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Monday, June 16, 2003

By The Associated Press

Michael Schumacher took a long swig of champagne, then sprayed some on his younger brother. Finally back on top of the Formula One standings, Schumacher was ready to celebrate.

Schumacher won his fourth race of the season and finally passed Kimi Raikkonen for the lead in the driver standings by beating his brother, Ralf, in the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal yesterday.

Schumacher, seeking his record sixth Formula One world championship, has won six times on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The German driver gained the maximum 10 points for the victory and has scored 999 for his career.

"As for having 999 points, in Germany that number means you have to buy everyone a drink," he joked. "So we will see what happens tonight."

Schumacher started third but took over the lead after his first pit stop. He and Ralf had been running 1-2 when Ralf ducked off the track for service on the 20th lap.

Michael pitted on the next lap, then raced his Ferrari off the service road to get back on the race track an instant before Ralf came by. He took over the lead when Fernando Alonso had to make his stop, and because passing is so difficult on the 2.709-mile, 15-turn track, no one challenged him the rest of the way.

"The mechanics did a great job in the pit stop to put me in the lead," he said. "This was the ideal result at the end of a very tough and tight race."

Ralf Schumacher, who started from the pole, finished second for Williams-BMW. It was a reverse finishing order from 2001 when Ralf won and Michael finished second.

"It's obviously disappointing," Ralf said. "But in 2001 I won it like this, now it is his turn."

Juan Pablo Montoya, Ralf Schumacher's teammate at Williams, was third but irritated because he lost a chance to challenge for his second consecutive victory when he spun on the second lap.

"I was too close to Ralf when I braked and I just braked too late and I spun. It was my fault completely," Montoya said. "It is a shame that we had the potential to win the race and I threw it away."

Other races

Le Mans: Bentley won its first Le Mans title since 1930, and driver Tom Kristensen set a record with his fourth consecutive victory in the 24-hour endurance race. Bentley's No. 7 car was two laps ahead of the runner-up -- Bentley's No. 8 car. Audi, the winner the past three years, came in third and fourth. The JML Team Panoz of the United States finished fifth, 17 laps behind the winner. Bentley's victory was its sixth overall, with the previous five coming in the golden era of the flamboyant "Bentley Boys," between 1924 and 1930. It was the fifth triumph overall for Kristensen on the famed 8.46-mile circuit.

Honda Indy 225: Scott Dixon won under a yellow flag at Fountain, Colo., for his second IRL victory this season. Dixon, who also won the IRL's season-opening race at Homestead, Fla., led 89 laps, including the final 84. Two cars spun out in the final 10 laps, producing two yellows. Season points leader Tony Kanaan was runner-up for the second consecutive week, followed by Gil de Ferran, the race's defending champion.

Grand Prix of Monterey: Pole-sitter Patrick Carpentier jumped out to the lead at the green flag and never surrendered in winning. Carpentier beat runner-up Bruno Junqueira by 0.844 seconds in the CART race. Paul Tracy nudged teammate Carpentier during a false start, then followed him the rest of the afternoon to finish third, 28.545 seconds back at Laguna Seca in California.