| | Associated Press
LEXINGTON, Ohio -- Penske Racing may be ready to reclaim its
position of dominance in the CART series.
Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran finished 1-2 Sunday in the Miller Lite 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. They ran in the first two spots for 79 of the race's 83 laps, losing ground only on pit stops, and neither of the Penske Reynard-Hondas was farther back than fourth at any point in the
race.
|  | | The podium had a Penske flavor to it on Sunday in Ohio, as Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran finished first and second in the Miller Lite 200. |
De Ferran, the polesitter even though he flipped his car at the end of Saturday's qualifying, led the first 28 laps before pitting ahead of his teammate. Castroneves took the lead at that point, maintained it after his pit stop one lap later and never trailed after that in winning by 4.425 seconds at a speed of 106.558 mph.
"As soon as he pitted one lap before me, I had a clear track," Castronves said. "My pit crew told me to go for it, so I did. The car was performing very well, and when you have a car like that, you keep pushing until you get a big lead, then you hold back."
Castroneves, showing no ill effects from a viral infection he battled all week, led by as many as 17 seconds before two caution periods bunched the field late in the race. De Ferran was behind lapped cars during those periods and was unable to get around them to challenge his teammate and fellow Brazilian.
"Even when I was leading, I could tell he was very strong, to the point I said, 'Well, if he gets ahead, it's going to be a tough cookie,"' de Ferran said.
"It took me forever to be able to deal with them (the lapped cars). Eventually, they let me by, but by the time I got around all that lapped traffic, he was 15 seconds up the road."
The victory was the second of the season and of his career for
Castroneves, who also won at Detroit in June.
"Steve (CART chief physician Steve Olvey) and the doctors gave
me one or two liters of IV (intravenous fluid) and that helped,"
Castroneves said. "They said if it gave me vision problems or made
me dizzy, I couldn't race. I was concerned with that, but nothing
happened.
"I didn't say a word on the radio the whole race to save energy. This race track is very tough and I was just trying to stay focused."
It was the 103rd time since 1979 and the fourth time this year a Penske car has finished first, but the first time since 1994 that Penske drivers were in the top two positions. Paul Tracy was first and Al Unser Jr. was second that year at Nazareth. Earlier the same year, the same two finished in the opposite order at Mid-Ohio.
Penske cars won four consecutive races at the 2.25-mile, 13-turn course in north central Ohio from 1992 to 1995 and had not been victorious there since.
The victory was Honda's 50th in 119 events since entering the
series in 1994.
Christian Fittipaldi, who did not race two weeks ago in Chicago
after hurting his back in practice, finished third in a Lola-Ford.
"There was no way to match the red cars, so we won the race of
the rest," he said, referring to the Penske's color.
"I'm going to feel a little bit sore tomorrow after everything
cools down, but I don't mind. The doctors gave me acupuncture,
ultrasound, muscle stimulators -- everything they knew of -- and it
worked. The harder it gets, the more interesting it is."
Max Papis was fourth, followed by CART rookie Kenny Brack. They had most of the crowd behind them because they are with Team Rahal, which is based about an hour from the track.
Adrian Fernandez was sixth followed by Patrick Carpentier, Michael Andretti and rookies Alex Tagliani and Oriol Servia. Memo Gidley had the biggest improvement in position, starting 23rd and finishing 12th.
Andretti maintained his lead in the driver standings with 125 points, while de Ferran moved into second with 106, pushing him past Roberto Moreno, who finished 11th and has 100 points. They are followed by Brack with 88 and Fernandez with 87.
The only two caution periods occurred from the 61st to 65th laps
because of a spin by Shinji Nakano, and from the 70th to 73rd laps
because of a crash involving Tracy, Tony Kanaan and Cristiano da
Matta. Fourteen of the 25 starters finished.
| |
ALSO SEE
Miller Lite 200 results
Andretti, Vasser on the move, possibly leaving CART in 2001
CART board votes to eliminate in-season testing, Friday qualifying in 2001
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Helio Castroneves' crew gives him the lead coming out of the pits. (Courtesy: ABC Sports)
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Helio Castroneves takes the checkered flag. (Courtesy: ABC Sports)
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Juan Montoya spins out and finds the sand. (Courtesy: ABC Sports)
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Dario Franchitti gets tangled up with Team Target's Jimmy Vasser. (Courtesy: ABC Sports)
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Helio Castroneves has done it again. (Courtesy: ABC Sports)
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 It was a physically tough day for Helio Castroneves. (Courtesy: ABC Sports)
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Gil de Ferran congratulates teammate Helio Castroneves. (Courtesy: ABC Sports)
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Juan Montoya talks about the day's troubles. (Courtesy: ABC Sports)
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