The 2002 Tecate/Telmex Monterrey Grand Prix was the first round of the 2002 CART season. The race was held on March 10, 2002, in Monterrey, Mexico at Parque Fundidora. The race was contested of 85 laps. Cristiano da Matta won the race, marking his second straight win in the event. Dario Franchitti finished 2nd, and Christian Fittipaldi finished 3rd. Michel Jourdain Jr. and Alex Tagliani rounded out the top five, and Scott Dixon, Patrick Carpentier, Paul Tracy, Max Papis, and Oriol Servià rounded out the top ten.
Qualifying results
Pos Nat Name Team Qual 1 Qual 2 Best 1 Adrian Fernández Fernández Racing 1:18.929 1:46.320 1:18.929 2 Dario Franchitti Team KOOL Green 1:19.202 - 1:19.202 3 Alex Tagliani Team Player's 1:19.241 1:51.165 1:19.241 4 Christian Fittipaldi Newman/Haas Racing 1:19.270 - 1:19.270 5 Cristiano da Matta Newman/Haas Racing 1:19.275 - 1:19.275 6 Michel Jourdain Jr. Team Rahal 1:19.326 - 1:19.326 7 Bruno Junqueira Target Chip Ganassi Racing 1:19.480 - 1:19.480 8 Kenny Bräck Target Chip Ganassi Racing 1:19.491 - 1:19.491 9 Townsend Bell Patrick Racing 1:19.682 - 1:19.682 10 Jimmy Vasser Team Rahal 1:19.832 - 1:19.832 11 Oriol Servià PWR Championship Racing 1:19.878 - 1:19.878 12 Mario Domínguez Herdez Competition 1:19.982 - 1:19.982 13 Tony Kanaan Mo Nunn Racing 1:19.985 - 1:19.985 14 Scott Dixon PWR Championship Racing 1:20.224 - 1:20.224 15 Tora Takagi Walker Racing 1:20.400 - 1:20.400 16 Michael Andretti Team Motorola 1:20.473 1:49.075 1:20.473 17 Patrick Carpentier Team Player's 1:20.712 - 1:20.712 18 Max Papis Sigma Autosport 1:21.992 - 1:21.992 19 Paul Tracy Team KOOL Green 1:22.347 - 1:22.347 20 Shinji Nakano Fernández Racing 1:20.419 - -*
* Nakano ran his backup car in the qualification 2 session (but was unable to complete a lap), thus forfeiting the qualifying time he set in his primary car on Friday.
Race
Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 6 Cristiano da Matta Newman/Haas Racing 85 1:58:30.642 5 21 2 27 Dario Franchitti Team KOOL Green 85 +1.679 2 16 3 11 Christian Fittipaldi Newman/Haas Racing 85 +3.244 4 14 4 9 Michel Jourdain Jr. Team Rahal 85 +3.785 6 12 5 33 Alex Tagliani Team Player's 85 +7.261 3 10 6 7 Scott Dixon PWR Championship Racing 85 +9.427 14 8 7 32 Patrick Carpentier Team Player's 85 +9.937 17 6 8 26 Paul Tracy Team KOOL Green 85 +10.318 19 5 9 22 Max Papis Sigma Autosport 85 +11.076 18 4 10 17 Oriol Servià PWR Championship Racing 85 +12.717 11 3 11 4 Bruno Junqueira Target Chip Ganassi Racing 84 Off course 7 2 12 39 Michael Andretti Team Motorola 84 + 1 Lap 16 1 13 51 Adrian Fernández Fernández Racing 84 + 1 Lap 1 2 14 5 Tora Takagi Walker Racing 83 + 2 Laps 15 0 15 52 Shinji Nakano Fernández Racing 83 + 2 Laps 20 0 16 10 Tony Kanaan Mo Nunn Racing 75 Contact 13 0 17 16 Mario Domínguez Herdez Competition 23 Mechanical 12 0 18 12 Kenny Bräck Target Chip Ganassi Racing 1 Contact 8 0 19 20 Townsend Bell Patrick Racing 0 Contact 9 0 20 8 Jimmy Vasser Team Rahal 0 Contact 10 0
Caution flags Laps Cause1-3 Bell (20), Vasser (8), Junqueira (4) & Bräck (12) contact77-81 Takagi (5) & Kanaan (10) contact
Notes
Laps Leader1-14 Adrian Fernández15-27 Alex Tagliani28-31 Patrick Carpentier32-50 Cristiano da Matta51 Dario Franchitti52 Max Papis53-85 Cristiano da Matta Driver Laps ledCristiano da Matta 52Adrian Fernández 14Alex Tagliani 13Patrick Carpentier 4Dario Franchitti 1Max Papis 1
New Race Lap Record Cristiano da Matta 1:15.386 New Race Record Cristiano da Matta 1:58:30.642 Average Speed 90.544 mph CART's first race after the departure of Team Penske for the archrival Indy Racing League.
References