CART: Fittipaldi Captures First CART Victory at Texaco/Havoline 200
12 July 1999
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. - Since arriving to the FedEx Championship Series in 1995, Newman/Haas Racing driver Christian Fittipaldi had seen some misfortune crop up as he continually chased his elusive first career Champ Car victory.On Sunday at Road America before 75,000 spectators, Fittipaldi watched misfortune claim the only driver that stood between him and that first career triumph - rookie phenom Juan Montoya - and then he capitalized on the late-race situation by capturing the Texaco/Havoline 200.
Fittipaldi (Big Kmart Ford Swift), the nephew of Emerson Fittipaldi who was making his 71st start in the FedEx Championship Series, took the lead when Montoya (Target Honda Reynard) - the series points leader who had led 46 of the first 48 laps - encountered gearbox problems on Lap 49. Fittipaldi protected that lead for the final seven laps against Newman/Haas teammate Michael Andretti (Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Swift Ford) and went on to post a 1.060-second victory in the 55-lap event on the 4.048-mile permanent road course.
Fittipaldi, whose previous career-best finish was second at Indianapolis in 1995 and Detroit in '96, earned his first competitive victory since winning two races en route to his 1991 Formula 3000 championship. He also became the seventh different winner in 10 FedEx Championship Series races.
Montoya's mechanical problem left him pointless in an event for only the second time this season - he finished 13th - and allowed several others to join in the pursuit of his points lead. Montoya's lead over Andretti was trimmed to 113-95 and a mere 16 points separate Andretti from seventh-place Adrian Fernandez.
Andretti's runnerup effort, which moved him from fourth to second in the championship, was his fourth podium of the season and seventh finish among the top seven. It also marked the first time teammates finished 1-2 in FedEx Championship Series competition since Patrick Racing's Fernandez and Scott Pruett accomplished the feat, respectively, last season at Mid-Ohio.
Fernandez (Tecate/Quaker State/Patrick Racing Ford Reynard) overcame early contact with Andretti to finish third. It was his second podium of the season - the other was his victory at Japan - and sixth top-five performance. Closing out the top five were Greg Moore (Player's Forsythe Mercedes Reynard) and Max Papis (Miller Lite Ford Reynard), respectively.
The Texaco/Havoline 200 got off to an inauspicious start as two separate multi-car incidents in Turns 1 and 3 on the opening lap caused a red-flag condition. Due to the number of cars involved in the incident (6) and the amount of resources such as safety workers and wreckers it took to remedy the situation, CART officials opted to red flag the event and have a complete restart to the event. Under that condition, all cars involved in the incidents that were unable to continue were given the opportunity to restart the race in their backup cars. Three drivers - Papis, Helio Castro-Neves and rookie Memo Gidley - were forced to their backups. None of the six drivers involved in the incidents were injured.
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