer be the series' title sponsor after 2002. Pook explained: "As a series sponsor, we loved them. But the fact of the matter is in these sort of series, you have to have a series sponsor who activates to the retail market. That was not FedEx's game plan, that was never their game plan." FedEx pulling their sponsorship was another huge blow to CART, which had suffered from a string of drivers, teams, and engine manufacturers switching to CART's rival sanctioning body, the Indy Racing League, in the past two years.
Pook also played down the rumors about a possible merger between CART and Formula One in 2003, saying he only talked to F1 executive Bernie Ecclestone for advice: "I'm not going to deny to anybody that I've talked with Bernie Ecclestone. He's a friend. He's also the most intelligent man in motor racing in the world. And there is no doubt that I am rebuilding this series. So it's logical that I would go to someone like that and say, 'Hey, am I going in the right direction?' That's what's going on." He went on to call the rumors "flattering from [CART's] point of view, but also very embarrassing", and firmly denied them.