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CART: Chicago is Toyota's kind of town; Da Matta takes the Target Grand Prix

31 July 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

- Sunday's win is the first for Cristiano da Matta in Champ Car competition and the first for PPI, as well. The 1998 Indy Lights champion won 7 of 27 starts in Indy Lights. He now sits fourth overall in points.

- Sunday's victory gives Cristiano da Matta four top-five finishes in his last five races. Included along with today's win was a third at Cleveland, a fourth at Toronto and a fifth at Portland. Da Matta also was running in the top five at Michigan, before a pit incident knocked him from the race.

- Sunday's race marked the second time in the last three races that da Matta has led a Champ Car race - the first two times of his Champ Car career.

- Toyota has now won three consecutive oval races following victories at Milwaukee in June and Michigan last weekend.

- Sunday's victory is the third victory by Toyota in Champ Car competition, and its third in the last seven races.

- Juan Montoya led 110 laps in extending his series-high laps led total to 690. In addition, Cristiano da Matta led 51 laps to raise Toyota's series' high total among manufacturers to 823.

- With Sunday's victory, Toyota has moved past Honda into sole paossession of second place in the CART Manufacturer's Championship. Toyota has closed to within 23 points of Ford for the lead. Toyota has now totaled 187 points this year in 12 races - 107 more than its previous season best of 80 set last year.

- Toyota victories this season could be termed "as good as Gould." Chicago Sun-Times motorsports writer Herb Gould has covered three CART races this season, Milwaukee, Michigan and Chicago - all victories for Toyota. At this point, Toyota is anxiously looking forward to the Aug. 20 Motorola 220 at Road America - the next CART stop in the Chicago region.

- Former Toyota Atlantic ace Memo Gidley earned three Championship points with his second consecutive top-10 finish (10th) in two starts for Della Penna Motorsports. The Californian is expected to race the two remaining oval races for the team at St. Louis and Fontana.

Quotes

Jim Aust, Toyota vice president of motorsports: "I'm absolutely thrilled for Cristiano and PPI. The team's been with us since day one. They deserved it. Cristiano's been fast and fighting up in the top five every week for the past two months. Today, all their hard work was rewarded. On the other hand, I feel terrible for Juan. I think he would have ended up on the podium as well. Finally, kudos to Memo Gidley. He's a racer. He's jumped into a new car without testing at two very different types of tracks and had two top-10 finishes. He has a bright future."

Cristiano da Matta, #97 Pioneer/MCI WorldCom Toyota: "We knew that if we could keep running in the top five or six every race that eventually we would win one. It feels great to win one for the whole team and for Toyota. I haven't won a race since the Indy Lights race at Vancouver in 1998, so it's been a while. But once you win one, you just want to win more and more.

Manufacturer's Championship: Ford 210; Toyota 187; Honda 183; Mercedes-Benz 53

Driver's Championship Top 10: Andretti 120; Moreno 98; De Ferran 89; Da Matta 82; Tracy 80; Fernandez 79; Brack 78; Montoya 77; Vasser 68; Carpentier 65

Text Provided By John Procida

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