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.
Qualifying not held — Starting lineup Rank Driver Team1 Kenny BräckTeam Rahal2 Hélio CastronevesTeam Penske3 Cristiano da MattaNewman-Haas Racing4 Paul TracyTeam Green5 Jimmy VasserPatrick Racing6 Gil de FerranTeam Penske7 Tony KanaanMo Nunn Racing8 Scott Dixon (R)PacWest Racing9 Christian FittipaldiNewman-Haas Racing10 Michael AndrettiTeam Motorola11 Dario FranchittiTeam Green12 Bruno Junqueira (R)Chip Ganassi Racing13 Max PapisTeam Rahal14 Nicolas Minassian (R)Chip Ganassi Racing15 Alex ZanardiMo Nunn Racing16 Shinji NakanoFernandez Racing17 Roberto MorenoPatrick Racing18 Oriol ServiàSigma Autosport19 Tora Takagi (R)Walker Motorsport20 Bryan HertaForsythe Racing21 Michel Jourdain Jr.Bettenhausen Racing22 Maurício GugelminPacWest Racing23 Adrian FernándezFernandez Racing24 Max Wilson (R)Arciero Racing25 Alex TaglianiForsythe Racing26 Patrick CarpentierForsythe Racing
Race Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/retired Grid Points18 Kenny BräckTeam Rahal2251:54:08.097121239 Michael AndrettiTeam Motorola225 +1.3071016318 Scott Dixon (R)PacWest Racing225 +3.00181444 Bruno Junqueira (R)Chip Ganassi Racing225 +6.7141212551 Adrian FernándezFernandez Racing225 +9.7022310655 Tony KanaanMo Nunn Racing225 +10.2917871 Gil de FerranTeam Penske225 +12.8216687 Max PapisTeam Rahal225 +17.780135927 Dario FranchittiTeam Green224 +1 Lap1141017 Maurício GugelminPacWest Racing224 +1 Lap2231166 Alex ZanardiMo Nunn Racing224 +1 Lap1521233 Alex TaglianiForsythe Racing224 +1 Lap2511316 Michel Jourdain Jr.Bettenhausen Racing224 +1 Lap21—1422 Oriol ServiàSigma Autosport224 +1 Lap18—1520 Roberto MorenoPatrick Racing224 +1 Lap17—1652 Shinji NakanoFernandez Racing224 +1 Lap16—1732 Patrick CarpentierForsythe Racing223 +2 Laps26—1811 Christian FittipaldiNewman-Haas Racing204Contact9—1912 Nicolas Minassian (R)Chip Ganassi Racing203Contact14—205 Tora Takagi (R)Walker Motorsport134Disqualified19—2140 Jimmy VasserPatrick Racing132Contact5—2277 Bryan HertaForsythe Racing73Spark plug20—2325 Max Wilson (R)Arciero Racing43Electrical24—2426 Paul TracyTeam Green11Contact4—256 Cristiano da MattaNewman-Haas Racing1Contact3—263 Hélio CastronevesTeam Penske0Contact2— – Includes one bonus point for leading the most laps. *The bonus point for pole position was not awarded as qualifying was rained out.
Race statistics Lead changes: 12 among 9 drivers
Lap Leaders Laps Leader1–80 Kenny Bräck81–90 Michael Andretti91–92 Jimmy Vasser93–100 Tony Kanaan101–102 Scott Dixon103 Alex Tagliani104 Patrick Carpentier105 Michel Jourdain Jr.106–110 Adrian Fernández111–128 Michael Andretti129–135 Kenny Bräck136–182 Michael Andretti183–225 Kenny Bräck
Total laps led 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 Laps Reason0–11 da Matta and Castroneves crash11–20 Paul Tracy crashes108–120 Zanardi crashes in Turn 4132–142 Jimmy Vasser crashes205–218 Fittipaldi and Minassian crash
Standings after the race
Drivers' standings Pos+/-DriverPoints1 Kenny Bräck702 Hélio Castroneves473 Cristiano da Matta40— Paul Tracy40— Jimmy Vasser40
Constructors' standings Pos +/– Constructor Points 1 Lola 98 2 1 Reynard 93
Manufacturer's Standings Pos +/- Manufacturer Points 1 Honda 86 2 Toyota 84 3 Ford-Cosworth 73 4 Phoenix 0
References