2001 Harrah's 500

  2001 Michigan

Race details
Race 11 of 21 in the 2001 CART season
Date	July 22, 2001
Official name	Harrah's 500
Location	Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan, United States
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.000 mi / 3.219 km
Distance	250 laps, 500.000 mi / 804.672 km
Pole position
Driver	Kenny Bräck	Team Rahal
Time	Field set by practice times; 31.330[1]
Podium
First	Patrick Carpentier	Forsythe Racing
Second	Dario Franchitti	Team Green
Third	Michel Jourdain, Jr.	Bettenhausen Racing

The 2001 Harrah's 500 was the tenth round of the 2001 CART World Series Season, held on July 22, 2001 on the Michigan International Speedway, Michigan, United States. Rahal's Kenny Bräck started on pole.

Race

The Mexican driver Adrian Fernandez was the first driver to retire. During pit stops, Newman Haas' Christian Fittipaldi spun in the pit entrance. He did not retire. Team Green's Paul Tracy had problems during his pit stop. The two Rahal drivers: the Italian Max Papis and the Swedish Kenny Brack, alongside the Mexican-American driver Memo Gidley, from Chip Ganassi, were battling for the lead. Kenny overtook Gidley and lapped Paul Tracy, but, Paul and Memo overtook Kenny. Then the 1st caution happened, because Penske's Gil de Ferran retired due to mechanical problems. Gidley was the leader. The Brazilian Tony Kanaan and the American Bryan Herta also led a few laps at that time. Then, the American driver Jimmy Vasser had problems. The Patrick Racing driver retired at lap 132. At that time, the lead changed 31 times. At the 140th lap, Kenny Brack lost 3 positions at the same time. 30 laps later, after he was on the lead, Brack would lose 4 positions at the same time. At lap 151, Memo Gidley suffered a drive through penalty. 2 laps later, the 2nd caution came out, due to debris. At lap 174, only 4 cars were in the lead lap. The 3rd caution happened at lap 216, after Christian Fittipaldi hit the wall at turn 3. He injured his leg. During the caution, everyone went to the pits. The restart happened at lap 226, and the Mexican driver Michel Jourdain, Jr. overtook Kenny Brack, and led 4 laps. At lap 230, 7 drivers were in the lead lap. 2 laps later, Bryan Herta, who came from nowhere, was the leader. 1 lap later, the Rahal teammates (Max Papis hit Kenny Brack) collided into each other. Both retired. 4th caution was out. In the last lap, the Player's Forsythe driver Patrick Carpentier, the Herdez driver Michel Jourdain, Jr., and many other drivers were battling for the win. Carpentier's teammate, fellow Canadian Alex Tagliani "closed the door" against Jourdain on the backstretch, then, Carpentier overtook Jourdain, Team Green's Scottish Dario Franchitti to take his first win in his CART career.

References