2001 Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland
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Race details | |
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Race 9 of 21 in the 2001 CART season | |
Date | July 1, 2001 |
Official name | 2001 Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by Firstar |
Location | Burke Lakefront Airport, Cleveland, Ohio, United States |
Course | Temporary Street Course 2.106 mi / 3.389 km |
Distance | 100 laps 210.6 mi / 338.9 km |
Pole position | |
Driver | Maurício Gugelmin (PacWest Racing) |
Time | 57.356 |
Fastest lap | |
Driver | Roberto Moreno (Patrick Racing) |
Time | 58.779 (on lap 93 of 100) |
Podium | |
First | Dario Franchitti (Team Green) |
Second | Memo Gidley (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
Third | Bryan Herta (Forsythe Racing) |
The 2001 Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) motor race held on July 1, 2001, at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was the 9th round of the 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series season. Team Green driver Dario Franchitti won the race after narrowly escaping a first-turn pile-up and then by gambling on a fuel-saving strategy that saw his car run out of fuel just after crossing the finish line ahead of a hard-charging Memo Gidley and Bryan Herta.
Franchitti had won his first race since 1999 and the first for Team Green since Vancouver in 2000, vaulting the driver to 3rd in the points standings. Gidley took his first career podium in only his second start for Chip Ganassi Racing after replacing Nicolas Minassian at the previous race in Portland. Herta gave Forsythe Racing its first podium of the season after a dismal start to 2001.
The race was a battle of multiple strategies after a rained-out qualifying session the day before produced an unusual starting grid; fuel mileage, the number of pit stops, and a chaotic first-lap incident ultimately determined the outcome of the race.