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CART: Franchitti Wins in Toronto, Becomes 8th Different Winner in 11 FedEx Championship Series Events

19 July 1999

TORONTO - Dario Franchitti keyed an outstanding day for Team KOOL Green Sunday by becoming the eighth different winner in 11 FedEx Championship Series events this season with a dominating triumph at the Molson Indy before 72,500 appreciative fans.

Franchitti (KOOL Honda Reynard), a consistent points producer but winless through the first 10 events of the FedEx Championship Series campaign, scored his first victory of the season when he finished 2.624 seconds ahead of Team KOOL Green teammate Paul Tracy (KOOL Honda Reynard). Christian Fittipaldi (Big Kmart Ford Swift), who earned his first career FedEx Championship Series victory at Road America last week, finished third.

Franchitti averaged 85.897 miles per hour while leading all 95 laps. He became the first driver to lead every lap of a FedEx Championship Series event since his victory at Houston last year.

The 21 PPG Cup points Franchitti collected for the victory allowed him to close to seven points (113-106) of rookie Juan Montoya (Target Honda Reynard) for the championship lead. Montoya finished 22nd due to contact, the second consecutive event in which he has gone scoreless.

Franchitti took the lead from pole-sitter Gil de Ferran (Valvoline/Cummins Special Honda Reynard) heading into Turn 3 of the opening lap and was never relinquished the lead on the 1.755-mile temporary street course at Toronto's Exhibition Place. The victory was the fourth of his career and keyed the first one-two finish in Team KOOL Green history.

Tracy completed the one-two effort with his runner-up finish from the sixth starting position. The performance represented his best finish on a road or street circuit since finishing second at Laguna Seca in 1995 as well as his best on a street course since winning at Australia earlier that year.

Fittipaldi's third-place performance, coupled with last week's victory, brought him consecutive podium finishes for the first time since 1996 when he finished second at Detroit and third at Portland, respectively. Sunday's effort moved him to third in the championship with 96 points, one ahead of Newman/Haas Racing teammate Michael Andretti, who finished 26th due to contact and stands fourth with 95 points.

Roberto Moreno (Motorola PacWest Mercedes), continuing his strong effort as a substitute for Mark Blundell, finished fourth to match his season best established at Gateway. Max Papis (Miller Lite Ford Reynard) finished fifth, the fourth time he has done so this season, and second in a row following an identical effort at Road America.

Veteran Al Unser Jr. (Marlboro Mercedes Lola) put together an outstanding drive on a day when he established a new CART record for career starts. Unser Jr., whose 265th career start broke the record previously held by Team Rahal owner Bobby Rahal, drove from his 25th starting position to a ninth-place finish, his third consecutive top-10 effort.

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