The 1999 Firestone Firehawk 500K was the second round of the 1999 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series season, held on April 9, 1999, on the Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Tochigi, Japan.
This was the first Champ Car race since the 1995 Indianapolis 500, in which Al Unser Jr. is absent on the starting grid.
Report Race There was drama at the start when polesitter Gil de Ferran spun while taking the green flag. As a result, the start was delayed, and de Ferran was able to take back his starting position: pole. He led the early stages but then began to drop back with tire problems and Maurício Gugelmin took the lead. Gugelmin led comfortably until the first round of stops, when he overshot his pitlane, losing time. He was also given a black flag for running over pit equipment, which put him a lap down and out of contention. Adrián Fernández took the lead and led comfortably until Juan Pablo Montoya closed right up to him. Fernández held him off, and Montoya's challenge was ended when he lost three laps due to a fuel pick-up problem. In the final stages of the race, it seemed clear that everyone had to pit for fuel, and a caution brought out by Max Papis's spin was ideal. All the leaders pitted, except Fernández who for some reason stayed out. It seemed to be a mistake, as the race went green with 4 laps left, and he did not have enough fuel for 4 green-flag laps. However, Greg Moore, running second, spun while lapping backmarkers, which resulted in Richie Hearn crashing, and the caution came out again. Whereas the spin dropped Moore to fourth, the caution was till the end of the race, which meant that Fernández did not have to stop, and thus won the race. de Ferran recovered to finish second, and Christian Fittipaldi completed the podium.
Classification Race Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 40 Adrián Fernández Patrick Racing 201 1:46:01.463 4 20+1 2 5 Gil de Ferran Walker Racing 201 +6.347 1 16+1 3 11 Christian Fittipaldi Newman-Haas Racing 201 +7.669 7 14 4 99 Greg Moore Forsythe Racing 201 +38.027 6 12 5 6 Michael Andretti Newman-Haas Racing 200 +1 Lap 5 10 6 44 Tony Kanaan Forsythe Racing 200 +1 Lap 17 8 7 17 Maurício Gugelmin PacWest Racing 200 +1 Lap 2 6 8 22 Robby Gordon Team Gordon 200 +1 Lap 14 5 9 9 Hélio Castro-Neves Hogan Racing 199 +2 Laps 18 4 10 10 Richie Hearn Della Penna Motorsports 198 Contact 21 3 11 26 Paul Tracy Team Green 198 +3 Laps 10 2 12 12 Jimmy Vasser Chip Ganassi Racing 198 +3 Laps 12 1 13 4 Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing 197 +4 Laps 15 14 2 Tarso Marques Team Penske 197 +4 Laps 22 15 20 P. J. Jones Patrick Racing 196 +5 Laps 9 16 7 Max Papis Team Rahal 196 +5 Laps 3 17 36 Alex Barron All American Racing 195 +6 Laps 19 18 19 Michel Jourdain Jr. Payton/Coyne Racing 188 +13 Laps 26 19 71 Luiz Garcia Jr. Payton/Coyne Racing 184 Engine 25 20 16 Shigeaki Hattori Bettenhausen Racing 140 Clutch 24 21 24 Scott Pruett Arciero-Wells Racing 106 Fire 20 22 27 Dario Franchitti Team Green 91 Contact 11 23 8 Bryan Herta Team Rahal 84 Electrical 8 24 18 Mark Blundell PacWest Racing 78 Handling 16 25 25 Cristiano da Matta Arciero-Wells Racing 39 Transmission 23 26 33 Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Racing 10 Fuel pressure 13
Caution flags Laps Cause1-4 de Ferran (5) spin 89-96 Franchitti (27) contact140-148 Debris on track194-198 Papis (7) spin200-201 Moore (99) spin
Lap Leaders
Laps Leader1 Maurício Gugelmin2-26 Gil de Ferran27-46 Maurício Gugelmin47-50 Adrián Fernández51-52 Scott Pruett53-201 Adrián Fernández Driver Laps ledAdrián Fernández 153Gil de Ferran 25Maurício Gugelmin 21Scott Pruett 2
Point standings after race PosDriverPoints 1 Greg Moore 34 2 Michael Andretti 26 3 Gil de Ferran 25 4 Adrián Fernández 21 5 Christian Fittipaldi 18
References