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2003 German 500
Motor race held in Klettwitz, Germany From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 2003 German 500 was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) motor race held on May 11, 2003 at EuroSpeedway Lausitz in Klettwitz, Brandenburg, Germany. It was the fifth round of the 2003 Champ Car World Series and the second and final running of the event. The 154-lap race was won by Newman/Haas Racing driver Sébastien Bourdais. Mario Domínguez of Herdez Competition finished second and Team Rahal's Michel Jourdain Jr. came in third.
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Background
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The German 500 was the fifth of 18 scheduled open-wheel races for the 2003 Champ Car World Series, the second edition of the event, and the second of two races in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART)'s European swing; the London Champ Car Trophy was held at Brands Hatch in England the week prior.[1] It was held on May 11, 2003 at EuroSpeedway Lausitz, a three-turn 2.023 mi (3.256 km) superspeedway, in Klettwitz, Brandenburg, Germany, and was contested over 154 laps and 311.542 miles (501.378 km).[2][3] Heading into the race, Paul Tracy held the lead in the Drivers' Championship with 65 points, eleven more than Bruno Junqueira in second. Michel Jourdain Jr. held third on 42 points, ahead of fourth-placed Adrián Fernández with 29 and fifth-placed Patrick Carpentier with 28. In the Constructors' Championship, Lola led with 88 points, while Reynard stood second on 34.[4]
CART's last race at Lausitz, held four days after the September 11 attacks in 2001, was overshadowed by a severe crash which left Alex Zanardi losing both legs.[5] One month after track promoters filed for insolvency, the event was dropped from the series' schedule in 2002, despite CART's expectations that the race would be held as scheduled.[6][7] The race was again excluded from the schedule in 2003, although an event in Europe was tentatively listed.[8] On January 10, 2003, CART president and CEO Chris Pook and track CEO Hans-Jörg Fischer announced the series' return to Lausitz; additionally, all tickets sold to the cancelled 2002 event would be honored for the 2003 event.[9] CART required each team not to change their aerodynamic configuration from the previous round at Brands Hatch. The road course aero package was expected to decrease speeds below 200 mph (320 km/h) and create close pack racing.[10]
Sébastien Bourdais, the winner of the preceding London Champ Car Trophy, expressed anticipation for the German 500 and admitted that he underestimated the skills necessary to compete on an oval track until he completed a preseason test at Phoenix International Raceway.[11] Championship leader Tracy acknowledged the adversity of altering the racing setup from that of a road course like Brands Hatch to a superspeedway like Lausitz, but assured that he would finish well in the race.[12] Junqueira conversely believed that Forsythe Racing's overuse of downforce may place Tracy and Carpentier at a disadvantage compared to other teams.[10] Jourdain Jr. was confident that he could perform well at Lausitz due to Team Rahal's success on superspeedways over the past five years, including a win at the track with Kenny Bräck in 2001.[13]
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Practice and qualifying
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One 160-minute practice session on Saturday morning preceded the race on Sunday. The first 25 minutes were exclusively reserved for the nine rookie drivers, while the last 135 minutes were open to all competitors.[3] Bourdais set the quickest time of the session at 36.794 seconds, almost a tenth of a second quicker than Newman/Haas Racing teammate Junqueira in second. Mario Domínguez, Alex Tagliani, and Jourdain Jr. rounded out the top-five.[14][15] The session featured several stoppages for Darren Manning, Rodolfo Lavín, and Tagliani, all of whom slowed to a halt on the track. Debris from Tracy and Oriol Servià's cars also paused the session.[16]
It’s great to win the pole on my first trip to an oval. It was not really my job -- the engineers did a wonderful job to make the car where I could run flat out. I think we have had a strong car since the beginning of the season. We were quick at Brands Hatch so I didn’t think we prepared the cars enough for this event since we had to make a compromise and have one set-up that would work on the road course and the oval. It was fairly easy to stay flat all the way around. We definitely have a good chance to be on pace at all of the races.
Sébastien Bourdais, following the qualifying session.[17]
During the qualifying session on Saturday afternoon, the slowest driver of the practice session went out on track first, while the quickest driver went last. Each driver was allowed to complete up to four warm-up laps before running two timed laps, with the fastest of the two determining their starting position.[3][18] The session was held under cloudy and lukewarm conditions.[18] Bourdais earned the third pole position of his career with a time of 37.000 seconds.[17] He was joined on the grid's front row by Junqueira, who clinched his best qualifying performance of the season thus far, but was displeased that his lap was two tenths of a second slower than Bourdais'.[19] With Bourdais starting first and Junqueira second, Newman/Haas Racing earned their first one-two qualifying effort since the 1995 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.[20]
Jourdain Jr. qualified third; however, CART officials noted a modification to his car's air inlet in post-qualifying technical inspection. Because this was a violation of CART's rules, Jourdain Jr. was required to start at the back of the grid and Team Rahal was fined $10,000.[21] The team immediately filed a protest and the series judges ruled in favor of them, meaning that all penalties were revoked and Jourdain Jr. kept the third starting position.[22] Mário Haberfeld and Manning took the remaining positions in the top five, and Domínguez, Servià, Lavín, Tagliani, and Patrick Lemarié took positions sixth through tenth.[23] Many drivers who qualified outside the top ten complained of an excessive amount of drag which hampered their cars.[19] Jimmy Vasser took 11th, ahead of Roberto Moreno in 12th, Alex Yoong in 13th, Tiago Monteiro in 14th, and Ryan Hunter-Reay in 15th.[23] Forsythe Racing teammates Tracy and Carpentier expectedly struggled in qualifying and started 16th and 17th,[24] with Joël Camathias and Fernández taking the last two spots on the grid in 18th and 19th, respectively.[23]
Qualifying classification
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Warm-up
The drivers took to the track on Sunday at 10:00 AM CET (UTC+01:00) for a 30-minute warmup session under cloudy conditions.[25] Servià set the fastest time of the session at 37.344 seconds, quicker than his qualifying lap.[26] Jourdain Jr. was eight hundredths of a second slower than Servià in second, with Bourdais, Junqueira, and Yoong occupying the next three positions.[27] Lavín and Junqueira both slowed on the circuit, bringing out two red flags in the session.[25]
Race
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Pre-race festivities began with an emotional tone as Zanardi completed 13 ceremonial laps around Lausitz, symbolizing the number of laps he failed to complete in the 2001 American Memorial due to his near-fatal crash.[28][29] He had also ran 40 laps around the track on Friday evening to assess the car's speed.[24] Zanardi drove a modified 2002 Reynard-built Ford-Cosworth car that was fitted with a hand-controlled accelerator and a boxed pedal assembly which allowed him to apply the brakes with his hip and thigh.[30] The car featured the same livery that Zanardi sported in the 2001 season prior to his accident.[31] Zanardi's 13th lap was his quickest, timing in at 37.487 seconds, which would have placed him fifth on the grid for the forthcoming race.[32] He later stated that he was appreciative of the fans and drivers' support and revealed the creation of his Michigan-based charity, the Alex Zanardi Foundation.[33]
Weather conditions remained hazy around the beginning of the race,[34] although air temperatures improved to between 70 and 74 °F (21 and 23 °C) and track temperatures to between 85 and 103 °F (29 and 39 °C).[35] Zanardi commanded the drivers to start their engines and series starter J. D. Wilbur waved the green flag at 2:15 PM to start the race.[34]
Race classification
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References
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