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The 2001 Molson Indy Toronto was a
Championship Auto Racing Teams Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) was a Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 1979 until dissolving after the 2003 CART season, 2003 season. CART was founded in 1979 by team owners formerly ...
(CART) motor race held on July 15, 2001, at the
Exhibition Place Exhibition Place is a publicly owned mixed-use district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located by the shoreline of Lake Ontario, just west of downtown. The site includes exhibit, trade, and banquet centres, theatre and music buildings, monuments, ...
circuit in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
,
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, Canada. It was the tenth round of the 2001 CART season, the 16th annual edition of the Molson Indy Toronto, and the first of two events that were held in Canada. The 95-lap race was won by Team Motorola driver
Michael Andretti Michael Mario Andretti (born October 5, 1962) is an American former racing driver, and current team owner. Statistically one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, Andretti won the 1991 CART champions ...
, who started from the 13th position.
Alex Tagliani Alexandre Tagliani (; born October 18, 1973), nicknamed "Tag", is a Canadian professional racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Canada Series, driving the No. 80 Chevrolet Camaro for Dumoulin Compétition. Tagliani has competed in a ...
finished second for the
Forsythe Racing Forsythe Championship Racing was an American racing team that competed in the Champ Car, Champ Car World Series owned by Gerald Forsythe. The Champ Car effort ceased operations after the 2008 unification of North American open wheel racing. The ...
team, and Fernandez Racing driver
Adrián Fernández Adrián Fernández Mier (born April 20, 1963) is a Mexican former professional race car driver and co-owner of the Fernandez Racing team. Racing career Early career Fernández was born in Mexico City and began his career in Mexico at the age ...
came in third.
Gil de Ferran Gil de Ferran (11 November 1967 – 29 December 2023) was a Brazilian professional racing driver and team owner. De Ferran was the 2000 and 2001 Champ Car champion driving for Team Penske and the winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500. He also ...
won the
pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...
and maintained his lead throughout the race's first half. Andretti made contact with
Scott Dixon Scott Ronald Dixon (born 22 July 1980) is a New Zealand racing driver who races the 9 Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) Dallara DW12-Honda car in the IndyCar Series. He is a six-time drivers' champion of the IndyCar Series, having claimed the title in ...
on the first lap and made a
pit stop Pitstop may refer to: * Pit stop, in motor racing, when the car stops in the pits for fuel and other consumables to be renewed or replenished * ''Pit Stop'' (1969 film), a movie directed by Jack Hill * ''Pit Stop'' (2013 film), a movie directe ...
along with a change of strategy to move up the field.
Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves (; born Hélio Alves de Castro Neves; 10 May 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He competes part-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 06 Dallara-Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. He is one of four drivers to have w ...
took over the lead after de Ferran made a pit stop for fuel and held it for 15 laps before he retired with a mechanical issue. Fernández and
Tony Kanaan Antoine Rizkallah "Tony" Kanaan Filho (born 31 December 1974), nicknamed "TK", is a Brazilian racing driver who is the team principal of Arrow McLaren. He is best known for racing in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) from 1998 to 2002, an ...
held the first position over the next seven laps. Andretti moved into first place on the 71st lap and maintained the position to win the race. There were eleven cautions and four lead changes by five different drivers during the course of the race. It was Andretti's first (and only) victory of the season, his seventh at Toronto, and the 41st of his career. The result advanced Andretti to second in the Drivers' Championship, ten points behind leader
Kenny Bräck Per Cenny "Kenny" Bräck (born 21 March 1966) is a Swedish former race car driver. Until his retirement from racing, he competed in the Champ Car, CART, Indy Racing League and the IROC series. He won the 1998 Indy Racing League championship and t ...
, while Castroneves fell to third place, with eleven races left in the season. Approximately 73,628 people attended the event, which attracted 726,000 television viewers in the United States.


Background

The Molson Indy Toronto was confirmed as part of CART's 2001 series' schedule in August 2000. It was the sixteenth consecutive year the race was held in the series, and the first of two races that were held in Canada. The Molson Indy Toronto was the tenth of 21 scheduled races for 2001 by CART, and was held on July 15. Prior to the race,
Team Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) is an auto racing team that has participated in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the IndyCar Series. Headquartered in Zionsville, Indiana and Hilliard, Ohio, it is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 50 ...
driver
Kenny Bräck Per Cenny "Kenny" Bräck (born 21 March 1966) is a Swedish former race car driver. Until his retirement from racing, he competed in the Champ Car, CART, Indy Racing League and the IROC series. He won the 1998 Indy Racing League championship and t ...
led the Drivers' Championship with 83 points, 13 ahead of
Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves (; born Hélio Alves de Castro Neves; 10 May 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He competes part-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 06 Dallara-Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. He is one of four drivers to have w ...
in second, with
Dario Franchitti George Dario Marino Franchitti (born 19 May 1973) is a British motorsport commentator and retired motor racing driver from Scotland. Franchitti won the IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011; the Indianapolis 500 in ...
third.
Gil de Ferran Gil de Ferran (11 November 1967 – 29 December 2023) was a Brazilian professional racing driver and team owner. De Ferran was the 2000 and 2001 Champ Car champion driving for Team Penske and the winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500. He also ...
was fourth on 56 points, one in front of
Cristiano da Matta Cristiano Monteiro da Matta (born 19 September 1973) is a Brazilian former professional racing driver. He won the CART Championship in 2002, and drove in Formula One with the Toyota team from 2003 to 2004. Biography Origins and early career ...
in fifth. In the Manufacturers' Championship,
Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...
led with 136 points;
Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
was a close second with 132, followed by
Ford Cosworth Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...
with 114. Franchitti was considered one of the favorites to win the race having won the event two years previously and hoped to keep a recent string of good results in the 2001 season going at the track. Bräck expected to perform well despite retiring from the previous year's event and hoped he could regain the momentum he built from the start of the season. The race's defending champion
Michael Andretti Michael Mario Andretti (born October 5, 1962) is an American former racing driver, and current team owner. Statistically one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, Andretti won the 1991 CART champions ...
had secured six of his 40 career victories in Toronto and stated that he did not know if luck played a part but noted his driving style was suited to the circuit. Having finished in the points-scoring position in three of the previous four races,
Alex Tagliani Alexandre Tagliani (; born October 18, 1973), nicknamed "Tag", is a Canadian professional racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Canada Series, driving the No. 80 Chevrolet Camaro for Dumoulin Compétition. Tagliani has competed in a ...
said it encouraged him heading into the Indy Toronto.


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. Conditions were dry for the Friday practice sessions. De Ferran was fastest in the first practice session with a lap of 59.107 seconds; his teammate Castroneves was second.
Tony Kanaan Antoine Rizkallah "Tony" Kanaan Filho (born 31 December 1974), nicknamed "TK", is a Brazilian racing driver who is the team principal of Arrow McLaren. He is best known for racing in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) from 1998 to 2002, an ...
,
Jimmy Vasser James "Jimmy" Vasser Jr. (born November 20, 1965) is an American former racing driver who competed primarily in the Championship Auto Racing Teams, CART series and Champ Car World Series, Champ Car. Vasser won ten CART series races and won the ...
, Tagliani,
Christian Fittipaldi Christian Fittipaldi (born 18 January 1971) is a Brazilian former racing driver who has competed in various forms of motorsport including Formula One, Champ Car, and NASCAR. He was a highly rated young racing driver in the early 1990s, and parti ...
, Da Matta,
Patrick Carpentier Patrick Carpentier (born August 13, 1971) is a Canadian former professional auto racing driver. In the Champ Car World Series and the IndyCar Series, he achieved five wins and 24 podiums, as well as two third place championship finishes in 2002 C ...
, Franchitti and
Paul Tracy Paul Anthony Tracy (born December 17, 1968) is a Canadian professional auto racing driver who participated in Champ Car World Series, the IndyCar Series, and the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). He started kart racing at age five and quick ...
were in third to tenth places. Four red flags came out: the first came when a fuel cover from Carpentier's car was located on the
racing line In motorsport, the racing line or simply "the line" is the optimal path around a race course. In most cases, the line makes use of the entire width of the track to lengthen the radius of a turn: entering at the outside edge, touching the "apex"—a ...
, The second was for
Bruno Junqueira Bruno Junqueira (born November 4, 1976) is a Brazilian race car driver who most recently competed in the IRL IndyCar Series. He is a former Formula 3000 champion and three-time runner-up in the Champ Car World Series. Racing career Early ca ...
' spin in turn eight and stalled on track, the third for Andretti who struck the turn eight tire barrier and damaged his left-front suspension; Bräck went onto the turn's
run-off area A run-off area is an area on a motorsport race track used for racer safety. Run-off areas are usually located along a road racing circuit where racers are most likely to unintentionally depart from the prescribed course. There are different types ...
to avoid hitting Andretti. The final stoppage was for de Ferran who slid into the turn one tire barrier and damaged his car's front. In the second practice session, a further four stoppages occurred;
Alex Zanardi Alessandro "Alex" Zanardi (; born 23 October 1966) is an Italian professional racing driver and paracyclist. He won the CART championship in 1997 and 1998, and took 15 wins in the series. He also raced in Formula One from 1991 to 1994 and again ...
slid and made light contact with the turn eight tire barrier and did not restart, metal debris was spotted in between turns three and four,
Max Wilson Max Wilson (born August 22, 1972 in Hamburg, West Germany) is a racing driver of Brazilian parentage. He won the Stock Car Brasil title in 2010, claimed seven podiums at the International Formula 3000 Championship, and also competed in CART and ...
stalled his car after he spun in the third turn, and Franchitti and
Memo Gidley José Guillermo "Memo" Gidley (born September 29, 1970) is a Mexican and American racing driver, who competed in IndyCar from 1999 to 2004. He worked at the Jim Russell racing school as a mechanic to fund his career for some time, eventually get ...
made contact in turn five and the latter was sent into the tire barrier which heavily damaged his right-hand
suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Car suspension * Cell suspension or suspension culture, in biology * Guarded suspension, a software design pattern in concurrent programming suspending a method call and the calling ...
while Franchitti's right-front wheel broke. De Ferran set the fastest lap of the day with a time of 58.400 seconds, ahead of Fittipaldi and Franchitti. Kanaan was fourth-fastest; ahead of Andretti and his teammate Tracy. Da Matta, Tagliani,
Max Papis Massimiliano "Max" Papis (born 3 October 1969) is an Italian professional motorsport driver who has competed in several top-level motorsports events such as Le Mans 24 Hours, Formula One and Champ Car. He has three Champ Car victories. He is the ...
and
Adrián Fernández Adrián Fernández Mier (born April 20, 1963) is a Mexican former professional race car driver and co-owner of the Fernandez Racing team. Racing career Early career Fernández was born in Mexico City and began his career in Mexico at the age ...
followed in the top ten.
Shinji Nakano Shinji Nakano (中野 信治, born 1 April 1971) is a Japanese professional racing driver. His father, Tsuneharu, was also a racing driver. He competed in the All-Japan Formula Three Championship. Racing career Pre Formula One Career For ...
lapped fastest in the final practice session with a time of 58.133 seconds; Kanaan, Junqueira, De Ferran, Andretti, da Matta.
Oriol Servià Oriol Servià Imbers (born 13 July 1974) is a Spanish racing driver who competed most notably in the IndyCar Series. He raced for Dragon Racing in the 2014–15 Formula E season, and left the series prior to the 2015 Miami ePrix to become manag ...
,
Bryan Herta Bryan John Herta (born May 23, 1970) is an American race strategist and former race car driver. He currently runs his own team, Bryan Herta Autosport in the NTT IndyCar Series and is the strategist for the #27 Andretti Autosport in the same se ...
, Fernández and
Maurício Gugelmin Maurício Gugelmin (born 20 April 1963) is a Brazilian former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from to , and CART from 1993 to 2001. Born and raised in Joinville, Gugelmin began competitive kart racing aged seven, win ...
completed the top ten. The session was stopped four times: firstly for Vasser who stalled on the circuit; the second for Kanaan because his engine failed heading towards the start-finish line, the third was for Bräck who slid and hit the turn eight outside tyre wall with his left front wheel and his suspension was broken. The final red-flag was for Vasser who locked his brakes and spun 360 degrees onto turn eight's run-off area. Saturday afternoon's 75-minute qualifying session saw cars split 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. Under warm weather conditions, De Ferran clinched his first
pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...
of the season, his second at Toronto, and the twelfth of his career with a time of 57.703 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by teammate Castroneves who had the pole position until de Ferran's lap. Bräck qualified third, Kanaan fourth and Tagliani fifth (all three drivers went onto the track's run-off areas but continued without damage to their cars.) Franchitti, Fernández, Tracy,
Roberto Moreno Roberto Pupo Moreno (born 11 February 1959), usually known as Roberto Moreno and also as Pupo Moreno, is a Brazilian former auto racing, racing driver. He participated in 75 Formula One Grands Prix, achieved 1 podium, and scored a total of 15 c ...
and
Scott Dixon Scott Ronald Dixon (born 22 July 1980) is a New Zealand racing driver who races the 9 Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) Dallara DW12-Honda car in the IndyCar Series. He is a six-time drivers' champion of the IndyCar Series, having claimed the title in ...
rounded out the top ten qualifiers. Servià was the fastest driver not to qualify in the top ten; his best lap was 0.534 seconds off de Ferran's pace. He was followed by Carpentier in twelfth. Andretti, 13th, slid and hit the turn one tire barrier lightly with the left front section of his nose cone; he later contacted the turn five wall with his right-rear tire on his final timed lap. Fittipaldi took 14th position, ahead of Herta who spun at turn nine without damaging his car. Vasser, da Matta,
Michel Jourdain Jr. Michel Jourdain Lascurain, better known as Michel Jourdain Jr. (born September 2, 1976), is a Mexican racecar driver, best known for winning two Champ Car races in 2003. He is the 2020 Super Copa GTM Champion. Formula racing Jourdain started ra ...
, Gugelmin, Junqueira, Papis and Tora Takagi filled the next seven places on the grid. 23rd-place qualifier Gidley made contact with Carpentier who was braking heavily for the turn eight right-hander and Gidley damaged his front suspension heavily with his front wheels out of line. Both drivers were unhurt. Zanardi took 24th position. Wilson and Nakano qualified at the back of the grid in 25th and 26th places; Wilson closely followed Nakano on his first timed lap, made heavy contact with the rear-left of Nakano's car and went airborne briefly. Both drivers were uninjured but switched to their back-up cars as their primary chassis were heavily damaged.


Qualifying classification


Warm-up

The drivers took to the track at 9:00 a.m. local time for a 30-minute warm-up session where several drivers ran onto the track's run-off areas. Kanaan continued his good performance and recorded the fastest time of 59.869 seconds. Herta, Fernández, Bräck and de Ferran made up second to fifth places. Fernández locked his brakes and struck the turn five tire wall, stopping the session for three minutes to allow course officials to remove his car from the barrier. Franchitti and Junqueira made contact at the pit lane entrance but both drivers continued without any apparent damage.


Race

Weather conditions for the start of the race were sunny but partly cloudy with an air temperature between and a track temperature ranging from . Approximately 73,628 people attended the event. The race started at 1:04 p.m. de Ferran maintained his pole position advantage heading into the first turn. Kanaan was passed by Franchitti for fourth place on the backstretch. Entering the third corner, Andretti made contact with the side of Dixon which meant Andretti narrowly avoided hitting the outside wall. Fernández and Tracy made contact in turn five. The first caution of the race was prompted on the second lap when Andretti stalled and safety officials had to restart his car. Andretti chose to make a
pit stop Pitstop may refer to: * Pit stop, in motor racing, when the car stops in the pits for fuel and other consumables to be renewed or replenished * ''Pit Stop'' (1969 film), a movie directed by Jack Hill * ''Pit Stop'' (2013 film), a movie directe ...
for fuel following a decision made by his team manager Kim Green. At the lap four restart, de Ferran maintained his lead over teammate Castroneves. On the following lap, Moreno spun in turn five and stalled in the centre of the track, triggering the second caution. Dixon spun to avoid hitting Moreno while da Matta and Vasser both stopped and made light contact with the front-ends of their cars. Vasser retired from the race because of the collision. de Ferran maintained his lead at the lap eight restart. The third caution was given on lap ten; Tracy glanced the rear-right wheel of Servià's car heading into turn three which caused both drivers to spin and stall. De Ferran led at the lap-12 restart, ahead of Bräck and Franchitti. Bräck was overtaken by Franchitti for second place around the outside of the third turn on lap 18, while Tagliani passed Kanaan at the same corner one lap later. De Ferran continued to pull away from the rest of the field and held a 7.5 second lead over Franchitti by the 30th lap. The fourth caution came out two laps later when Takagi made contact with the side of Wilson at the entrance of turn three. Both cars spun with Takagi going into the outside tire barrier and Wilson went onto the run-off area with a broken suspension. Franchitti drove onto the turn six run-off area to retire with an oil pressure problem on the same lap caused by a lack of oil in his car. During the caution, most of the field made pit stops. Dixon moved from 17th to fifth and Junqueira went from 18th to seventh position because they made pit stops before the caution was displayed. Andretti moved up from 15th to tenth place. De Ferran led the lap-37 restart, and was followed by Tagliani, Bräck, Castroneves and Dixon. On the 39th lap, Castroneves overtook Bräck around the outside at turn three and moved into third place, and Fernández got ahead of Bräck around the outside at the same corner two laps later. Takagi drove to the inside of the third turn underneath Servià, and both drivers made contact with the side of their cars; Servià became briefly airborne and heavily damaged the left side of his car when he hit the outside wall which caused the fifth caution. Servià was unhurt but Takagi managed to continue without any apparent damage. The race resumed on lap 45 with de Ferran leading Tagliani. Castroneves hit the rear-end of Tagliani's car on the following lap but both drivers continued without damage. The sixth caution was shown on the 49th lap when Takagi hit the right-rear wheel of Moreno's car in the turn three right-hand corner. Moreno was sent into a spin while Takagi's suspension had broken and retired from the event. de Ferran and Tagliani made pit stops for fuel and tires during the caution and could reach the end of the race without a second pit stop. De Ferran and Tagliani rejoined in 14th and 15th places. Castroneves led the field back up to speed at the lap-51 restart; he was followed by Fernández, Bräck and Dixon. Carpentier broke his rear wing after he collided with the turn one tire barrier when he locked his brakes and retired after it was discovered that his gearbox had sustained damage. Having restarted in seventh place, Andretti moved up into fourth position by lap 54. By the 60th lap, Castroneves had a 4.8 second lead over Fernández, who in turn was 3.5 seconds ahead of Bräck. Andretti was a further three seconds behind the Swedish driver, and was holding a two-second lead over Kanaan. Bräck went off at turn nine to retire with a mechanical issue that drained his car's
battery Battery or batterie most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source * Battery indicator, a device whic ...
on lap 63. Castroneves made a scheduled pit stop on lap 65, handing the lead to Fernández, and rejoined in tenth place. His car started to billow smoke after leaving turn one two laps later and pulled off to the side of the track at turn eight to retire. The seventh caution period was on the 68th lap to allow safety officials to remove Castroneves' car from the track. Most of the leaders (including Fernández) made pit stops to ensure they could reach the end of the race. Kanaan gained the lead and relinquished it to Andretti when he made a pit stop; Andretti led the field back up to speed at the lap-72 restart, followed by Tagliani. Gidley lost control of the rear-end of his car exiting turn 11 while accelerating and hit the outside wall which broke his right-front suspension on the same lap. He stopped on the frontstretch and retired from the race. Gidley was unhurt. The ninth period of yellow flags were shown on lap 73 to allow track officials to recover Gidley's damaged car. The race resumed on lap 76 with Andretti leading the field. The tenth caution was necessitated when de Ferran went to the inside of turn three and came across the front wing of da Matta. Jourdain was collected, and Kanaan spun to avoid the two drivers who temporarily blocked the track. De Ferran, da Matta and Jourdain retired, while Kanaan continued without damaging his car. Andretti retained his lead at the lap-79 restart, Fittipaldi was passed by Fernández for fourth position in the first turn. Zanardi moved from eighth to sixth by lap 82, while Fernández got ahead of Junqueira for third on the same lap. Between the 85th and 86th laps, Fittipaldi drove aggressively in an attempt to move in front of Junqueira for fourth but was unable to pass him. Tagliani ran in sixth gear after his team ordered him to conserve fuel and was unable to generate enough heat into his tires to challenge Andretti on the restarts. On lap 87, Fittipaldi tried an overtaking manoeuvre on Junqueira around the outside of turn three which resulted in Fittipaldi and Junqueira making contact and both drivers slid into the outside tire barrier. Andretti's lead of 7.4 seconds was reduced to nothing when the eleventh (and final) caution was displayed on the next lap to allow course officials to extract Fittipaldi's and Junquiera's cars from the track. Racing resumed on lap 90 with Andretti retaining the first position and pulled away from the rest of the field. Fernández's radio had malfunctioned and was in another gear in an attempt to save fuel which allowed Tagliani to pass him for second. However, Tagliani was unable to close the gap to Andretti because of the presence of Junqueira's lapped car which cost him more than two seconds. He drove on the track's dirty side on the backstraight and his tires were cleaned in the next five turns on the track. Kanaan ran out of fuel on the final lap; he stopped his car between turns three and four. Andretti's strategy of four pit stops did not require him to conserve fuel and maintained the lead to win the race. Tagliani finished second, Fernández took third, Zanardi fourth and Dixon fifth. Tracy, Gugelmin, Papis, Nakano and Kanaan rounded out the top ten. There were four lead changes in the race; five drivers reached the front of the field. De Ferran's total of 49 laps led was the highest of any competitor. There were eleven cautions (a new track record) during the race for 31 laps. The victory was Andretti's first (and only) win of the season, his seventh at Toronto (which surpassed the record of most wins in a CART event whom Andretti previously jointly held by Al Unser Jr. with six), and the 41st of his career. The attrition rate was high, with 11 of the 26 starters finishing the race.


Post-race

Andretti appeared in victory lane and later on the podium to celebrate his first victory of the season in front of the crowd; the win earned him $100,000. He was delighted to take the victory: "Just an awesome day, a perfect day for Team Motorola, they did an awesome job,", and, "This is a big one, I'll tell you that. After the first lap, I thought the race was over for us. But it was a hard fought race". Tagliani, who finished in second place, stated it was a "good day" for his team and hoped he could continue his recent successes. Third-place finisher Fernández said it was a "great day" for himself and his team but was disappointed as he felt he could have won the race because of a problem at his final pit stop. However, he felt if his team kept building their momentum, and he believed he could challenge for more strong finishes and race victories. Zanardi was pleased with his fourth-place finish, saying it was more fun than at the previous round (the
Grand Prix of Cleveland The Grand Prix of Cleveland was an Indy car event in the CART series, held annually at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The race was most recently held in 2007. After the 2008 open wheel unification, the 2008 race was ca ...
) and felt his engineers were helping him to build a competitive car despite his poor qualifying performances. After his retirement from a mechanical failure, Bräck stated it affected his championship chances slightly and his retirement from the race was "something that you don't want to have happen but unfortunately it happens sometimes and today it was one of those days." Three days after the race, Tracy and Takagi was penalized by CART chief steward
Chris Kneifel Chris Kneifel (born April 23, 1961, in Chicago, Illinois), is a former driver in the CART Championship Car series. He raced in the 1982–1984 seasons with 19 career starts, including the 1983 and 1984 Indianapolis 500, and finished in the top ten ...
for "unjustifiable risk" and for causing several caution periods by contact with other competitors. Tracy had two championship points deducted and was placed on probation for the next three road or street course races, while Takagi also had two points removed and was put on probation for three events. Kneifel said why the penalties were issued:
We did not want to simply issue probations without accompanying them with a strong signal that actions like this will not be tolerated. Championship points are very hard-earned, and they're more valuable than money. We want our response to send out the very strong message that this isn't a slap on the wrist, or a token punishment.
The result meant Bräck remained the leader in the Drivers' Championship with 83 points, while Andretti's victory advanced him to second place. Castroneves' retirement dropped him to third place, five points ahead of Franchitti. De Ferran fell to fifth place with 58 points. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Honda maintained the lead with 158 points. Toyota remained in second with 142 points, 12 points ahead of Ford Cosworth. The race, which was broadcast live in the United States on
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
, averaged 726,000 viewers, earning a 0.88 rating and a share of two. Andretti's victory was rated ninth in the top ten Indy Toronto races by the ''
Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...
'' in 2015.


Race classification

;Notes *— Includes two bonus points for being the fastest qualifier and for leading the most laps.


Standings after the race

*Note: Only the top five positions are included for the drivers' standings.


References

{{Portal bar, Canada, Sports, Ontario Molson Indy Toronto, 2001
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
Indy Toronto 2001 in Toronto