1999 CART Grand Prix of Motegi (Round 2)

Japan's Twin Ring Motegi plays host to Round 2 of the 1999 CART World Series on what is a very overcast day in the region. There has been some disquiet that rain may fall at some point during the race and with that in mind, many are eager to get the race under way as quickly as possible.

Following their accidents at Homestead some weeks earlier, Al Unser Jr has been replaced at Penske for the next few races by former Formula 1 pilot Tarso Marques.
However Naoki Hattori who was also involved in the accident with Unser Jr will not be replaced for this race and is out of the car for at least six months. Paul Tracy is back in the Team Kool Green machine following his one race suspension.
Greg Moore is leading the championship after he took maximum points at Homestead and is looking to extend that lead in the Championship race.

There were incidents galore before the race even started as on Thursday, rookie Juan-Pablo Montoya had a coming together with Michael Andretti and during qualifying, the young Colombian brushed the wall again; so after a difficult first couple of days, he starts from 15th position. Gil De Ferran has had a much better time of it though as he starts from pole position ahead of Mauricio Gugelmin, Max Papis, 1998 Motegi victor Adrian Fernandez and Michael Andretti.
The race measured at 500 kilometers comes in at 201 laps around the Twin Ring - so named because the circuit was build to accommodate two very different tracks as the ring has quite an elaborate infield section; yet the oval itself is a challenge that requires lots of braking and patience from the drivers.

The competitors have done their obligatory three laps under the pace car and turn onto the start/finish straight and almost instantly there is an incident as pole-sitter De Ferran lights up his wheels and spins all the way around. Before the race has even officially begun, the safety car is out and everyone must line-up and prepare for the start again.
De Ferran finds himself in a very lucky situation as no one hit him and because the race had yet to start, he gets to reclaim his pole position upon the next start, but a question remains as to whether or not he damaged his tyres. Even though pole-sitter spun before the green flag was dropped, these laps are being counted and the green final comes down on the third lap - this time everyone gets away cleanly.

This time De Ferran streaks ahead of Guglemin and Fernandez, but in the pack Robbie Gordon and Helio Castroneves are busy making giant strides - Gordon up to 4th from 14th and Castroneves to 9th from 18th place. However, Patrick Carpentier has opposing fortunes as he pulls into the pits with a multitude of failures in the car - eventually these are pinned down to electronics, but regardless, it's an early end for the Canadian.
After pulling away nicely at the start, Mauricio Gugelmin in his PacWest machine pulls up to De Ferran and makes a swift pass down the inside of turn 1 and suddenly, De Ferran and his Walker Racing car is beginning to fall backwards towards the pack - he complains that his car is handling badly, so maybe his tyres did get damaged in the spin. Falling backwards and with few options open to him, De Ferran pits in lap 38.

Soon after Castroneves and Gugelmin pit too giving Adrian Fernandez the lead, but while Castroneves' stop is neat and tidy, Gugelmin's is not. He slides into his pitbox far too fast and misses his spot, hitting his tyres and knocking into the right-front tyre-changer. The engineer is fine, but the Brazilian will have to take a penalty for his error - a penalty that will drop him a lap behind and scupper any chances of good points.
The following lap showcases another set of opposing circumstances, as Fernandez and Da Matta come in together; the Mexican race leader gets fuel and new tyres, but Da Matta only gets out of his car - a gearbox failure prematurely finishes his race.

With all the pitstops done, Andretti is 2nd ahead of Montoya, Castroneves and Christian Fittipaldi, who is having a quiet race; however they all trail Fernandez, the amiable Mexican. It doesn't take long for Montoya to sweep past Andretti; the son of the legendary Mario making it easy for the Target Chip Ganassi driver, fueling speculation that he is having severe handling problems on his new tyres. Come lap 80, even 4th place Helio Castroneves is beginning to zero in on the ailing Newman-Haas machine.

It is shortly afterwards that Franchitti brushes the wall on the exit of turn 2 and although there is no wreck, the CART officials bring out the full course caution, just in case minor debris has been spilt on circuit. The young Scot pulls out of the race a lap later with suspension damage as everyone else pits for second time - Andretti now glad to be free of a poor set of tyres as the first half of the race comes to a close.

The green flag comes out on lap 96 and immediately Montoya starts pushing Fernandez, while the same time Andretti is pressing the young Colombian. It is hard to believe that Montoya, who started on the eighth row, is only in his second oval as he looks like he has it nailed already - it should be interesting to see what he does on the road and street circuits, which are his forte.
Meanwhile, Castroneves is beginning to struggle with lower gear selection and it has dropped him down to tenth position; although when at the top end his Hogan Racing machine seems to run fine, he is having to not change down at any point and is running 6th in slightly lower revs as opposed to the high-end of 5th gear. He is still fast though over the course of a number of laps, he takes positions off of Jimmy Vasser, Tony Kanaan and Christian Fittipaldi and makes his way to 7th place.

In the midst of all this, Scott Pruett pits - and suddenly panic as the fuel hose pulls away and methanol spreads everywhere. The car catches fire, yet the flame remains invisible and with help from other crews, the fire is dowsed and calm is eventually restored - thankfully everyone is fine.

Out on track, things are anything but calm as Montoya continues to press Fernandez and eventually tries a pass in amongst lapped traffic on lap 139, but suddenly the Colombian falls backwards - he has run out of fuel.
He stops out on track having gone one lap too far and is taken back to the pitlane by the CART safety truck where he is fueled up and sent on his way - albeit two laps down. The full course caution comes out and everyone pits ,headed by Fernandez - everything seems to be going his way today.

When the race restarts on lap 149, Fernandez leads Moore, Andretti, Fittipaldi and De Ferran; meanwhile Castroneves has lost out as he takes a penalty for a pitlane infraction and loses two laps in the process.

The race begins to count down and most of the field find themselves in fuel conservation mode in the vain hope that they might be able to make their tank last the final 52 laps of the race. As the cars circle while running lean, one can't help but notice that the 215mph of earlier on have dropped back to 200-205mph - a status quo is set in motion.
During this Moore - while negotiating traffic - goes wide and Andretti seizes an opportunity to second place away from the Homestead winner, but not long after that pitstops recommence. Andretti is in on lap 190, but stalls his car again, just as he did in Miami some weeks earlier and at the same time Papis overcooks it on pit entry and spins the car around - yellow flags once again.

Moore, gifted second place by Andretti, Fittipaldi and others use this caution to get some final drops of fuel in, but crucially Fernandez stays out - this is a gamble that could win or lose him the race. With three laps to go, the race has become a 7.5km sprint, but Fernandez has the comfort of traffic between himself and second placed Greg Moore.
The green flag comes out and like Gil De Ferran at the start of the race, Moore lights up the tyres and spins all the way around with a blinded Richie Hearn crashing into Fittipaldi as they come across start/finish. With only two laps to go and debris and wheels everywhere, the race is guaranteed to finish under the safety car - Fernandez's risk paid off with a win, but the Mexican was very lucky as he ran out of fuel on his victory lap. Should the last couple of tours ran at full speed, it may well have been a victory for Greg Moore.

In the end, pole-sitter, Gil De Ferran took second ahead of Fittipaldi with the unfortunate Canadian in fourth place following his spin. Andretti came home in fifth place; albeit one lap down. However, for the second consecutive year, the race was taken by Adrian Fernandez, with an extra point for most laps led.



















Race Quality: 3 out of 5
Source Quality: C (picture is heavily drained of colour, but relatively clear; audio is good)
(November 2009)