| 2001CART season | |
|---|---|
| FedEx Championship Series | |
.svg){kind=logo} | |
| Season | |
| Races | 21 |
| Start date | March 11 |
| End date | November 4 |
| Awards | |
| Drivers' champion |  Gil de Ferran |
| Constructors' Cup |  Reynard |
| Manufacturers' Cup |  Honda |
| Nations' Cup | Brazil |
| Rookie of the Year |  Scott Dixon |
The2001 CART FedEx Championship Series was the 23rd season of theFedEx Championship Series, the premier series sanctioned byChampionship Auto Racing Teams (CART), and encompassed the 90th season ofAmerican open-wheel car racing alongside the rivaling2001 Indy Racing Northern Light Series. The season consisted of 21 races, beginning inMonterrey, Mexico on March 11 and ending inFontana, California on November 4. TheDrivers' Championship was won byGil de Ferran, the Constructors' Cup byReynard, and theManufacturers' Cup byHonda.
Off the track, the 2001 season was an unmitigated disaster for CART under the leadership of Joseph Heitzler. It included two race cancellations inRio de Janeiro andTexas; a disastrous European tour that coincided with theSeptember 11 attacks and witnessed a severe accident to former series championAlex Zanardi in which he lost both of his legs; infighting amongst engine manufacturers that saw litigation and the announced future departure ofHonda andToyota; the loss of the series' television contract with ABC/ESPN; the departure of longtime tracksMichigan International Speedway andNazareth Speedway; the loss ofFirestone as the series' tire supplier and its replacement by parent companyBridgestone; and the defection ofTeam Penske to the rivalIndy Racing League (IRL) at the conclusion of the season.
Team Penske andTeam Motorola joinedChip Ganassi Racing in having concurrent IRL teams to run in the2001 Indianapolis 500, with Penske'sHelio Castroneves winning the race. In an unusual move, CART "sanctioned" the participation of teams in the race; this was an attempt to allow Penske's primary sponsor,Marlboro, to appear on cars in the 500, as they were prohibited from being in more than one racing series by theTobacco Master Settlement Agreement. This legal maneuver was not successful, and Penske's cars ran without advertising.[1][2]
The following teams and drivers competed in the 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series. All teams competed with tires supplied byFirestone.[3]
Team changes[edit]Chip Ganassi Racing's success withToyota in the2000 season increased demand for theirRV8 engine, withWalker Motorsport,[4]Newman/Haas Racing,[5]PacWest Racing,[6] andPatrick Racing switching to the engine for 2001.[7] Because of the overwhelming engine production, Toyota ceased their support of two teams,Della Penna Motorsports andPPI Motorsports, forcing both to shut down their CART operations at the end of 2000;[8][9] PPI Motorsports shifted their efforts to theNASCAR Winston Cup Series.[10] PacWest Racing was one of four teams that fielded cars powered byMercedes-Benz engines in the previous season,[11] but was forced to switch to a different engine supplier afterDaimlerChrysler—Mercedes-Benz's parent company—announced their departure from the series at the season's end in order to exclusively focus on theirFormula One program.[12]Ilmor, the company responsible for building Mercedes-Benz's CART engines, chose to stay in the sport and supply their own engines, named the Phoenix, forArciero-Brooke Racing,[13] though the team resorted toFord-Cosworth'sXF engine starting from theMiller Lite 225.[14] As for the other teams,Bettenhausen Racing also ran the XF engine,[15] whileMo Nunn Racing usedHonda's newHR-1 engine alongside four other teams, including the newly-formedTeam Motorola andFernández Racing,[16][17] marking Honda's largest lineup in their history with CART.[18] Only two constructors,Lola andReynard, supplied chassis for 2001 afterSwift left the series following an uncompetitive 2000 season withDale Coyne Racing.[19] Reynard had won the Constructors' Cup the previous season and introduced their new01I chassis.[20][21] Schedule[edit]
Results[edit]Final driver standings[edit]Further information:List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems
Nations' Cup[edit]
References[edit]
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