CART: Franchitti wins Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit, Wrap-Up
10 August 1999
DETROIT - Dario Franchitti of Team KOOL Green parlayed his second victory in the last three races into the FedEx Championship Series points lead with Sunday's triumph in the Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit at The Raceway on Belle Isle.Franchitti (KOOL Honda Reynard), who won July 18 at Toronto, registered the fifth victory of his three-year career to unseat rookie sensation Juan Montoya as the points leader, ending Montoya's nine-race reign atop the series championship. Franchitti, who entered Sunday's race trailing Montoya, 130-116, now maintains a 136-131 advantage. Montoya finished 17th after a late-race mishap but scored a point for leading a race-high 58 laps.
Paul Tracy (KOOL Honda Reynard) finished second - 0.135 seconds behind Franchitti in the timed race that finished under caution - to give Team KOOL Green its second 1-2 finish in the past three events, matching its accomplishment at Toronto. Greg Moore (Player's Forsythe Mercedes Reynard) finished third.
Montoya (Target Honda Reynard), who started on the pole, was dominant from the outset as he led the first 58 of 71 laps, but miscommunication between him and his pits proved costly. A caution flag came out on Lap 44 for a stopped car on the 2.346-mile street course and Montoya stayed out due to the miscommunication while his primary challengers pitted for fuel and tires.
That forced Montoya to pit under green conditions on Lap 58 of a scheduled 75 with a 15.576-second lead over Franchitti. After a solid 10.1-second stop for fuel and tires, Montoya was situated in eighth place and 10.124 seconds behind Franchitti.
Montoya began his charge back to the front, but encountered trouble on the trek. On Lap 62, he attempted to pass Roberto Moreno (Big Kmart Ford Swift) for sixth place, but overshot Turn 3 and made contact with him. Montoya was able to get restarted during the caution and only fell to eighth. On Lap 66, he was situated in seventh when a caution came out for a four-car incident, but three laps later, while still under caution conditions, Helio Castro-Neves (Hogan Motor Leasing Mercedes Lola) made contact with Montoya. It ended Montoya's day and kept him out of the top-12 points-paying positions.
Meanwhile, Franchitti was cruising along and did not have to fend off any challenges from Tracy during his final 13 laps on the lead. The victory continued his mastery on temporary street circuits with seven podium finishes, including four wins, in his last nine starts in this type of discipline.
The runner-up finish for Tracy was his third consecutive podium effort and seventh straight points-paying performance. The run has moved Tracy to fourth in the championship with 106 points, 13 behind third-place Michael Andretti (Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Ford Swift) who was fourth Sunday. Moore notched his third podium of the season and his best road or street course performance since finishing second at Mid-Ohio in 1997.
There were several dramatic incidents during Sunday's race with the only injury coming to Patrick Carpentier (Player's Forsythe Mercedes Reynard). Carpentier, who was involved in an incident with Mauricio Gugelmin (Hollywood PacWest Mercedes) on Lap 28, sustained a cervical muscle strain, according to Dr. Steve Olvey, CART Director of Medical Affairs. He will be held overnight at Detroit Receiving Hospital and be released Monday morning.
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