2002 Honda Indy 300
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Queensland, Australia
2.795 mi / 4.498 km
| Race details | |
|---|---|
| Race 17 of 19 in the 2002 CART season | |
 Layout of the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit | |
| Date | October 27, 2002 |
| Official name | Honda Indy 300 |
| Location | Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Queensland, Australia |
| Course | Temporary street circuit 2.795 mi / 4.498 km |
| Distance | 40 laps 111.800 mi / 179.920 km |
| Weather | Wet; persistent rain |
| Pole position | |
| Driver |  Cristiano da Matta (Newman-Haas Racing) |
| Time | 1:30.204 |
| Fastest lap | |
| Driver | Cristiano da Matta (Newman-Haas Racing) |
| Time | 1:56.457 (on lap 7 of 40) |
| Podium | |
| First |  Mario Domínguez (Herdez Competition) |
| Second |  Patrick Carpentier (Forsythe Racing) |
| Third | Paul Tracy (Team Green) |
The 2002 Honda Indy 300 was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) motor race held on October 27, 2002 at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Queensland, Australia in front of 103,351 fans. It was the seventeenth round of the 2002 CART season, the twelfth running of the event, and the only race of the year to be held in Australia. Herdez Competition driver Mario Domínguez earned his first career CART win in the shortened 40-lap race. Patrick Carpentier, driving for Forsythe Racing, finished second, and Paul Tracy brought home the third position for Team Kool Green.
The race, originally scheduled to be 70 laps, was marred by extremely wet conditions. The initial start resulted in a multi-car crash injuring Adrián Fernández and Tora Takagi. CART officials shortened the race to 50 laps and allowed teams to repair their cars or pull out backups. After a long delay, the race was restarted on lap 3 with slightly improved conditions. Pole sitter Cristiano da Matta led the first 10 laps. Bruno Junqueira took the lead as da Matta and several other drivers took their first mandatory pit stop under caution, though he gave the lead back to da Matta on lap 18 after making his pit stop. Da Matta led the next eleven laps until he pitted again on lap 30. Michael Andretti inherited the lead thereafter, and he and his team believed they were in position to win once the race reached official race status of the full lap past the halfway point (35 laps plus one) of the original distance (70 laps), since they had already pitted once. However, CART officials made the controversial decision to wait until lap 40 to end the race, which meant that most teams would be forced to pit twice. After Andretti pitted on lap 36, Domínguez inherited the lead and led the final four laps en route to victory.
The finishing order of the race led to da Matta, who had already clinched the Drivers' Championship after Miami, extending his lead to 75 points over Junqueira with two races remaining in the season. Dario Franchitti, Carpentier, and Christian Fittipaldi rounded out the top five. Lola, which also clinched the Constructors' Championship at Denver, lengthened their lead over Reynard to 148 points. With Kenny Bräck's fourth-place finish, Toyota secured the Manufacturers' Championship with a 46-point lead over Honda. The race was criticized for its officiating, and marked another dent in CART's reputation.
The Honda Indy 300 was confirmed as part of CART's 2002 schedule in November 2001.[1] It was the 17th of 19 scheduled races by CART, and was held on October 27, 2002 at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia.[2] The track is a street circuit which features 12 turns and is 2.795 miles (4.498 km) in length.[3] This was the twelfth annual edition of the event, dating back to 1991. Cristiano da Matta was the defending race winner.[3] Over 300,000 people were expected to attend the event, and track organizers erected several new grandstands due to the growing ticket demand for the race.[3][4][5] Preluding festivities for the event began on October 20, a week prior to the race, as fans were allowed to spend the day on pit road.[6] Because of the success of the event, CART and the track organizers announced the signing of a new contract on October 24, which allowed the event to be held every year through 2008.[7][8]
Heading into the event, Newman/Haas Racing driver da Matta had already clinched the Drivers' Championship due to his win in the Grand Prix Americas at Miami the race prior.[9][10] He earned 212 points at this point in the season, 69 ahead of Bruno Junqueira. Dario Franchitti sat in third with 129 points, while Patrick Carpentier, with 115 points, and Christian Fittipaldi, with 114 points, rounded out the top five.[11] Lola had also clinched the Constructors' Championship with Junqueira's win at Denver,[12] gaining a total of 335 points. Reynard held second with 193 points.[13] As for the Manufacturers' Championship, Toyota obtained 287 points and extended their lead to 46 points over Honda. Ford was 81 points behind Toyota and was eliminated from championship contention after Miami.[14] Toyota had a chance to lock up the championship by scoring at least 20 points in the remaining three races.[14]
Da Matta was relived that he had clinched his first CART championship. He admitted that he felt "lighter" after winning the championship and focused his efforts on winning the final three races of the season, starting with Surfers Paradise.[15] On October 24, da Matta honored his championship efforts by donning the #1 on his car, which remained from Surfers Paradise to the season finale in Mexico.[16] Fittipaldi, da Matta's teammate, reminisced about his various experiences in Australia, including his severe crash during the event in 1997 and his podium finish a year later.[15] Numerous drivers, such as Team KOOL Green teammates Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti,[17] Oriol Servià,[18] Michael Andretti,[19] and Jimmy Vasser[20] all sung their praises about the track and its fans.
Despite the excitement leading up to the race, CART had suffered a big loss in sponsorship. On October 25, CART president Chris Pook announced that FedEx would no longer be the series' title sponsor after 2002. Pook explained: "As a series sponsor, we loved them. But the fact of the matter is in these sort of series, you have to have a series sponsor who activates to the retail market. That was not FedEx's game plan, that was never their game plan."[21] FedEx pulling their sponsorship was another huge blow to CART, which had suffered from a string of drivers, teams, and engine manufacturers switching to CART's rival sanctioning body, the Indy Racing League, in the past two years.[22]
Pook also played down the rumors about a possible merger between CART and Formula One in 2003, saying he only talked to F1 executive Bernie Ecclestone for advice: "I'm not going to deny to anybody that I've talked with Bernie Ecclestone. He's a friend. He's also the most intelligent man in motor racing in the world. And there is no doubt that I am rebuilding this series. So it's logical that I would go to someone like that and say, 'Hey, am I going in the right direction?' That's what's going on."[21] He went on to call the rumors "flattering from [CART's] point of view, but also very embarrassing", and firmly denied them.[23]
Practice and qualifying
There were two practice sessions that preceded the race on Sunday. The first session on Friday morning ran for 80 minutes, and the final session on Saturday morning ran for 75 minutes.[3] Luminous skies befitted the Surfers Paradise race course on Friday, with temperatures in excess of 80 °F (27 °C).[24] Cristiano da Matta set the fastest lap of the session, with a time of 1 minute and 32.977 seconds, ahead of Adrián Fernández in second.[25] Jimmy Vasser, Paul Tracy, and Michel Jourdain Jr. rounded out the top five.[26] Dario Franchitti, who was sixteenth fastest, only completed seven laps before clutch issues prematurely ended his practice session.[25][27] Three red flags were issued during this session. The first red flag occurred ten minutes into the session and lasted for two minutes, when Tora Takagi spun and had to be restarted by the CART safety team. Da Matta stopped the session for five minutes after he lost power at the runoff area in turn three. With eighteen minutes left, the session was paused for the final time as course officials checked a surface condition in the first turn.[24][26]
The next morning, skies remained sunny as temperatures reached 86 °F (30 °C).[28] Da Matta led the field again in the final practice session, setting a time of 1 minute and 31.514 seconds.[29] Kenny Bräck, Scott Dixon, Bruno Junqueira, and Fernández were second through fifth.[26] The session featured three stoppages, two of which were due to incidents. Eleven minutes in, several cones were knocked over at the apex of turn six, which exposed the bolts in the asphalt that secured them to the surface. After Christian Fittipaldi spun without contact in turn one, CART officials extended the red flag in order for course officials to make further repairs to the surface near turn six. Takagi later drove into the runoff area in turn three and was not able to engage reverse gear.[28]
Qualifying was divided into two sessions, one on Friday afternoon and one on Saturday afternoon. The fastest driver in each session would be awarded one championship point and was guaranteed a front-row starting position, regardless of the results of the other session.[30] One preliminary practice session was held for each qualifying session. Tony Kanaan was fastest in the fifteen-minute practice session on Friday,[31] which was brought to a brief halt four minutes in when Domínguez slammed head-on into the tire barrier near turn one. Domínguez was uninjured, and his team was able to repair his car in time for qualifying.[26][32] The qualifying session on Friday, which lasted for 35 minutes, saw three red flags. The first red flag was flown for Vasser, who was fourth quickest at the time, stop his car in turn one with heavy damage. Vasser was uninjured, but lost his fastest lap. Four minutes after the session went back to green flag conditions, Franchitti crashed in turn eight, sustaining heavy right-side damage. Finally, with twelve minutes remaining, Carpentier locked up his brakes and crashed into the tire barriers in turn one.[33] By the end of the session, Junqueira had won the provisional pole position, with a time of 1 minute and 31.515 seconds.[34] Junqueira's lap was just six hundredths of a second quicker than Tracy's fastest lap, and he didn't set the lap until there was only seven minutes remaining.[35] Tracy qualified second, and Dixon, da Matta, and Kanaan took positions three through five.[33] Junqueira's lap also established a new track record for the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit.[34] After qualifying, Junqueira attributed his fastest lap to a setup change that his team made following Friday morning's practice session.[35]
In the ten-minute preliminary practice session on Saturday afternoon, da Matta put down the fastest lap, with a time of 1 minute and 31.251 seconds, improving from his previous fastest lap of the weekend. Dixon and Jourdain Jr. were second and third quickest.[36] The 40-minute qualifying session that followed only featured only one stoppage, which occurred eight minutes in when Fittipaldi spun without contact in turn one and stalled his car.[36] Tracy also briefly got airborne after missing a chicane, and ended his qualifying run two laps later due to suspension issues.[37] Just before the halfway mark of the session, Bräck set the fastest lap of either qualifying session, which was nearly six tenths quicker than Junqueira's lap the day prior. However, Bräck was almost immediately outshined by da Matta, who set a lap two tenths faster than Bräck's. With thirteen minutes remaining, Junqueira defended his provisional pole by setting the new fastest lap over da Matta. However, with under six minutes left, da Matta returned to the track one last time and put down a lap which was one hundredth of a second quicker than Junqueira.[38] Da Matta's fastest lap time of 1 minute and 30.204 seconds awarded him the pole position for Sunday's race, marking his seventh (and final) pole position of the 2002 season and his CART career. It also set a new track record for Surfers Paradise, besting Junqueira's lap from Friday's qualifying and Franchitti's track record set in 1999.[39] Junqueira joined him on the front row.[40] Da Matta's record-setting lap was nearly one-and-a-half seconds faster than Franchitti's record-setting lap, and many drivers credited the increase in speed to the slight changes in the course.[41] Prior to the race, the wall on the left side of the exit of the first turn was moved back four feet, which led to drivers racing 10 miles per hour (16 km/h) faster than in previous years.[39]
Qualifying classification
| Key | Meaning |
|---|---|
| R | Rookie |
| W | Past winner |
- Notes
Warm-up
The drivers took to the track on Sunday at 10:00 local time for the thirty-minute warm-up session.[26] For the first time all weekend, rain began pouring on the track, and teams had to use rain tires to suit the track conditions.[43] The slick racing surface caused numerous spins and crashes involving drivers such as Paul Tracy, Michel Jourdain Jr., Mario Domínguez, and Dario Franchitti. Other drivers also drove into the runoff areas, but continued.[44] At the end of the session, only two drivers, Christian Fittipaldi and Tora Takagi, were able to complete a full lap. Fittipaldi was fastest over Takagi with a lap of 2 minutes and 12.443 seconds.[43]
