| | HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Chip Ganassi's gamble got off to a mixed
start Sunday in CART's season-opening Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami.
Target/Chip Ganassi Racing has won an a record four straight CART titles with Reynard cars powered by Honda engines. Over the winter, Ganassi's team switched to Lola cars with Toyota engines.
Juan Montoya, the defending series champion, got off to a great start, leading the first 21 laps before going out with an engine failure. Teammate Jimmy Vasser, the 1996 champion, ran to the end of the 150-lap race on the 1.5-mile oval, finishing fourth.
"Today was a big disappointment," said Montoya, who had problems in the morning warmup with an oil leak and had to have a new engine put in before the race.
"When the race started, we were running quick, but the engine had a failure and that was it. It's a shame because the car was awesome all weekend. We proved we were competitive, though."
Vasser, who finished ninth in the points last year, said, "I had a solid car today. For the first time out with the Lola-Toyota, we had good power and good reliability."
Jim Aust, vice president of motorsports for Toyota, said, "It was an up and down day. Juan had the dominant car, but unfortunately we had a failure. Jimmy matched our best-ever (CART) finish. Every week's a new adventure at this point."
David Bowes, managing director of Lola Cars, was impressed with what he saw.
"We had the fastest car in race trim; no one could beat us for speed," Bowes said. "I'm confident that Montoya in particular is going to win races this year. When he gets to the finish, he is clearly going to win."
Franchitti feels good
Dario Franchitti was just glad to be racing again.
Last year's CART FedEx Series runner-up drove to an 11th-place finish Sunday after starting 22nd in the 25-car field.
"It was a long day out there," said the Scottish driver, who came back from a crash Feb. 9 during testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway that left him with a broken pelvis and brain contusions.
"I felt fine except for a small bump when they dropped the car off the airjacks and it bottomed out hard," Franchitti said. "I leaned heavily on the area of my injury and I felt it.
"After that, though, it wasn't a problem and I'm feeling fine. I feel as good after the race as I did when the race started."
Part of that good feeling was knowing that he managed to score two points -- the top 12 finishers get points -- at the end of a
disappointing weekend.
"It was frustrating today, but it was good to get the
mileage," Franchitti said.
Strong start for Nunn
Morris Nunn's first race as a team owner would have been a lot sweeter with a little luck.
Driver Tony Kanaan was driving into the pits for a scheduled
stop when the second and final caution flag of the day waved for a
stalled car on the 1.5-mile oval.
Kanaan, who came out of the pits in the race lead, wound up
getting hit with a double whammy. He was sent to the rear of the
lead lap cars for coming in while the pits were closed, then had to
make a stop-and-go under the ensuing green flag after being caught
leaving the pits at 51 mph, 1 mph over the pit road speed limit.
"For a new team, we had two perfect pit stops," said Nunn, who
was the chief engineer for Target/Chip Ganassi Racing's series
champions the past three years. "I'm proud of all the guys for not
only the effort they've put in to get us here, but for their
performance under true race situations today."
Kanaan, who wound up a lap down in 10th, said, "That was a
top-three car all the way. It was unfortunate that we caught the
yellow when we did. A car stopped on the track and it took several
laps before they threw the yellow and we were already committed to
the pit lane.
"I was forced to drive through the pits without stopping," he
said. "Then, I had to stop the next time around even though the
pits were closed because I was out of fuel. I don't know what
happened on the pit speed violation."
Not a bad first day
Shinji Nakano, making his first start for Walker Racing, was the top finisher Sunday among five CART rookies.
Nakano, who spent 1997 and 1998 in Formula One and was an F1
test driver last year, finished eighth in Walker's Reynard-Honda.
"I learned a lot today," the Japanese driver said. "It was my
first CART race, my first oval race, pit stops, cautions -- I had a
lot of new experiences. I enjoyed it."
Spark plugs ...
The victory by Max Papis was the first on an oval for Team Rahal since now-retired Bobby Rahal, the team owner, won
at Nazareth, Pa., in October 1992. ... Roberto Moreno's
second-place finish Sunday matched his career best last fall at
Monterey, Calif. ... First-year CART drivers Kenny Brack and Alex
Tagliani were among nine drivers who led Sunday's race, the first
time rookies have been out front in their first race since Nigel
Mansell in 1993. ... The crowd, estimated at 45,000, was nearly
double the number of spectators who attended the opener in 1999.
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