2001 Miller Lite 225

43.02°N 88.01°W / 43.02; -88.01

2001 Miller Lite 225

Race details
Race 6 of 21 in the 2001 CART season
Date	June 3, 2001
Official name	2001 Miller Lite 225
Location	Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wisconsin, United States
Course	Oval 1 mi / 1.6 km
Distance	225 laps 225 mi / 362.102 km
Pole position
Driver	Kenny Bräck (Team Rahal)
Time	No time
Fastest lap
Driver	Dario Franchitti (Team Green)
Time	23.277 (on lap 201 of 225)
Podium
First	Kenny Bräck (Team Rahal)
Second	Michael Andretti (Team Motorola)
Third	Scott Dixon (PacWest Racing)

The 2001 Miller Lite 225 was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) motor race held on June 3, 2001, at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin, USA. It was the 6th round of the 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series season. Team Rahal's Kenny Bräck scored his second career and second consecutive CART race win ahead of a resurgent Michael Andretti and rookie Scott Dixon.

Bräck's second win in a row cemented his status at the top of the drivers' standings, now thirty points ahead of 2nd place Hélio Castroneves. This was Andretti's first podium of the year and his first after leaving Newman/Haas Racing; he was the only car that seemed capable of challenging Bräck for the win as the race went on. Dixon, who had won at Nazareth earlier in the season, picked up his second career podium and PacWest Racing's final podium in the series.

The race saw multiple crashes take out several championship contenders, as Cristiano da Matta, in a repeat of the previous race at Motegi, crashed on Lap 1 with Castroneves; Paul Tracy then crashed a few laps later. Jimmy Vasser, who was running 3rd, was taken out by Tora Takagi while trying to lap him on Lap 132; Takagi would be disqualified two laps later for his role in the accident. Finally, Christian Fittipaldi and Nicolas Minassian collided near the end of the race, which would prompt Chip Ganassi Racing to drop the latter after the next race in Detroit.

Qualifying

Qualifying was rained out; the lineup was determined by points standings.^[1]

Qualifying not held — Starting lineup
Rank	Driver	Team
1	Kenny Bräck	Team Rahal
2	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske
3	Cristiano da Matta	Newman-Haas Racing
4	Paul Tracy	Team Green
5	Jimmy Vasser	Patrick Racing
6	Gil de Ferran	Team Penske
7	Tony Kanaan	Mo Nunn Racing
8	Scott Dixon (R)	PacWest Racing
9	Christian Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing
10	Michael Andretti	Team Motorola
11	Dario Franchitti	Team Green
12	Bruno Junqueira (R)	Chip Ganassi Racing
13	Max Papis	Team Rahal
14	Nicolas Minassian (R)	Chip Ganassi Racing
15	Alex Zanardi	Mo Nunn Racing
16	Shinji Nakano	Fernandez Racing
17	Roberto Moreno	Patrick Racing
18	Oriol Servià	Sigma Autosport
19	Tora Takagi (R)	Walker Motorsport
20	Bryan Herta	Forsythe Racing
21	Michel Jourdain Jr.	Bettenhausen Racing
22	Maurício Gugelmin	PacWest Racing
23	Adrian Fernández	Fernandez Racing
24	Max Wilson (R)	Arciero Racing
25	Alex Tagliani	Forsythe Racing
26	Patrick Carpentier	Forsythe Racing
Source:[2]

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Kenny Bräck	Team Rahal	225	1:54:08.097	1	211
2	39	Michael Andretti	Team Motorola	225	+1.307	10	16
3	18	Scott Dixon (R)	PacWest Racing	225	+3.001	8	14
4	4	Bruno Junqueira (R)	Chip Ganassi Racing	225	+6.714	12	12
5	51	Adrian Fernández	Fernandez Racing	225	+9.702	23	10
6	55	Tony Kanaan	Mo Nunn Racing	225	+10.291	7	8
7	1	Gil de Ferran	Team Penske	225	+12.821	6	6
8	7	Max Papis	Team Rahal	225	+17.780	13	5
9	27	Dario Franchitti	Team Green	224	+1 Lap	11	4
10	17	Maurício Gugelmin	PacWest Racing	224	+1 Lap	22	3
11	66	Alex Zanardi	Mo Nunn Racing	224	+1 Lap	15	2
12	33	Alex Tagliani	Forsythe Racing	224	+1 Lap	25	1
13	16	Michel Jourdain Jr.	Bettenhausen Racing	224	+1 Lap	21	—
14	22	Oriol Servià	Sigma Autosport	224	+1 Lap	18	—
15	20	Roberto Moreno	Patrick Racing	224	+1 Lap	17	—
16	52	Shinji Nakano	Fernandez Racing	224	+1 Lap	16	—
17	32	Patrick Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	223	+2 Laps	26	—
18	11	Christian Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing	204	Contact	9	—
19	12	Nicolas Minassian (R)	Chip Ganassi Racing	203	Contact	14	—
20	5	Tora Takagi (R)	Walker Motorsport	134	Disqualified[3]	19	—
21	40	Jimmy Vasser	Patrick Racing	132	Contact	5	—
22	77	Bryan Herta	Forsythe Racing	73	Spark plug	20	—
23	25	Max Wilson (R)	Arciero Racing	43	Electrical	24	—
24	26	Paul Tracy	Team Green	11	Contact	4	—
25	6	Cristiano da Matta	Newman-Haas Racing	1	Contact	3	—
26	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	0	Contact	2	—
Source:[2]

• ¹– Includes one bonus point for leading the most laps.^[4]
• *The bonus point for pole position was not awarded as qualifying was rained out.

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 12 among 9 drivers

Lap Leaders[5] Laps Leader 1–80 Kenny Bräck 81–90 Michael Andretti 91–92 Jimmy Vasser 93–100 Tony Kanaan 101–102 Scott Dixon 103 Alex Tagliani 104 Patrick Carpentier 105 Michel Jourdain Jr. 106–110 Adrian Fernández 111–128 Michael Andretti 129–135 Kenny Bräck 136–182 Michael Andretti 183–225 Kenny Bräck

Total laps led[5] Leader Laps Kenny Bräck 130 Michael Andretti 75 Tony Kanaan 8 Adrian Fernández 5 Scott Dixon 2 Jimmy Vasser 2 Alex Tagliani 1 Patrick Carpentier 1 Michel Jourdain Jr. 1

Cautions: 5 for 48 laps[6] Laps Reason 0–11 da Matta and Castroneves crash 11–20 Paul Tracy crashes 108–120 zanardi crashes in Turn 4 132–142 Jimmy Vasser crashes 205–218 Fittipaldi and Minassian crash

Standings after the race

Drivers' standings [7] Pos +/- Driver Points 1 Kenny Bräck 70 2 Hélio Castroneves 47 3 Cristiano da Matta 40 — Paul Tracy 40 — Jimmy Vasser 40

Constructors' standings Pos +/– Constructor Points 1 Lola 98 2 1 Reynard 93

Manufacturer's Standings[7] Pos +/- Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 86 2 Toyota 84 3 Ford-Cosworth 73 4 Phoenix 0