2001 Firestone Firehawk 500

36°32′01″N 140°13′39″E

2001 Firestone Firehawk 500

Race details
Race 5 of 21 in the 2001 CART season
Date	May 19, 2001
Official name	2001 Firestone Firehawk 500
Location	Twin Ring Motegi, Tochigi, Japan
Course	Oval 1.549 mi / 2.493 km
Distance	201 laps 311.349 mi / 501.067 km
Pole position
Driver	Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Time	25.849
Fastest lap
Driver	Alex Zanardi (Mo Nunn Racing)
Time	26.715 (on lap 184 of 201)
Podium
First	Kenny Bräck (Team Rahal)
Second	Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Third	Tony Kanaan (Mo Nunn Racing)

The 2001 Firestone Firehawk 500 was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) motor race held on May 19, 2001 at Twin Ring Motegi in Tochigi, Japan. It was the 5th round of the 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series season. Team Rahal driver Kenny Bräck scored his first career win in CART despite not starting on the front row for the first time that season. Polesitter Hélio Castroneves finished 2nd and Tony Kanaan took 3rd.

Bräck's win moved him five spots into 1st place in the drivers' standings, where he would remain for much of the season. It was Team Rahal's first win of the season and their first since 2000 at Miami-Homestead. Castroneves' podium put him at 2nd place overall in the standings; he and Bräck would continue to battle for 1st place for much of the season. Kanaan's podium was his first since his win at the 1999 U.S. 500 in Michigan and would be his and Mo Nunn Racing's only podium in 2001.

The race was a testament to Bräck and Castroneves' blistering race pace, as both were the only ones still on the lead lap at the end of the race; this was partially the result of the long, uninterrupted stretch of green-flag running between Laps 8 and 194. Throughout the race Brack was the last of the leaders to pit during each round of stops. He thus needed less fuel at his final pit stop and saved enough time to leap from third to first place. The race also saw heavy attrition, as almost half of the entrants ultimately retired with a variety of issues. Points leader Cristiano da Matta was taken out on Lap 1 by rookie Bruno Junqueira, who spun coming out of Turn 2. This dropped the points leader into a tie for 3rd in the standings.

Qualifying

May 18, 2001 - Qualifying Speeds
Rank	Driver	Time	Leader	Speed (mph)	Team
1	Hélio Castroneves	25.849	—	215.591	Team Penske
2	Dario Franchitti	25.991	+0.142	214.413	Team Green
3	Gil de Ferran	25.993	+0.144	214.396	Team Penske
4	Tony Kanaan	26.022	+0.173	214.157	Mo Nunn Racing
5	Bruno Junqueira (R)	26.035	+0.186	214.050	Chip Ganassi Racing
6	Kenny Bräck	26.044	+0.195	213.976	Team Rahal
7	Michel Jourdain Jr.	26.057	+0.208	213.870	Bettenhausen Racing
8	Alex Zanardi	26.088	+0.239	213.615	Mo Nunn Racing
9	Adrian Fernández	26.097	+0.248	213.542	Fernandez Racing
10	Patrick Carpentier	26.147	+0.298	213.132	Forsythe Racing
11	Michael Andretti	26.215	+0.366	212.581	Team Motorola
12	Cristiano da Matta	26.274	+0.425	212.103	Newman-Haas Racing
13	Shinji Nakano	26.280	+0.431	212.055	Fernandez Racing
14	Christian Fittipaldi	26.366	+0.517	211.363	Newman-Haas Racing
15	Nicolas Minassian (R)	26.378	+0.529	211.267	Chip Ganassi Racing
16	Paul Tracy	26.432	+0.583	210.835	Team Green
17	Max Papis	26.452	+0.603	210.676	Team Rahal
18	Oriol Servià	26.528	+0.679	210.072	Sigma Autosport
19	Alex Tagliani	26.530	+0.681	210.057	Forsythe Racing
20	Scott Dixon (R)	26.587	+0.738	209.606	PacWest Racing
21	Jimmy Vasser	26.600	+0.751	209.504	Patrick Racing
22	Bryan Herta	26.786	+0.937	208.049	Forsythe Racing
23	Roberto Moreno	26.800	+0.951	207.940	Patrick Racing
24	Tora Takagi (R)	26.840	+0.991	207.630	Walker Motorsport
25	Maurício Gugelmin	26.860	+1.011	207.476	PacWest Racing
Source:[1]

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Kenny Bräck	Team Rahal	201	1:44:48.888 178.113 mph	6	20
2	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	201	+3.650	1	181
3	55	Tony Kanaan	Mo Nunn Racing	200	+1 Lap	4	14
4	11	Christian Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing	200	+1 Lap	14	12
5	40	Jimmy Vasser	Patrick Racing	200	+1 Lap	21	10
6	7	Max Papis	Team Rahal	200	+1 Lap	17	8
7	66	Alex Zanardi	Mo Nunn Racing	199	+2 Laps	8	6
8	52	Shinji Nakano	Fernandez Racing	199	+2 Laps	13	5
9	18	Scott Dixon (R)	PacWest Racing	198	+3 Laps	20	4
10	20	Roberto Moreno	Patrick Racing	198	+3 Laps	23	3
11	16	Michel Jourdain Jr.	Bettenhausen Racing	197	+4 Laps	7	2
12	17	Maurício Gugelmin	PacWest Racing	197	+4 Laps	25	1
13	1	Gil de Ferran	Team Penske	194	Oil line	3	—
14	22	Oriol Servià	Sigma Autosport	191	+7 Laps	18	—
15	12	Nicolas Minassian (R)	Chip Ganassi Racing	190	Contact	15	—
16	51	Adrian Fernández	Fernandez Racing	148	Electrical	9	—
17	27	Dario Franchitti	Team Green	126	Header	2	—
18	26	Paul Tracy	Team Green	77	Gearbox	16	—
19	32	Patrick Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	54	Oil tank	10	—
20	5	Tora Takagi (R)	Walker Motorsport	51	Throttle	24	—
21	77	Bryan Herta	Forsythe Racing	50	Header	22	—
22	33	Alex Tagliani	Forsythe Racing	40	Gearbox	19	—
23	39	Michael Andretti	Team Motorola	33	Gearbox	11	—
24	4	Bruno Junqueira (R)	Chip Ganassi Racing	1	Contact	5	—
25	6	Cristiano da Matta	Newman-Haas Racing	0	Contact	12	—
Source:[2]

• ¹– Includes two bonus points for leading the most laps and being the fastest qualifier.^[3]

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 9 among 5 drivers

Lap Leaders[4] Laps Leader 1–50 Helio Castroneves 51-54 Kenny Bräck 55 Scott Dixon 56-84 Helio Castroneves 85-96 Kenny Bräck 97 Dario Franchitti 98-104 Kenny Bräck 105-144 Tony Kanaan 145-149 Helio Castroneves 150-201 Kenny Bräck

Total laps led[4] Leader Laps Helio Castroneves 84 Kenny Bräck 75 Tony Kanaan 40 Scott Dixon 1 Dario Franchitti 1

Cautions: 2 for 13 laps[5] Laps Reason 1-8 Junqueira and da Matta crash 194-200 Minassian hits the wall in Turn 4

Standings after the race

Drivers' standings [6] Pos +/- Driver Points 1 5 Kenny Bräck 49 2 3 Hélio Castroneves 47 3 2 Cristiano da Matta 40 — 1 Paul Tracy 40 — Jimmy Vasser 40

Constructors' standings[6] Pos +/– Constructor Points 1 1 Lola 77 — Reynard 77

Manufacturer's Standings[6] Pos +/- Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 71 2 Toyota 70 3 Ford-Cosworth 52 4 Phoenix 0

References

1. "2001 Firestone Firehawk 500 Qualifying Results". Championship Auto Racing Teams. May 18, 2001. Archived from the original on June 11, 2003. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
2. "2001 Firestone Firehawk 500 Race Results". Championship Auto Racing Teams. May 18, 2001. Archived from the original on June 11, 2003. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
3. Championship Auto Racing Teams (March 2001). "CART FedEx Championship Series - 2001 Rule Book". Archived from the original on 2016-05-28. Retrieved 2017-05-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
4. "2001 Firestone Firehawk 500K". Racing-Reference.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
5. "Firestone Firehawk 500 Sunday Press Notes". Championship Auto Racing Teams. May 19, 2001. Archived from the original on January 25, 2003. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
6. "Standings After Motegi". Motorsport.com. Retrieved June 1, 2017.^{[permanent dead link‍]}

Previous race: 2001 Lehigh Valley Grand Prix	CART Indycar World Series 2001 season	Next race: 2001 Miller Lite 225
Previous race: 2000 Firestone Firehawk 500	Firestone Firehawk 500	Next race: 2002 Bridgestone Potenza 500