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Monday, August 13, 2001

By Chris Dolack, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

LEXINGTON, Ohio -- When Gil de Ferran returns to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course next year, don't blame him if he rides the brakes around the 2.258-mile road circuit during qualifying.

	Helio Castroneves: Another CART victory, another fence scaled. (Jason J. Molyet, Associated Press)

Winning the pole isn't doing him much good.

For the second consecutive year, de Ferran won the pole for the Miller Lite 200, started alongside fellow Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves and finished second to him after a lead change on the first set of pit stops.

"Maybe we'll do that," de Ferran said. "I'll let him go first and I'll follow him for the first few laps and get by him on a pit stop."

In almost identical fashion to the race last year, de Ferran led the first 29 laps before pitting. Castroneves, with clear track in front of him, spurned his team's decision to pit at the same time as de Ferran and stayed out one more lap before coming in for tires and fuel.

De Ferran exited the pits and was stuck behind the slower cars of Adrian Fernandez and Shinji Nakano around the narrow course. Castroneves, nicknamed Spider-man for his fence-climbing victory celebrations, pitted the next lap and had nothing in front of him but open track. It left him plenty of time to scout which bit of chain link would support him best.

"When Gil was going to pit, I saw on the track in front of him there were two cars far away," said Castroneves, who won for the third time this season in his Honda/Reynard. "At the last minute, in the last turn before turning [into the pits] I decided, 'No, I'm going to continue to do one more lap.'"

His team wasn't pleased with his maneuver because it was not certain Castroneves had enough fuel to last one more lap. They were almost right. The fuel warning light came on as he was entering pit road for his stop.

"I was like, 'OK, I'm safe,' " Castroneves said. "That was crucial for the lead. From that particular point, that was it. My car was great. and I just took it easy."

There was nothing de Ferran could do.

"We tried to go as far as we could," he said. "I guess he made a little bit better mileage. Whoever comes in first is a little bit penalized, especially when there is clear track in front of you. I knew when I came in and he didn't, I was going to have to do something pretty special on my [exit] lap to stay in front of him. But, unfortunately, I had Fernandez and Nakano in front of me, and it slowed me down a significant amount."

De Ferran's only opportunity to get around Castroneves came on lap 51. The throttle in Fernandez's car stuck as he was going down the back straightaway. Fernandez careened across a sand trap designed to slow cars that go off course and blasted into a tire barrier like a dart. Fernandez was uninjured, but a full-course caution was signaled, and most of the top cars headed into the pits for the final time.

Castroneves barely edged de Ferran, but it was just enough as he cruised the rest of the way to a 1.568-second victory over his teammate, with an average speed of 106.627 mph.

"We were really tight together, and I wasn't strong enough to challenge him or overtake him on the racetrack," de Ferran said. "It was a really hard pace we drove but it was a great race for us. Certainly, second place is not a win, but nevertheless it was important for us to not to come home empty-handed."

Patrick Carpentier started third behind the Penske teammates and earned his third consecutive podium finish by placing third, 2.548 seconds behind Castroneves. It was Carpentier's best road- or street-course run since he finished second at Vancouver in 1999. He earned his first career victory two races ago at Michigan International Speedway, a high-speed, 2-mile oval.

The victory moves Castroneves to within one point of series leader Kenny Brack (104-103) with eight races remaining. Brack failed to earn any points after fellow Team Rahal driver Max Papis tried to pass him and they collided. The crash knocked Papis out of the event. Brack went three laps down before he could get back into the race. They also took each other out while battling for the lead down the stretch at Michigan.

"I don't know what [Max] was thinking," owner Bobby Rahal said. "It is a wasted opportunity. Kenny was [going to pit] and Max was going to get by in just half a lap.

"You would expect different behavior from a veteran like Max. I guess he thought he could pass him. Unfortunately, he couldn't, and it took out the championship leader. For a teammate to do it is inexcusable."

All three of Brack's victories this season have come on oval tracks. Castroneves' previous two CART wins were on street circuits, courses where Team Penske is particularly strong. Of the eight remaining races, five are on street or road courses. Castroneves also won the Indianapolis 500 this season, an event sanctioned by the Indy Racing League.