1999 ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix

1999 Detroit
Race details
Race 13 of 20 in the 1999 CART season
The Raceway on Belle Isle
Date August 8, 1999
Official name 1999 ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix
Location The Raceway on Belle Isle Park
Detroit, Michigan, Detroit, United States
Course Temporary street circuit
2.346 mi / 3.776 km
Distance 71 laps
166.566 mi / 268.096 km
Weather Dry with temperatures reaching up to 77 °F (25 °C); wind speeds up to 17.6 miles per hour (28.3 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Juan Pablo Montoya (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Time 1:13.585
Fastest lap
Driver Juan Pablo Montoya (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Time 1:15.701 (on lap 49 of 71)
Podium
First Dario Franchitti (Team KOOL Green)
Second Paul Tracy (Team KOOL Green)
Third Greg Moore (Forsythe Racing)

The 1999 ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix was the thirteenth round of the 1999 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series season, held on August 8, 1999, on The Raceway on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan. The race marks the 17th and final career podium for Greg Moore, who finished third.

Report

Race

Championship leader Juan Pablo Montoya took his fifth pole of the season, and he dominated the early stages of the race, rapidly building a 6-second lead. Paul Tracy ran second early on, although it did not last for long as his teammate Dario Franchitti passed him. Franchitti was able to pull away from Tracy but had no answer for Montoya, whose lead was up to 10 seconds before a caution caused by a coming together between Robby Gordon and Jan Magnussen triggered the first round of pit stops, during with the top 3 remained unchanged. Montoya continued to dominate once the green flag was brought out, although a miscommunication meant that he did not enter the pits when another caution period caused by Memo Gidley's car failure. The other drivers were all able to make their second stops and effectively gained a free pitstop on him. Montoya stayed out in an attempt to get as big a lead as possible once the track went green. He built a lead of 15 seconds before he made his pitstop, but rejoined only eighth, as Franchitti was handed the lead. Franchitti, despite more caution periods, went on to win the race ahead of teammate Tracy in another Team Green 1-2, with Greg Moore taking the final spot on the podium. The win handed Franchitti the championship lead as well, as Montoya was taken out of the race by Hélio Castroneves after the latter misjudged a restart attempt.

Classification

Qualifying

August 7, 1999 - Qualifying Speeds
Grid Driver Team Lap Time Leader Speed (mph)
1 Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing 1:13,585 114,773
2 Paul Tracy Team Green 1:13.611 +0.026 114,733
3 Gil de Ferran Walker Racing 1:13.789 +0.204 114,456
4 Dario Franchitti Team Green 1:13.792 +0.207 114,451
5 Roberto Moreno Newman-Haas Racing 1:13.865 +0.280 114,338
6 Tony Kanaan Forysthe Championship Racing 1:13.958 +0.373 114,195
7 Greg Moore Forsythe Racing 1:14.020 +0.435 114,099
8 Michael Andretti Newman-Haas Racing 1:14.039 +0.454 114,070
9 Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Racing 1:14.090 +0.505 113,991
10 Max Papis Team Rahal 1:14.215 +0.630 113,799
11 Bryan Herta Team Rahal 1:14.222 +0.637 113,788
12 Jimmy Vasser Chip Ganassi Racing 1:14.355 +0.770 113,585
13 Mauricio Gugelmin PacWest Racing Group 1:14.530 +0.945 113,381
14 Cristiano da Matta Arciero-Wells Racing 1:14.753 +1.168 112,980
15 Mark Blundell PacWest Racing Group 1:14.877 +1.292 112,793
16 Gonzalo Rodriguez Team Penske 1:15.034 +1.449 112,557
17 Scott Pruett Arciero-Wells Racing 1:15.059 +1.474 112,519
18 Helio Castroneves Hogan Racing 1:15.095 +1.510 112,466
19 Robby Gordon Team Gordon 1:15.101 +1.516 112,457
20 Al Unser Jr. Team Penske 1:15.495 +1.910 111,870
21 Richie Hearn Della Penna Motorsports 1:15.650 +2.065 111,640
22 Jan Magnussen Patrick Racing 1:15.749 +2.164 111,495
23 Michel Jourdain Jr. Payton-Coyne Racing 1:15.807 +2.222 111,409
24 Memo Gidley Payton-Coyne Racing 1:16.372 +2.787 110,585
25 Gualter Salles All-American Racers 1:16.452 +2.867 110,469
26 Naoki Hattori Walker Racing 1:17.005 +3.420 109,679
Source:

Race

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 27 Dario Franchitti Team Green 71 2:02:24.662 4 20
2 26 Paul Tracy Team Green 71 +0.135 2 16
3 99 Greg Moore Forsythe Racing 71 +0.530 7 14
4 6 Michael Andretti Newman-Haas Racing 71 +1.471 8 12
5 12 Jimmy Vasser Chip Ganassi Racing 71 +2.594 12 10
6 44 Tony Kanaan Forsythe Racing 71 +3.652 6 8
7 9 Hélio Castro-Neves Hogan Racing 71 +4.802 18 6
8 24 Scott Pruett Arciero-Wells Racing 71 +6.750 17 5
9 8 Bryan Herta Team Rahal 71 +7.211 11 4
10 18 Mark Blundell PacWest Racing 71 +8.230 15 3
11 36 Gualter Salles All American Racing 71 +9.220 25 2
12 3 Gonzalo Rodríguez Team Penske 71 +14.473 16 1
13 10 Richie Hearn Della Penna Motorsports 71 +15.831 21
14 11 Roberto Moreno Newman-Haas Racing 70 +1 Lap 5
15 2 Al Unser Jr. Team Penske 70 +1 Lap 20
16 15 Naoki Hattori Walker Racing 70 +1 Lap 26
17 4 Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing 68 Contact 1 1+1
18 20 Jan Magnussen Patrick Racing 68 +3 Laps 22
19 25 Cristiano da Matta Arciero-Wells Racing 65 Contact 14
20 71 Memo Gidley Payton/Coyne Racing 42 Transmission 24
21 19 Michel Jourdain Jr. Payton/Coyne Racing 41 Transmission 23
22 5 Gil de Ferran Walker Racing 32 Contact 3
23 33 Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Racing 27 Contact 9
24 17 Maurício Gugelmin PacWest Racing 27 Contact 13
25 22 Robby Gordon Team Gordon 23 Contact 19
26 7 Max Papis Team Rahal 0 Contact 10
DNS 40 Adrián Fernández Patrick Racing Injury

Caution flags

Laps Cause
2-3 Carpentier (33), Papis (7) contact
24-27 Gordon (22), Magnussen (20) contact
29-33 Carpentier (33), Gugelmin (17) contact
34-35 de Ferran (5) contact
45-46 Gidley (71) stopped on course
64-65 Moreno (11), Montoya (4) contact
67-69 da Matta (25) contact, Unser Jr. (2) spin
70-71 Montoya (4), Castro-Neves (9) contact

Lap Leaders

Laps Leader
1-58 Juan Pablo Montoya
59-71 Dario Franchitti
 
Driver Laps led
Juan Pablo Montoya 58
Dario Franchitti 13

Point standings after race

Pos Driver Points
1 Dario Franchitti 136
2 Juan Pablo Montoya 131
3 Michael Andretti 119
4 Paul Tracy 106
5 Christian Fittipaldi 101