2001 Motorola 220

, where the race was held The Motorola 220 was confirmed as part of the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) 2001 schedule for the series in August 2000. It was to be the 19th consecutive year the race was held in the series, and the sixth and final event to be held in the Midwestern United States. The Motorola 220 was the 14th race of 21 scheduled by CART for 2001. It took place at the 14-turn Road America circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, on August 19. Prior to the event, Team Penske driver Hélio Castroneves and Kenny Bräck for Team Rahal were tied for the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 103 points each. Gil de Ferran was third on 89 points, eight ahead of fourth-placed Dario Franchitti, who in turn was a further eight points in front of Michael Andretti in fifth. Honda led the Manufacturers' Championship with 212 points; Ford Cosworth was second on 185, with Toyota 11 points behind in third. Reynard led the Constructors' Championship by 41 points over Lola. Andretti, who won at Road America three times, said he was feeling additional positive pressure heading into the race. He and his team wanted to go to the track and please his team's primary sponsor. Castroneves won the previous race of the season (at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course) and stated he needed to maintain his recent momentum and increase his points tally. He spoke of his hope that he would be able to improve his result from the previous event at Road America in 2000. Bräck said his team had to improve his car, which he hoped would be fast on the straightaways since its engine produced a large amount of horsepower. He said that everything that had occurred during the season was in the past, and he had to focus on the race and attempt to win it. ==Practice and qualifying==

There were two 75-minute practice sessions preceding Sunday's race. A test session, scheduled for Friday afternoon, ran for 90 minutes. Two red flags were shown in the first practice session. The first was for Roberto Moreno who stalled his engine in the eighth turn while on an out lap. The second was for Scott Dixon who spun into the turn five gravel trap and stalled his car, necessitating its removal from the circuit. De Ferran recorded the fastest lap of the day in the second practice session with a time of 1:41.055, ahead of Vasser, Franchitti. Andretti; Moreno, Cristiano da Matta, Junqueira, Tony Kanaan, Castroneves and Bräck. A further five stoppages occurred; Max Papis spun into the turn 12 tire barrier, sustaining rear wing damage. Max Wilson simultaneously went off the track leaving the second turn and stalled. Herta slid into the turn three gravel trap, and Wilson stalled after exiting turn three. Vasser went off into the turn four gravel trap. Weather conditions became cloudy for the Saturday practice session due to a low pressure area developing to the west of the track. The session was stopped twice when Alex Tagliani spun into the turn six gravel trap and stalled his car, and Bräck's engine failed heading into the 12th turn and steered right towards the pit lane entry but stalled. De Ferran was fastest with a time of 1:40.511; Moreno, Vasser, Junqueira, Takagi, Castroneves, Adrián Fernández, Franchitti, Herta and Bräck completed the top ten. After the session ended, Alex Zanardi stopped his car in Fernández's pit stall to prevent him from entering it because Fernández blocked him in while on a timed lap. Zanardi then nudged Fernández in an accusatory manner before others stepped in to defuse the situation. (pictured in 2012) had his fifth pole position of the season. Saturday afternoon's 75-minute qualifying session saw cars divided into two groups with the leading championship point-standing leaders and the fastest two drivers from the previous road course race composing the second group. Both groups were allowed 30 minutes on the circuit with a 15-minute interval in between the two groups recording their lap times. A heavy rain shower, which ended one hour before qualifying began, made the track surface slippery and all cars were required to use wet-weather tires. Rain returned as the second group of cars drove onto the track. Several drivers slid off the track, but most avoided damaging their cars. Bräck achieved his fifth pole position of the season with a time of 2:03.531. He was joined on the grid's front row by Tagliani in his best qualifying performance on a road course in 2001. Tagliani could not claim the pole position as he slowed for Castroneves at Canada Corner during his final two timed laps. Vasser started 11th, nearly one-tenth of a second faster than Patrick Carpentier in 12th, and Takagi in 13th. Moreno and Maurício Gugelmin, Herta (who was delayed by Zanardi) and Kanaan, Oriol Servià, Wilson and Michel Jourdain Jr. filled the next six positions. Shinji Nakano, Papis, Zanardi and Paul Tracy qualified in positions 21 to 24. Tracy caused the session to be stopped for four minutes when he spun into the turn four infield grass section. His session ended prematurely because he subsequently reported by radio a transmission failure to his team. Franchitti spun into the turn 12 gravel trap and was unable to go faster; he started 25th. Fernández did not set a lap time after he had spun at the third turn and hit the outside wall with his rear wing. Qualifying classification }|JPN}} ==Warm-up==

The drivers took to the track at 9:30 a.m. local time for a 30-minute warm-up session. Rain continued to fall on the track overnight but stopped before the session began. Kanaan was fastest in the warm-up session with a time of 1:51.743. Dixon and Wilson were second and third. The session was disrupted when Andretti spun in the 11th turn and damaged the right-front quarter of his car upon hitting the wall. Andretti was unhurt. ==Race==

(pictured in 2004) was injured in accident with Max Wilson on the fifth lap. A further deluge came over the track with over of rain falling in less than half an hour. Race officials worked quickly to remove standing water from the track surface. It was announced the race would be a "Wet Start" and all cars were required to start with the rain tires installed. The air temperature ranged from and the track temperature was between . The race began at 12:15 p.m. local time behind the pace car. The vehicles drove alongside each other to lift the remaining standing water on the track surface. A jet dryer was sent onto the track on lap two to assist in the drying efforts. The pit lane was opened on lap four with teammates Tracy and Franchitti making pit stops. Both drivers rejoined the race at the back of the field. Bräck maintained the lead heading into the first turn. Dixon was blocked by another car, and he was overtaken by de Ferran for third. Tracy attempted to avoid the scene by driving around the inside, but he was caught up in the incident because of reduced visibility after driving through spray. No drivers were injured but all three retired from the race. The second caution flag was shown on the same lap. Franchitti, Junqueira, Fittipaldi made pit stops under caution. Carpentier unsuccessfully challenged Castroneves on the outside lane on the run to the first corner. Entering turn 13, Gidley put a wheel on a damp curb and suddenly lost rear traction. He was propelled toward a concrete support to a nearby bridge at the corner. His car's right-front corner hit it at approximately at a 60 degree angle. Gidley's car was split into two pieces; he flipped and rolled several times before landing upside down in a nearby gravel trap at the outside of the circuit. but he awoke by the time safety officials came to his aid and he communicated with his team over the radio. He dedicated his victory to his teammate Gidley. He used crutches to aid in his mobility because his body was sore from his crash; he stopped using them on August 25. Kneifel stated he observed the track with safety officials before the race began, and acknowledged his decision-making would come under scrutiny. Criticism was also directed at CART's decision to permit teams to alter their cars during the stoppage. Bräck said he felt this gave Castroneves, Carpentier, Jourdain and Nakano an unfair advantage and prevented from finishing in a higher position. Serviá argued that all the cars should have been put into Formula One style parc fermé conditions, and did not see the logic in allowing teams to adjust and fuel their cars during a red flag period. Honda increased its advantage to 35 points over Toyota in the Manufacturers' Championship. Ford Cosworth's results dropped it to third. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Reynard still led but their advantage over Lola had been reduced by four points with seven races left in the season. Race classification }|GBR}} ; Notes • — Includes one bonus point for leading the most laps. • — Includes one bonus point for being the fastest qualifier. ==Standings after the race==

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for the drivers' standings. ==References==