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Maybe it's the TV announcers - after all a full field of cars is hard to follow. Maybe it's the CART scoring computer - probably needs a couple of new RAM chips.
Sunday it was Dario Franchitti and Juan Montoya taking the hit - literally. As announcers Paul Page and Parker Johnstone said, cold tires and a little testosterone can cause problems. Helio Castroneves locked 'em up going into Turn 3 at Toronto and thereby caused an accordion-like jumble that ended with Franchitti spearing Montoya and put them both out of the race. Franchitti's Canada sojourned had started on a high note - he was fastest in first day qualifying - but he ended up in the tire barrier during Saturday's run. Montoya, coming off a banner championship year, simply seems snake-bitten. Yesterday was DNF number 7. Cristiano da Matto, driving the Reynard/Toyota Cal Wells entry, was in the lead by the third lap and stayed there through the first forty laps, which included the first round of pit stops. Those stops proved costly for both Christian Fittipaldi, who took the nose off the Newman-Haas entry by rear-ending Gil de Ferran in pit lane, and for Bryan Herta, driving for the injured Tony Kanaan. Hmmm, Herta for Kanaan, with Kanaan rumored back by Michigan, I guess that means the Alex Zanardi rumors can continue unabated for a bit longer, right? Rookie Orial Servia did well early on, at least until he tapped into that testosterone spilled early on in Turn 3. He overtook Fernandez there, went side-by-side through 4, and into a tire barrier at 5. At 60 laps, there was a nice mix of driver/engine/chassis combos behind leader da Matta. Michael Andretti was second, followed by Adrian Fernandez, Paul Tracy - with only a slight blemish on the nose cone - and rookie Kenny Brack. Most teams needed to make the 75 lap mark to make it a two-stop race, and Fernandez - running quick laps - got the word to go to let's burn all the fuel mode and chase down Andretti. Michael Andretti and Adrian Fernandez profited most from the second series of pit stops. Leader da Matta was in first, Andretti went a couple of laps further and Fernandez went two more than that. When it all shook out, Andretti had the lead - but only after a daring outside pass on Fernandez in Turn 3 just as the Tecate had exited the pits on cold tires.
The copyright of the article Canada's Concrete Canyons in CART Auto Racing is owned by Gary Presley. Permission to republish Canada's Concrete Canyons in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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