The 2001 FedEx Championship Series season was the twenty-third in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era of American open-wheel car racing. It consisted of 20 of the 22 originally scheduled races, beginning in Monterrey, Mexico on March 11 and concluding in Fontana, California on November 4. What would have been the third race in the season, the Firestone Firehawk 600 in Fort Worth, Texas, was canceled after qualifying due to safety concerns. The FedEx Championship Series Drivers' Champion was Gil de Ferran, while the Rookie of the Year was Scott Dixon.

2001 CART season
FedEx Championship Series
Season
Races20 (22 planned)
Start dateMarch 11
End dateNovember 4
Awards
Drivers' championBrazil Gil de Ferran
Constructors' CupUnited Kingdom Reynard
Manufacturers' CupJapan Honda
Nations' CupBrazil Brazil
Rookie of the YearNew Zealand Scott Dixon
← 2000
2002 →
Bryan Herta's #77 Forsythe Reynard at Rockingham Motor Speedway in 2001

Off the track, the 2001 season was an unmitigated disaster for CART under the leadership of Joseph Heitzler. It included two race cancellations; a disastrous European tour that coincided with the September 11 attacks and witnessed a severe accident to former series champion Alex Zanardi in which he lost both of his legs; infighting amongst engine manufacturers that saw litigation and the announced future departure of Honda and Toyota; the loss of the series' television contract with ABC/ESPN; the departure of longtime tracks Michigan International Speedway and Nazareth Speedway; the loss of Firestone as the series' tire supplier and its replacement by parent company Bridgestone; and the defection of Team Penske to the rival Indy Racing League (IRL) at the conclusion of the season.

Team Penske and Team Motorola joined Chip Ganassi Racing in having concurrent IRL teams to run in the 2001 Indianapolis 500, with Penske's Helio Castroneves winning the race. In an unusual move, CART "sanctioned" the participation of teams in the race; this was an attempt to allow Penske's primary sponsor, Marlboro, to appear on cars in the 500, as they were prohibited from being in more than one racing series by the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. This legal maneuver was not successful, and Penske's cars ran without advertising. DaimlerChrysler shut down their CART program as an engine manufacturer via Mercedes-Benz brand as the company decided to move to NASCAR Winston Cup Series via the Dodge brand in the same year.

Drivers and constructors

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The following teams and drivers competed in the 2001 CART Championship Series season. All cars ran on Firestone Tires.[1][2]

Team Chassis Engine No Drivers Races Primary Sponsors
  Team Penske Reynard 01i Honda HR-1 1   Gil de Ferran All Marlboro 19
Penske Racing 2
3   Hélio Castroneves All
  Chip Ganassi Racing Lola B01/00 Toyota RV8E 4   Bruno Junqueira  R  All Target
12   Nicolas Minassian  R  1–7
  Memo Gidley 8–21
  Walker Motorsport Reynard 01i Toyota RV8E 5   Toranosuke Takagi  R  All Pioneer 20
Walker Racing 1
  Newman-Haas Racing Lola B01/00 Toyota RV8E 6   Cristiano da Matta All Texaco-Havoline
11   Christian Fittipaldi All Kmart
  Team Rahal Lola B01/00 Ford-Cosworth XF 7   Max Papis All Miller Lite 17
Miller Genuine Draft 4
8   Kenny Bräck All Shell
  Bettenhausen Racing Lola B01/00 Ford-Cosworth XF 16   Michel Jourdain Jr. All Herdez
  PacWest Racing Reynard 01i Toyota RV8E 17   Maurício Gugelmin All Nextel
18   Scott Dixon  R  All Powerware 19
Nextel 2
  Patrick Racing Reynard 01i Toyota RV8E 19   Townsend Bell 16–17 Visteon
20   Roberto Moreno All
40   Jimmy Vasser All OXXO 1
Patrick Racing 4
Visteon 15
  Dale Coyne Racing Lola B2K/00 Ford-Cosworth XF 19   Michael Krumm 1–2 The Dark Dog
21   Luiz Garcia Jr. 1–2 Embratel
  Sigma Autosport Lola B01/00 Ford-Cosworth XF 22   Oriol Servià All Sigma Autosport
  Arciero-Blair Racing Lola B2K/00 Ilmor 25   Max Wilson  R  1–4 winnerB2B.com 9
Driving 101 10
Ford-Cosworth XF 6–10, 13–19
  Alex Barron 20–21
  Team Green Reynard 01i Honda HR-1 26   Paul Tracy All KOOL 19
Team Green 2
27   Dario Franchitti All
  Forsythe Racing Reynard 01i Ford-Cosworth XF 32   Patrick Carpentier All Player's 19
Racing Since 1961 2
33   Alex Tagliani All
77   Bryan Herta All Indeck
  Team Motorola Reynard 01i Honda HR-1
39   Michael Andretti All Motorola
  Fernández Racing Reynard 01i Honda HR-1 51   Adrián Fernández All Tecate
52   Shinji Nakano All Avex
  Mo Nunn Racing Reynard 01i Honda HR-1 55   Tony Kanaan All Hollywood Cigarettes 19
No Limits 2
66   Alex Zanardi 1–16 Pioneer 19
Mo Nunn Racing 1
  Casey Mears  R  18–21
R Eligible for Rookie of the Year

Season summary

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Schedule

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Rnd Race Name Circuit City/Location Date
1   Tecate/Telmex Grand Prix of Monterrey Presented by Herdez  R  Fundidora Park Monterrey, Mexico March 11
  Rio 200 (Cancelled)  O  Autódromo de Jacarepaguá Rio de Janeiro, Brazil March 25
2   Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach  R  Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California April 8
  Firestone Firehawk 600 Presented by Pioneer (Cancelled)  O  Texas Motor Speedway Fort Worth, Texas April 29
3   Lehigh Valley Grand Prix Presented by Toyota  O  Nazareth Speedway Nazareth, Pennsylvania May 6
4   Firestone Firehawk 500  O  Twin Ring Motegi Motegi, Japan May 19
NC*   85th Indianapolis 500  O  Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, Indiana May 27
5   Miller Lite 225  O  Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin June 3
6   Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit  R  The Raceway on Belle Isle Park Detroit, Michigan June 17
7   Freightliner/G. I. Joe's 200 Presented by Texaco  R  Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon June 24
8   Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by Firstar  R  Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio July 1
9   Molson Indy Toronto  R  Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario July 15
10   Harrah's 500 Presented by Toyota  O  Michigan International Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan July 22
11   Target Grand Prix of Chicago Presented by Energizer  O  Chicago Motor Speedway Cicero, Illinois July 29
12   Miller Lite 200  R  Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio August 12
13   Motorola 220  R  Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin August 19
14   Molson Indy Vancouver  R  Concord Pacific Place Vancouver, British Columbia September 2
15   The American Memorial  O  EuroSpeedway Lausitz Klettwitz, Germany September 15
16   Rockingham 500  O  Rockingham Motor Speedway Corby, United Kingdom September 22
17   Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston  R  George R. Brown Convention Center Houston, Texas October 7
18   Honda Grand Prix of Monterey Featuring the Shell 300  R  Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California October 14
19   Honda Indy 300  R  Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Australia October 28
20   Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota  O  California Speedway Fontana, California November 4

 O  Oval/Speedway
 R  Road/Street course

  • The original calendar called for 22 races on five continents, by far the most ambitious calendar CART had ever attempted. With the race at Texas being canceled and the Rio 200 being dropped, the 2001 season ultimately had the same number of races as the previous year.
  • For the first time, CART would race in the United Kingdom and Germany and also return to Mexico for the first time in almost twenty years.
  • The original calendar released on August 5, 2000, had the first round of the season at Jacarepaguá in Brazil, but disagreements with the track owners several months later led to the event being dropped.
  • The events at Homestead-Miami and Gateway were dropped after negotiations with the owners of the track; rival series Indy Racing League secured the contracts instead, and both tracks were featured in the 2001 Indy Racing League season.
  • The removal of Gateway from the calendar meant that Memorial Day weekend would be empty, allowing several teams and drivers the opportunity to compete at the Indianapolis 500.
  • The 2001 season was the final time Michigan Speedway appeared on the calendar.
  • The Indianapolis 500 was an Indy Racing League event that was also sanctioned by CART but awarded no points towards the CART Championship.

Race results

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Rnd Race Name Pole position Fastest lap Lead most laps Winning driver Winning team Report
1   Monterrey   Kenny Bräck   Dario Franchitti   Cristiano da Matta   Cristiano da Matta Newman-Haas Racing Report
2   Long Beach   Hélio Castroneves   Hélio Castroneves   Hélio Castroneves   Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Report
3   Texas   Kenny Bräck Race cancelled Report
4   Nazareth   Bruno Junqueira  R    Tony Kanaan   Kenny Bräck   Scott Dixon  R  PacWest Racing Report
5   Motegi   Hélio Castroneves   Alex Zanardi   Hélio Castroneves   Kenny Bräck Team Rahal Report
NC   Indy   Scott Sharp   Sam Hornish Jr.   Hélio Castroneves   Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Report
6   Milwaukee   Kenny Bräck   Dario Franchitti   Kenny Bräck   Kenny Bräck Team Rahal Report
7   Belle Isle   Hélio Castroneves   Michael Andretti   Hélio Castroneves   Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Report
8   Portland   Max Papis   Max Papis   Max Papis   Max Papis Team Rahal Report
9   Cleveland   Maurício Gugelmin   Roberto Moreno   Memo Gidley   Dario Franchitti Team Green Report
10   Toronto   Gil de Ferran   Hélio Castroneves   Gil de Ferran   Michael Andretti Team Motorola Report
11   Michigan   Kenny Bräck   Patrick Carpentier   Max Papis   Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Racing Report
12   Chicago   Tony Kanaan   Kenny Bräck   Hélio Castroneves   Kenny Bräck Team Rahal Report
13   Mid-Ohio   Gil de Ferran   Hélio Castroneves   Hélio Castroneves   Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Report
14   Road America   Kenny Bräck   Bruno Junqueira  R    Hélio Castroneves   Bruno Junqueira  R  Chip Ganassi Racing Report
15   Vancouver   Alex Tagliani   Hélio Castroneves   Alex Tagliani   Roberto Moreno Patrick Racing Report
16   EuroSpeedway   Gil de Ferran   Tony Kanaan   Kenny Bräck   Kenny Bräck Team Rahal Report
17   Rockingham   Kenny Bräck   Patrick Carpentier   Gil de Ferran   Gil de Ferran Team Penske Report
18   Houston   Gil de Ferran   Jimmy Vasser   Gil de Ferran   Gil de Ferran Team Penske Report
19   Laguna Seca   Gil de Ferran   Hélio Castroneves   Gil de Ferran   Max Papis Team Rahal Report
20   Surfers Paradise   Roberto Moreno   Jimmy Vasser   Roberto Moreno   Cristiano da Matta Newman-Haas Racing Report
21   Fontana   Alex Tagliani   Max Papis   Max Papis   Cristiano da Matta Newman-Haas Racing Report

Final driver standings

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Pos Driver MTY   LBH   TXS   NAZ   MOT   MIL   DET   POR   CLE   TOR   MIC   CHI   MDO   ROA   VAN   LAU   ROC   HOU   LAG   SUR   FON   Pts
1   Gil de Ferran 2 3 C 23 13 7 6 13 4 14* 24 3 2 5 2 8 1* 1* 3* 4 6 199
2   Kenny Bräck1 5 25 C 2* 1 1* 9 11 6 20 17 1 20 14 8 1* 2 7 25 5 26 163
3   Michael Andretti 4 28 C 6 23 2 4 8 15 1 19 24 26 2 3 4 5 21 14 2 7 147
4   Hélio Castroneves 8 1* C 11 2* 26 1* 17 12 19 8 7* 1* 7* 18 12 4 5 6 20 22 141
5   Cristiano da Matta 1* 2 C 10 25 25 7 10 7 15 4 19 10 6 20 26 3 6 20 1 1 140
6   Max Papis 12 17 C 24 6 8 11 1* 18 8 16* 13 24 16 22 2 11 9 1 9 2* 107
7   Dario Franchitti 9 6 C 8 17 9 2 6 1 24 2 15 16 19 9 25 9 2 19 23 23 105
8   Scott Dixon  RY  13 19 C 1 9 3 22 7 20 5 10 4 12 4 13 9 22 18 4 15 17 98
9   Tony Kanaan 7 7 C 16 3 6 DNS 24 16 10 21 8 5 12 4 7 8 12 8 17 5 93
10   Patrick Carpentier 25 23 C 25 19 17 8 5 26 21 1 2 3 9 16 3 16 10 26 11 10 91
11   Alex Tagliani 21 18 C 22 22 12 21 12 9 2 6 6 7 8 23* 21 14 19 15 3 3 80
12   Jimmy Vasser 6 5 C 4 5 21 18 16 5 26 23 14 23 21 19 15 7 11 5 6 12 77
13   Roberto Moreno 27 11 C 12 10 15 3 2 8 11 12 20 6 11 1 23 13 22 22 22* 19 76
14   Paul Tracy 3 4 C 3 18 24 14 21 24 6 7 12 4 26 26 10 6 24 18 14 24 73
15   Christian Fittipaldi 20 24 C 5 4 18 5 3 11 12 18 25 8 18 11 19 24 8 9 8 13 70
16   Bruno Junqueira  R  22 9 C 7 24 4 19 23 23 13 9 17 13 1 12 11 25 23 7 21 4 68
17   Memo Gidley 25 2* 17 14 5 11 20 10 14 18 3 2 10 14 65
18   Adrián Fernández 19 16 C 19 16 5 12 19 21 3 25 10 22 3 21 24 23 14 10 19 18 45
19   Oriol Servià 14 14 C 9 14 14 16 9 17 23 11 18 9 10 5 5 10 26 17 25 11 42
20   Michel Jourdain Jr. 17 13 C 13 11 13 25 15 25 16 3 23 17 17 6 17 19 25 23 7 16 30
21   Toranosuke Takagi  R  10 20 C 14 20 DSQ 20 18 14 222 13 11 21 22 7 6 26 4 13 16 15 29
22   Bryan Herta 16 10 C 21 21 22 15 14 3 18 5 21 25 24 17 27 15 13 12 18 25 28
23   Alex Zanardi 24 26 C 20 7 11 24 26 13 4 20 9 19 13 24 203 24
24   Maurício Gugelmin 15 22 Wth 12 10 10 20 10 7 15 22 14 23 15 16 20 20 16 24 20 17
25   Max Wilson  R  28 21 C 17 23 23 4 19 25 Wth 15 25 25 18 21 16 24 12
26   Shinji Nakano 18 12 C 15 8 16 13 22 22 9 22 16 18 15 14 22 17 15 21 12 21 11
27   Nicolas Minassian  R  11 8 C 18 15 19 17 7
28   Casey Mears  R  17 11 26 8 7
29   Alex Barron 13 9 4
30   Townsend Bell  R  13 12 1
31   Michael Krumm  R  23 15 0
32   Luiz Garcia Jr. 26 27 0
Pos Driver MTY   LBH   TXS   NAZ   MOT   MIL   DET   POR   CLE   TOR   MIC   CHI   MDO   ROA   VAN   LAU   ROC   HOU   LAG   SUR   FON   Pts
Color Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green 4th–6th place
Light Blue 7th–12th place
Dark Blue Finished
(Outside Top 12)
Purple Did not finish
Red Did not qualify
(DNQ)
Brown Withdrawn
(Wth)
Black Disqualified
(DSQ)
White Did not start
(DNS)
Blank Did not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
Italics Ran fastest race lap
* Led most race laps
 RY  Rookie of the Year
 R  Rookie
  1. ^ Kenny Bräck also awarded 1 point for his pole position in Fort Worth. The race was canceled after qualifying due to excessively high speeds.
  2. ^ Toranosuke Takagi was penalized 2 points for rough driving in Toronto.
  3. ^ Alex Zanardi's car was impacted from the side by Alex Tagliani's car at EuroSpeedway Lausitz. He lost both of his lower legs in the impact. This signaled the end of his open-wheel racing career.

Nations' Cup

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  • Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.
Pos Country MTY   LBH   NAZ   MOT   MIL   DET   POR   CLE   TOR   MIC   CHI   MDO   ROA   VAN   LAU   ROC   HOU   LAG   SUR   FON   Pts
1   Brazil 1 1 5 2 4 1 2 4 7 5 3 1 1 1 7 1 1 3 1 1 341
2   United States 4 5 4 5 2 4 8 2 1 4 5 11 2 3 4 5 3 2 2 7 240
3   Canada 3 4 3 18 12 8 5 9 2 1 2 3 8 16 3 6 10 15 3 3 187
4   Sweden 5 25 2 1 1 9 11 6 20 17 1 20 14 8 1 2 7 25 5 26 163
5   Italy 12 17 20 6 8 11 1 18 4 16 9 19 13 22 2 11 9 1 9 2 118
6   United Kingdom 9 6 8 17 9 2 6 1 24 2 15 16 19 9 25 9 2 19 23 23 105
7   New Zealand 13 19 1 9 3 22 7 20 5 10 4 12 4 13 9 22 18 4 15 17 98
8   Mexico 17 13 9 11 5 12 15 21 3 3 10 17 3 6 17 19 14 10 7 16 75
9   Japan 10 12 14 8 16 13 18 14 9 13 11 18 15 7 6 17 4 13 12 15 42
10   Spain 14 14 9 14 14 16 9 17 23 11 18 9 10 5 5 10 26 17 25 11 42
11   France 11 8 18 15 19 17 7
12   Germany 23 15 0
Pos Country MTY   LBH   NAZ   MOT   MIL   DET   POR   CLE   TOR   MIC   CHI   MDO   ROA   VAN   LAU   ROC   HOU   LAG   SUR   FON   Pts

Chassis Constructors' Cup

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Pos Chassis Pts
1   Reynard 01i 378
2   Lola B1/00 & B2K/00 335
Pos Chassis Pts

Engine Manufacturers' Cup

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Pos Engine Pts
1   Honda 342
2   Toyota 309
3     Ford-Cosworth 297
4   Ilmor 0
Pos Engine Pts

References

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  1. ^ "Honda Championship Auto Racing Highlights". April 2002.
  2. ^ "2002 Toyota RV8F CART engine".

See also

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