2002 CART season

2002 CART season
FedEx Championship Series
Season
Races	20 19
Start date	March 10
End date	November 17
Awards
Drivers' champion	Cristiano da Matta
Constructors' Cup	Lola
Manufacturers' Cup	Toyota
Nations' Cup	Brazil
Rookie of the Year	Mario Domínguez
← 2001 2003 →

The 2002 FedEx Championship Series season, the twenty-fourth in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era of American open-wheel car racing, consisted of 19 races, beginning in Monterrey, Mexico on March 10 and concluding in Mexico City on November 17. The FedEx Championship Series Drivers' Champion was Cristiano da Matta. Rookie of the Year was Mario Domínguez.

Sports television channel ESPN dropped CART coverage for the 2002 season. CBS and Speed Channel took its place for two seasons.^[1]

Drivers and teams

Bridgestone became the exclusive tire supplier for CART, replacing Firestone, an association that would continue until the final Champ Car season in 2007.^[2] The 2002 season was the last to feature multiple engine manufacturers.

The following teams and drivers competed in the 2002 CART Championship Series season.

Team	Chassis	Engine	No	Drivers	Races	Primary Sponsors
Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Lola B02/00	Toyota	4	Bruno Junqueira	All	Target Coors Light 1
			12	Kenny Bräck	All
			44	Scott Dixon	4–19
Walker Racing	Reynard 02i	Toyota	5	Toranosuke Takagi	All	Pioneer
Newman/Haas Racing	Lola B02/00	Toyota	6	Cristiano da Matta	All	Havoline 12 Chevron 7
			11	Christian Fittipaldi	All	Eli Lilly
PWR Championship Racing	Lola B02/00	Toyota	7	Scott Dixon	1–3	PWR Championship Racing
			17	Oriol Servià	1–3	Air Eight
Team Rahal	Lola B02/00	Ford-Cosworth	8	Jimmy Vasser	All	Shell
			9	Michel Jourdain Jr.	All	Gigante
Mo Nunn Racing	Reynard 02i	Honda	10	Tony Kanaan	1–3	Pioneer
	Lola B02/00				4–19
Herdez Competition	Lola B02/00	Ford-Cosworth	16	Mario Domínguez  R	1–4	Herdez
			55		5–19
Team St. George Dale Coyne Racing	Lola B02/00	Ford-Cosworth	19	Darren Manning  R	15	RAC AutoWindscreens
				André Lotterer  R	19	J.A.G. Sports
Patrick Racing	Reynard 02i	Toyota	20	Townsend Bell  R	1–9	Visteon
				Oriol Servià	10–19
Sigma Autosport	Lola B02/00	Ford-Cosworth	22	Max Papis	1–5	Rockwell FirstPoint
Team KOOL Green	Reynard 02i	Honda	26	Paul Tracy	1–2	KOOL 18 Team Green 1
			27	Dario Franchitti	1–3
	Lola B02/00		26	Paul Tracy	3–19
			27	Dario Franchitti	4–19
Team Player's	Reynard 02i	Ford-Cosworth	32	Patrick Carpentier	All	Player's 18 It's Your World 1
			33	Alex Tagliani	All
Team Motorola	Reynard 02i	Honda	39	Michael Andretti	1–2	Motorola
	Lola B02/00				3–19
Fernández Racing	Lola B02/00	Honda	51	Adrián Fernández	1–10, 12–17	Tecate
				Max Papis	11, 18
				Luis Díaz  R	19
			52	Shinji Nakano	All	Alpine

Team changes

The biggest change to the team lineup in the 2002 CART season was the defection of Team Penske to the rival Indy Racing League.^[3] The departure of Team Penske, a CART stalwart from its earliest days, was an early sign of a major shift in the CART-IRL rivalry. Several other major CART powers would follow Penske to the IRL for the 2003 season. Target Chip Ganassi Racing and Mo Nunn Racing both set up separate IRL teams in 2002, but continued to compete in CART for the time being, though Mo Nunn downsized his team to a single car. They would be among the teams to leave CART for the IRL in 2003. Blair Racing also left CART for IRL.^[4] Patrick Racing downsized their effort to a single car, while Forsythe Racing shut down their third car driven by Bryan Herta in 2001 for lack of sponsorship.^[5]

Driver changes

1996 series champion Jimmy Vasser, one of two former champions in the 2002 field (the other being Michael Andretti), left Patrick Racing for Team Rahal.^[6] Joining him at Rahal was Michel Jourdain Jr. who left Herdez Competition.^[7] Rahal's 2001 drivers, Kenny Bräck and Max Papis moved to Target Chip Ganassi Racing^[8] and Sigma Autosport.^[9] Papis took the seat previously occupied by Oriol Servià, who replaced the retiring Maurício Gugelmin at PWR Championship Racing. The 2002 season started with two rookies. 2001 Dayton Indy Lights champion Townsend Bell led a one car effort at Patrick Racing.^[10] Mario Domínguez signed on for another single car effort with Herdez Competition.^[11]

In-season changes

• Lack of sponsorship led to the shutdown of PWR Championship Racing after the third race in Motegi, Japan. Scott Dixon landed in a third car at Target Chip Ganassi Racing, while Oriol Servià was sidelined for the time being.^[12][13]
• Having already dropped the Bettenhausen name from its team name with the conclusion of the 2001 season, Herdez Competition changed their car number from 16 to 55 beginning with the fifth round at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. #16 had long been associated with Tony Bettenhausen Jr. and his race team.
• The fifth race at Laguna Seca was the last appearance for Sigma Autosport, which, like PWR earlier in the season, found their sponsorship well run dry, leaving Max Papis without a ride.^[14]
• A run of disappointing performances and a two probation sanctions from CART Chief Steward Wally Dallenbach Sr. led to the firing of Townsend Bell from Patrick Racing after the ninth round at Cleveland. Oriol Servià drove the #20 car for the remainder of the season.^[15]
• Adrián Fernández fractured his hip in a crash in the tenth race at Vancouver and sat out the following race at Mid-Ohio. Max Papis substituted for him.^[16]
• Dale Coyne helped put together what was described as an "all-England" team named Team St. George for a one shot effort for the fifteenth race at Rockingham, England. Darren Manning was chosen to be the driver. The team used Coyne's traditional #19 car.^[17]
• After clinching the season championship by winning the sixteenth race in Miami Cristiano da Matta ran with #1 on his car for the rest of the season.
• Adrian Fernández was involved in a crash in the seventeenth race at Surfer's Paradise, Australia and suffered two thoracic fractures, which forced him to sit out the final two races of the season. Max Papis sat in for him again at Fontana and Luis Díaz substituted at Mexico City.^[18][19]
• Dale Coyne Racing reappeared under its own name and ran André Lotterer at the final race of the season at Mexico City.^[20]

Rule changes

• The biggest rule change was the implementation of mandatory pit windows.
  • A maximum pit window was established; meaning each car go no further than a specified number of laps without pitting. As a result, there were a minimum number of pit stops per race.
  • To count as a mandatory stop, all 4 tires had to be changed. Adding fuel on a pit stop was officially optional to encourage teams to go off sequence with an early stop.
  • Failure to pit within the specified number of laps resulted in a drive-through penalty in addition to the mandatory stop.
  • The rule closing pit road when a full course caution flag was displayed was eliminated to prevent teams from missing their window due to a caution flag coming out.
  • All mandated pit stops must be completed before the white flag lap.
  • The goal of the rule was to eliminate fuel economy runs and allow drivers to run as hard as they could the entire run as they had all the fuel needed to do so. However, teams ended up changing their strategy to conserve fuel so they could release the car from their pit stops as soon as the tire changes were complete. This led to a series of incidents where cars were being released back on track before the tire changes were complete and loose wheels coming off cars once back on track. To deter this CART instituted a mid-season 1-lap penalty and $5,000 fine for any car losing a wheel after a pit stop in addition to the time lost recovering the car to remount the tire.
• Traction control was formally legalized after CART officials determined they could not successfully enforce a ban.^[21]
• After several controversies with changing turbo boost in recent years, CART and its engine manufacturers agreed to a reduction of the boost to 34" to remain in place for the entire 2002 season. While technically a reduction by 2" from where engines ended in 2001, lap times and horsepower numbers were still on par and in most cases faster and higher than last year.
• Road & Street course qualifying was changed. The race weekend would feature two qualifying sessions, one on Friday and one on Saturday. The fastest driver in each session received one championship point and was guaranteed a front-row start regardless of the results of the other session (the front row guarantee was added at Long Beach).
  • For Rounds 1-12, Each session was 60 minutes in length with 45 minutes of guaranteed green flag running. Teams could complete a maximum of 15 green flag laps per session, though causing a yellow/red flag would result in the loss of your fastest lap.
  • Starting at Montreal for the rest of the season, following numerous events where cars waited until the second half of the session to go out, CART officials changed the 60 minute session to be a 15 minute practice, followed by a 10 minute break, followed by 35 minutes of qualifying with 30 minutes of green-flag running guaranteed.
• In the event of a late-race caution, CART officials were allowed to use the red flag to stop the race, clean up the crash, and attempt a green-flag finish.
• Starting at the Mid-Ohio round, cars that spun off track into the gravel trap were allowed to be pushed back on track by the safety team and get back into the race as long as there was not other significant race-ending damage to the car. Previously a car stuck in a gravel trap would be ruled out of the event.
• Following suit with other motorsports series in the aftermath of the death of Dale Earnhardt, the HANS Device became mandatory at all events, and all pit crew members were required to wear helmets.

Season summary

Schedule

Rnd	Race Name	Circuit	City/Location	Date
1	Tecate/Telmex Grand Prix of Monterrey	R  Fundidora Park	Monterrey, Mexico	March 10
2	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	R  Streets of Long Beach	Long Beach, California	April 14
3	Bridgestone Potenza 500	O  Twin Ring Motegi	Motegi, Japan	April 27
4	Miller Lite 250	O  Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin	June 2
5	Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey Featuring the Shell 300	R  Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca	Monterey, California	June 9
6	G.I. Joe's 200	R  Portland International Raceway	Portland, Oregon	June 16
7	CART Grand Prix of Chicago	O  Chicago Motor Speedway	Cicero, Illinois	June 30
8	Molson Indy Toronto	R  Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario	July 7
9	Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by U.S. Bank	R  Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport	Cleveland, Ohio	July 14
10	Molson Indy Vancouver	R  Concord Pacific Place	Vancouver, British Columbia	July 28
11	CART Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio	R  Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio	August 11
12	Motorola 220	R  Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin	August 18
13	Molson Indy Montreal	R  Circuit Gilles Villeneuve	Montreal, Quebec	August 25
14	Shell Grand Prix of Denver	R  Denver Civic Center	Denver, Colorado	September 1
15	Sure for Men Rockingham 500	O  Rockingham Motor Speedway	Corby, United Kingdom	September 14
–	German 500 (Cancelled)	O  EuroSpeedway Lausitz	Klettwitz, Germany	September 21
16	Grand Prix Americas	R  Miami Bayfront Park Street Circuit	Miami, Florida	October 6
17	Honda Indy 300	R  Surfers Paradise Street Circuit	Surfers Paradise, Australia	October 27
18	The 500 Presented by Toyota	O  California Speedway	Fontana, California	November 3
19	Gran Premio Telmex-Gigante Presented by Banamex/VISA	R  Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez	Mexico City, Mexico	November 17

 O  Oval/Speedway
 R  Road/Street course

Race results

Rnd	Race Name	Pole position	Fastest lap	Lead most laps	Winning driver	Winning team	Report
1	Monterrey	Adrián Fernández	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Newman/Haas Racing	Report
2	Long Beach	Jimmy Vasser	Bruno Junqueira	Michael Andretti	Michael Andretti	Team Motorola	Report
3	Motegi	Bruno Junqueira	Tony Kanaan	Tony Kanaan	Bruno Junqueira	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Report
4	Milwaukee	Adrián Fernández	Kenny Bräck	Paul Tracy	Paul Tracy	Team KOOL Green	Report
5	Laguna Seca	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Newman/Haas Racing	Report
6	Portland	Cristiano da Matta	Bruno Junqueira	Cristiano da Matta Kenny Bräck	Cristiano da Matta	Newman/Haas Racing	Report
7	Chicago	Dario Franchitti	Paul Tracy	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Newman/Haas Racing	Report
8	Toronto	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Newman/Haas Racing	Report
9	Cleveland	Cristiano da Matta	Paul Tracy	Patrick Carpentier	Patrick Carpentier	Team Player's	Report
10	Vancouver	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Paul Tracy	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	Report
11	Mid-Ohio	Patrick Carpentier	Cristiano da Matta	Patrick Carpentier	Patrick Carpentier	Team Player's	Report
12	Road America	Bruno Junqueira	Bruno Junqueira	Paul Tracy	Cristiano da Matta	Newman/Haas Racing	Report
13	Montreal	Cristiano da Matta	Dario Franchitti	Dario Franchitti	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	Report
14	Denver	Bruno Junqueira	Kenny Bräck	Bruno Junqueira	Bruno Junqueira	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Report
15	Rockingham	Kenny Bräck	Jimmy Vasser	Kenny Bräck	Dario Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	Report
16	Miami	Tony Kanaan	Christian Fittipaldi	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Newman/Haas Racing	Report
17	Surfers Paradise	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Mario Domínguez  R	Herdez Competition	Report
18	Fontana	Tony Kanaan	Oriol Servià	Jimmy Vasser	Jimmy Vasser	Team Rahal	Report
19	Mexico City	Bruno Junqueira	Shinji Nakano	Tony Kanaan	Kenny Bräck	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Report

Final driver standings

Pos Driver MTY LBH MOT MIL LAG POR CHI TOR CLE VAN MDO ROA MTL DEN ROC MIA SUR FON MEX Pts 1 Cristiano da Matta 1* 8 13 11 1* 1* 1* 1* 16 12 13 1 2 3 2 1* 8* 11 2 237 2 Bruno Junqueira 11 17 1 10 4 2 2 14 13 9 4 3 13 1* 5 5 14 9 3 164 3 Patrick Carpentier 7 19 4 15 5 5 16 10 1* 5 1* 7 15 17 3 16 2 3 4 157 4 Dario Franchitti 2 9 3 12 19 3 3 13 14 1 17 12 1* 18 1 10 7 10 5 148 5 Christian Fittipaldi 3 13 12 4 2 13 14 3 12 13 2 6 7 5 17 2 11 7 15 122 6 Kenny Bräck 18 5 17 8 3 15 18 2 4 18 6 14 18 7 8* 13 4 12 1 114 7 Jimmy Vasser 20 2 20 9 8 16 17 6 6 17 8 5 5 10 7 3 12 1* 11 114 8 Alex Tagliani 5 16 2 19 10 12 7 7 5 7 7 2 11 12 18 4 6 8 10 111 9 Michael Andretti 12 1* 16 7 11 9 15 11 2 6 3 10 8 13 10 8 9 2 17 110 10 Michel Jourdain Jr. 4 4 5 5 9 6 10 12 9 4 11 9 6 9 11 6 10 13 13 105 11 Paul Tracy 8 7 19 1* 17 17 9 16 3 2* 18 13* 4 8 19 12 3 17 16 101 12 Tony Kanaan 16 20 15* 16 12 8 8 17 8 3 14 4 3 6 15 9 5 4 8* 99 13 Scott Dixon 6 18 9 6 6 7 6 5 15 16 5 17 10 2 12 18 15 6 7 97 14 Adrián Fernández 13 10 7 2 18 14 13 9 11 8 18 12 4 14 7 17 59 15 Toranosuke Takagi 14 6 8 14 16 18 4 8 7 15 12 15 14 15 6 15 18 18 6 53 16 Oriol Servià 10 11 6 14 10 16 16 11 4 17 16 5 9 44 17 Shinji Nakano 15 12 10 18 14 11 5 4 10 11 9 11 9 16 16 14 13 15 14 43 18 Mario Domínguez  RY  17 14 11 17 15 10 11 18 17 10 16 8 17 14 13 11 1 16 18 37 19 Max Papis 9 3 18 3 13 15 14 32 20 Townsend Bell  R  19 15 14 13 7 4 12 15 18 19 21 Darren Manning  R  9 4 22 André Lotterer  R  12 1 23 Luis Díaz  R  19 0 Pos Driver MTY LBH MOT MIL LAG POR CHI TOR CLE VAN MDO ROA MTL DEN ROC MIA SUR FON MEX Pts

Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th–6th place Light Blue 7th–12th place Dark Blue Finished (Outside Top 12) Purple Did not finish Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Brown Withdrawn (Wth) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Not competing In-line notation Bold Pole position Italics Ran fastest race lap * Led most race laps  RY  Rookie of the Year  R  Rookie

Nations' Cup

• Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.

Pos	Country	MTY	LBH	MOT	MIL	LAG	POR	CHI	TOR	CLE	VAN	MDO	ROA	MTL	DEN	ROC	MIA	SUR	FON	MEX	Pts
1	Brazil	1	8	1	4	1	1	1	1	8	3	2	1	2	1	2	1	5	4	2	325
2	Canada	5	7	2	1	5	5	7	7	1	2	1	2	4	8	3	4	2	3	4	247
3	United States	12	1	14	7	7	4	12	6	2	6	3	5	5	10	7	3	9	1	11	164
4	United Kingdom	2	9	3	12	19	3	3	13	14	1	17	12	1	18	1	10	7	10	5	148
5	Mexico	4	4	5	2	9	6	10	9	9	4	11	8	6	4	11	6	1	13	13	142
6	Sweden	18	5	17	8	3	15	18	2	4	18	6	14	18	7	8	13	4	12	1	113
7	New Zealand	6	18	9	6	6	7	6	5	15	16	5	17	10	2	12	18	15	6	7	96
8	Japan	14	6	8	14	14	11	4	4	7	11	9	11	9	15	6	14	13	15	6	73
9	Spain	10	11	6							14	10	16	16	11	4	17	16	5	9	44
10	Italy	9	3	18	3	13						15							14		32
11	Germany																			12	1
Pos	Country	MTY	LBH	MOT	MIL	LAG	POR	CHI	TOR	CLE	VAN	MDO	ROA	MTL	DEN	ROC	MIA	SUR	FON	MEX	Pts

Chassis Constructors' Cup

Pos	Chassis	Pts
1	Lola	401
2	Reynard	235
Pos	Chassis	Pts

Engine Manufacturers' Cup

Pos	Engine	Pts
1	Toyota	332
2	Honda	283
3	/ Ford-Cosworth	259
Pos	Engine	Pts

Driver breakdown

Pos	Driver	Team	Entries	Wins	Podiums	Top 5s	Top 10s	Poles	Laps Led	Points
1	da Matta	Newman-Haas Racing	19	7	11	11	13	7	619	237
2	Junqueira	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	19	2	6	10	12	4	196	164
3	Carpentier	Team Player's	19	2	5	10	13	1	159	157
4	Franchitti	Team KOOL Green	19	3	7	8	11	1	252	148
5	Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing	19	0	5	7	11	1	18	122
6	Bräck	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	19	1	3	6	10	1	268	114
7	Vasser	Team Rahal	19	1	3	5	12	1	162	114
8	Tagliani	Team Player's	19	0	2	5	12	0	115	111
9	Andretti	Team Motorola	19	1	3	3	11	0	90	110
10	Jourdain Jr.	Team Rahal	19	0	0	5	14	0	24	105
11	Tracy	Team KOOL Green	19	1	4	5	9	0	314	101
12	Kanaan	Mo Nunn Racing	19	0	2	5	11	2	145	99
13	Dixon	PWR Championship Racing Target Chip Ganassi Racing	19	0	1	3	12	0	0	97
14	Fernández	Fernández Racing	16	0	1	2	6	2	15	57
15	Takagi	Walker Motorsport	19	0	0	1	7	0	0	53
16	Servià	PWR Championship Racing Patrick Racing	13	0	0	2	6	0	0	44
17	Nakano	Fernández Racing	19	0	0	2	6	0	10	43
18	Domínguez  R	Herdez Competition	19	1	1	1	3	0	5	37
19	Papis	Sigma Autosport Fernández Racing	7	0	2	2	3	0	1	32
20	Bell  R	Patrick Racing	9	0	0	1	2	0	0	19
21	Manning  R	Team St. George	1	0	0	0	1	0	18	4
22	Lotterer  R	Dale Coyne Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
23	Díaz  R	Fernández Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

See also

• 2002 Toyota Atlantic Championship season
• 2002 Indianapolis 500
• 2002 Indy Racing League
• 2002 Infiniti Pro Series season

Notes

References

• Åberg, Andreas. "CART FedEx Champ Car World Series 2002". Driver Database. Archived from the original on October 3, 2008. Retrieved May 19, 2009.
• "2002 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series". Champ Car Stats. Archived from the original on November 22, 2008. Retrieved May 19, 2009.
• "FedEx Renews Title Sponsorship Agreement with Championship Auto Racing Teams; FedEx Championship Series Roars into 2002" (Press release). FedEx Corporation. November 7, 2001. Archived from the original on June 29, 2009. Retrieved May 20, 2009.
• "Standings after Mexico City". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on October 22, 2008. Retrieved May 19, 2009.