The 2000 FedEx Championship Series season was the twenty-second in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era of American open-wheel car racing. It consisted of 20 races, beginning in Homestead, Florida on March 26, 2000 and concluding in Fontana, California on October 30, 2000. The FedEx Championship Series Drivers' Champion was Gil de Ferran. The Rookie of the Year was Kenny Bräck.

2000 CART season
FedEx Championship Series
Season
Races20
Start dateMarch 26
End dateOctober 30
Awards
Drivers' championBrazil Gil de Ferran
Constructors' CupUnited Kingdom Reynard
Manufacturers' CupUnited States / United Kingdom Ford-Cosworth
Nations' CupBrazil Brazil
Rookie of the YearSweden Kenny Bräck
← 1999
2001 →

The relative decline of Chip Ganassi Racing and an atypical parity among the major engine and chassis builders led to the most wide-open championship race in the history of the series, with seven different winners in the first seven races of the year and 11 drivers winning a race. From 1997–1999, only two drivers came within 50 points of the champion, 9 would do so in 2000.

Penske Racing returned to prominence using Honda engines and abandoning their house chassis for a Reynard 2KI. Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves (the latter signed following the death of Greg Moore), combined for 5 wins, 4 of which were on the road courses the team had not been competitive on in their previous chassis and engine. Veterans Michael Andretti and Paul Tracy, who were 1 and 2 in the championship after the Vancouver round, would fall short after poor finishes down the stretch. Most surprising of all to observers was the return to prominence of Patrick Racing, with veterans Adrian Fernandez and Roberto Moreno finishing second and third respectively in the championship.

Off the track, while CART remained fiscally strong, anxiety regarding the series' decline in prominence led to the ouster of CEO Andrew Craig at the midpoint of the season, leading to his replacement by Bobby Rahal. The series left open the traditional Indianapolis 500 date of Memorial Day, allowing teams to enter the Indy Racing League-sanctioned race for the first time since 1995. Chip Ganassi Racing did so, with their driver Juan Pablo Montoya winning the race handily with purchased IRL equipment. While a competitive triumph for CART, Ganassi's efforts showed the continuing allure of the 500 for CART teams and their sponsors. 2000 would also be the final season for DaimlerChrysler via the Mercedes-Benz brand as an engine manufacturer, after DaimlerChrysler decided to shut down their CART program and coincidentally defected to the NASCAR Winston Cup Series via the Dodge brand in 2001.

Drivers and constructors

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The following teams and drivers competed in the 2000 CART Championship Series season. Five years after the return of Firestone, rival tire manufacturer Goodyear withdrew from CART and its rival the Indy Racing League and hence all cars would ran on Firestone Firehawk tires for the first time in history.[1] All teams were based in the United States.

Team Chassis Engine No Drivers Races Primary Sponsors
Chip Ganassi Racing Lola B2K/00 Toyota RV8E 1   Juan Pablo Montoya All Target
12   Jimmy Vasser All
Team Penske Reynard 2KI Honda HR-0 2   Gil de Ferran All Marlboro
3   Hélio Castroneves All
Walker Motorsport Reynard 2KI Honda HR-0 5   Shinji Nakano  R  1, 4, 6–20 Avex
  Bryan Herta 2–3
Newman/Haas Racing Lola B2K/00 Ford-Cosworth XF 6   Michael Andretti All Texaco-Havoline
11   Christian Fittipaldi All Big Kmart
Team Rahal Reynard 2KI Ford-Cosworth XF 7   Max Papis All Miller Lite
8   Kenny Bräck  R  All Shell
91   Casey Mears  R  20 WorldCom
Della Penna Motorsports Reynard 2KI Toyota RV8E 10   Norberto Fontana  R  1–5, 7–10 Video Match 9
DirecTV 11
  Memo Gidley 11–18, 20
  Jason Bright  R  19
Bettenhausen Racing Lola B2K/00 Mercedes IC 108E 16   Michel Jourdain Jr. All Herdez
PacWest Racing Reynard 2KI Mercedes IC 108E 17   Maurício Gugelmin All Nextel
18   Mark Blundell All Motorola
Dale Coyne Racing Lola B2K/00 Ford-Cosworth XF 19   Takuya Kurosawa  R  1–11 MTCI 6
Sports Today 14
  Gualter Salles 12–14
  Alex Barron 15–20
34   Gualter Salles 1–3, 5 Dale Coyne Racing
Swift 011.c   Tarso Marques 4–20 Panasonic
Patrick Racing Reynard 2KI Ford-Cosworth XF 20   Roberto Moreno All Visteon
40   Adrián Fernández All Tecate
Arciero Racing Reynard 2KI Mercedes IC 108E 25   Luiz Garcia Jr. All Hollywood Cigarettes
Team Green Reynard 2KI Honda HR-0 26   Paul Tracy All KOOL
27   Dario Franchitti All
Forsythe Racing Reynard 2KI Ford-Cosworth XF 32   Patrick Carpentier 1, 5–20 Player's
  Memo Gidley 2–4
33   Alex Tagliani  R  All
77   Bryan Herta 16 Rockingham Motor Speedway
Mo Nunn Racing Reynard 2KI Mercedes IC 108E 55   Tony Kanaan 1–7, 11–20 Hollywood Cigarettes
  Bryan Herta 8–10
PPI Motorsports Reynard 2KI Toyota RV8E 96   Oriol Servià  R  All Telefónica
97   Cristiano da Matta All Pioneer
R Eligible for Rookie of the Year

Schedule

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Rnd Race Name Circuit City/Location Date
1   Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Presented by Toyota  O  Homestead-Miami Speedway Homestead, Florida March 26
2   Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach  R  Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California April 16
3   Rio 200  O  Autódromo de Jacarepaguá Jacarepagua, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil April 30
4   Firestone Firehawk 500  O  Twin Ring Motegi Motegi, Tochigi, Japan May 14*
5   Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Presented by Toyota  O  Nazareth Speedway Nazareth, Pennsylvania May 27
6   Miller Lite 225 Presented by Kmart  O  Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin June 5*
7   Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit  R  The Raceway on Belle Isle Park Detroit, Michigan June 18
8   Freightliner/G. I. Joe's 200 Presented by Texaco  R  Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon June 25
9   Firstar Presents the Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland  R  Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio July 2
10   Molson Indy Toronto  R  Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario July 16
11   Michigan 500 Presented by Toyota  O  Michigan Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan July 23
12   Target Grand Prix of Chicago Presented by Energizer  O  Chicago Motor Speedway Cicero, Illinois July 30
13   Miller Lite 200  R  Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio August 13
14   Motorola 220  R  Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin August 20
15   Molson Indy Vancouver  R  Concord Pacific Place Vancouver, British Columbia September 3
16   Honda Grand Prix of Monterey Featuring the Shell 300  R  Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California September 10
17   Motorola 300  O  Gateway International Raceway Madison, Illinois September 17
18   Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston  R  George R. Brown Convention Center Houston, Texas October 1
19   Honda Indy 300  R  Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia October 15
20   Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota  O  California Speedway Fontana, California October 29–30*

 O  Oval/Speedway
 R  Road/Street course

The Nazareth round was initially scheduled to be the second round on April 9, 2000, but snow caused the race's postponement.

Motegi was scheduled to be on May 13, and Milwaukee was scheduled to be on June 4. Both were postponed due to rain.

Fontana was scheduled for October 29, but during a caution on lap 22 for Cristiano da Matta crashing, rain began to fall and the remainder of the race was postponed to the next day.

Season summary

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Race results

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Round Race Pole position Fastest lap Lead Most Laps Race Winner Race
Time
Report
Driver Team Chassis Engine
1   Homestead   Gil de Ferran   Juan Pablo Montoya   Gil de Ferran   Max Papis Team Rahal Reynard 2KI Ford-Cosworth XF 1:22:01 Report
2   Long Beach   Gil de Ferran   Gil de Ferran   Gil de Ferran   Paul Tracy Team Green Reynard 2KI Honda HR-0 1:57:11 Report
3   Rio   Alex Tagliani   Alex Tagliani   Alex Tagliani   Adrián Fernández Patrick Racing Reynard 2KI Ford-Cosworth XF 1:37:12 Report
4   Motegi   Juan Pablo Montoya   Juan Pablo Montoya   Juan Pablo Montoya   Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing Lola B2K/00 Ford-Cosworth XF 1:58:52 Report
5   Nazareth   Juan Pablo Montoya   Hélio Castroneves   Juan Pablo Montoya   Gil de Ferran Team Penske Reynard 2KI Honda HR-0 2:06:10 Report
6   Milwaukee   Juan Pablo Montoya   Juan Pablo Montoya   Juan Pablo Montoya   Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing Lola B2K/00 Toyota RV8E 1:37:38 Report
7   Belle Isle   Juan Pablo Montoya   Hélio Castroneves   Juan Pablo Montoya   Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Reynard 2KI Honda HR-0 2:01:23 Report
8   Portland   Hélio Castroneves   Kenny Bräck   Hélio Castroneves   Gil de Ferran Team Penske Reynard 2KI Honda HR-0 2:00:46 Report
9   Cleveland   Roberto Moreno   Juan Pablo Montoya   Roberto Moreno   Roberto Moreno Patrick Racing Reynard 2KI Ford-Cosworth XF 1:52:12 Report
10   Toronto   Hélio Castroneves   Michael Andretti   Cristiano da Matta   Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing Lola B2K/00 Ford-Cosworth XF 2:00:02 Report
11   Michigan   Paul Tracy   Juan Pablo Montoya   Hélio Castroneves   Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing Lola B2K/00 Toyota RV8E 2:48:49 Report
12   Chicago   Juan Pablo Montoya   Adrián Fernández   Juan Pablo Montoya   Cristiano da Matta PPI Motorsports Reynard 2KI Toyota RV8E 2:01:23 Report
13   Mid-Ohio   Gil de Ferran   Dario Franchitti   Hélio Castroneves   Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Reynard 2KI Honda HR-0 1:44:59 Report
14   Road America   Dario Franchitti   Paul Tracy   Alex Tagliani   Paul Tracy Team Green Reynard 2KI Honda HR-0 1:37:53 Report
15   Vancouver   Dario Franchitti   Juan Pablo Montoya   Dario Franchitti   Paul Tracy Team Green Reynard 2KI Honda HR-0 1:53:06 Report
16   Laguna Seca   Hélio Castroneves   Gil de Ferran   Hélio Castroneves   Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Reynard 2KI Honda HR-0 1:46:11 Report
17   Gateway   Juan Pablo Montoya   Patrick Carpentier   Michael Andretti   Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing Lola B2K/00 Toyota RV8E 1:55:38 Report
18   Houston   Gil de Ferran   Michael Andretti   Gil de Ferran   Jimmy Vasser Chip Ganassi Racing Lola B2K/00 Toyota RV8E 1:59:02 Report
19   Surfers Paradise   Juan Pablo Montoya   Jimmy Vasser   Adrián Fernández   Adrián Fernández Patrick Racing Reynard 2KI Ford-Cosworth XF 2:01:14 Report
20   Fontana   Gil de Ferran   Hélio Castroneves   Kenny Bräck   Christian Fittipaldi Newman/Haas Racing Lola B2K/00 Ford-Cosworth XF 3:38:04 Report

Final driver standings

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Pos Driver MIA   LBH   RIO   MOT   NAZ   MIL   DET   POR   CLE   TOR   MIC   CHI   MDO   ROA   VAN   LAG   GAT   HOU   SUR   FON   Pts
1   Gil de Ferran 6* 7* 17 9 1 12 9 1 14 6 18 3 2 25 5 2 8 3* 23 3 168
2   Adrián Fernández 21 24 1 10 5 8 21 12 7 2 6 5 6 2 3 12 10 7 1* 5 158
3   Roberto Moreno 2 9 6 3 14 5 17 2 1* 13 23 6 11 4 10 25 3 11 19 2 147
4   Kenny Bräck  RY  18 17 10 5 3 4 24 6 2 10 22 4 5 3 9 5 11 15 2 13* 135
5   Paul Tracy 3 1 3 6 10 15 DSQ 18 19 3 7 19 16 1 1 11 18 4 17 24 134
6   Jimmy Vasser 4 3 2 21 7 13 7 24 8 9 21 8 21 5 6 8 7 1 3 22 131
7   Hélio Castroneves 25 2 24 13 16 16 1 7* 21 16 5* 21 1* 9 20 1* 9 5 6 9 129
8   Michael Andretti 22 14 9 1 6 2 13 4 4 1 2 2 8 19 12 14 20* 13 20 19 127
9   Juan Pablo Montoya 23 19 22 7* 4* 1* 18* 17 6 24 1 12* 24 16 17 6 1 2 24 10 126
10   Cristiano da Matta 12 25 4 4 13 14 23 5 3 4* 17 1 17 13 7 15 4 14 4 25 112
11   Patrick Carpentier 5 21 3 5 10 5 7 4 14 7 21 24 9 2 19 5 14 101
12   Christian Fittipaldi 7 18 5 11 11 9 19 3 17 17 14 Wth 3 15 4 10 12 6 15 1 96
13   Dario Franchitti 11 23 11 2 23 6 4 9 13 25 3 20 22 12 2* 3 24 25 25 23 92
14   Max Papis 1 20 16 8 22 7 2 25 18 8 9 24 4 7 8 16 6 24 16 12 88
15   Oriol Servià  R  19 6 25 24 9 19 3 8 23 11 8 15 10 10 11 17 5 9 91 20 60
16   Alex Tagliani  R  9 4 13* 15 19 22 6 13 16 5 16 9 9 14* 18 23 14 16 22 6 53
17   Maurício Gugelmin 16 10 21 22 2 11 16 19 10 15 13 7 20 17 21 7 19 23 10 17 39
18   Bryan Herta 5 20 16 9 18 4 26
19   Tony Kanaan 10 16 18 16 8 10 DNS 24 16 13 8 14 22 13 10 8 18 24
20   Memo Gidley 21 8 18 10 10 12 6 16 19 22 21 21 20
21   Mark Blundell 13 8 7 19 17 17 11 20 12 22 19 23 14 11 25 13 23 20 11 15 18
22   Michel Jourdain Jr. 14 11 15 12 18 18 8 23 22 19 15 11 15 18 23 24 16 18 7 11 18
23   Casey Mears  R  4 12
24   Shinji Nakano  R  8 14 23 15 11 15 14 20 13 19 22 19 26 21 8 21 16 12
25   Tarso Marques 17 12 20 10 15 24 21 12 18 18 23 22 18 15 17 13 7 11
26   Alex Barron 13 21 17 12 14 8 6
27   Luiz Garcia Jr. 17 12 12 23 15 21 22 14 20 12 11 17 25 24 15 20 25 22 12 DNS 6
28   Norberto Fontana  R  15 15 23 Wth 20 14 21 11 20 2
29   Takuya Kurosawa  R  24 13 19 20 DNS Wth 12 22 25 23 DNS 1
30   Gualter Salles 20 22 14 Wth 22 23 20 0
31   Jason Bright  R  18 0
Pos Driver MIA   LBH   RIO   MOT   NAZ   MIL   DET   POR   CLE   TOR   MIC   CHI   MDO   ROA   VAN   LAG   GAT   HOU   SUR   FON   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
  1. ^ Oriol Servià was penalized 4 points for rough driving in Surfers Paradise.

Nations' Cup

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  • Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.
Pos Country MIA   LBH   RIO   MOT   NAZ   MIL   DET   POR   CLE   TOR   MIC   CHI   MDO   ROA   VAN   LAG   GAT   HOU   SUR   FON   Pts
1   Brazil 2 2 4 3 1 5 1 1 1 4 5 1 1 4 5 1 3 3 4 1 332
2   United States 4 3 2 1 6 2 7 4 4 1 2 2 8 5 6 8 7 1 3 4 256
3   Canada 3 1 3 6 10 3 5 10 5 3 4 9 7 1 1 9 2 4 5 6 226
4   Mexico 14 11 1 10 5 8 8 12 7 2 6 5 6 2 3 12 10 7 1 5 165
5   Sweden 18 17 10 5 3 4 24 6 2 10 22 4 5 3 9 5 11 15 2 13 135
6   Colombia 23 19 22 7 4 1 18 17 6 24 1 12 24 16 17 6 1 2 24 10 126
7   Scotland 11 23 11 2 23 6 4 9 13 25 3 20 22 12 2 3 24 25 25 23 92
8   Italy 1 20 16 8 22 7 2 25 18 8 9 24 4 7 8 16 8 24 16 12 88
9   Spain 19 6 25 24 9 19 3 8 23 11 8 15 10 10 11 17 5 9 9 20 64
10   England 13 8 7 19 17 17 11 20 12 22 19 23 14 11 25 13 23 20 11 15 18
11   Japan 8 13 19 14 DNS 23 12 11 15 14 20 13 19 22 19 26 21 8 21 16 13
12   Argentina 15 15 23 Wth 20 Wth 14 21 11 20 2
13   Australia 18 0
Pos Country MIA   LBH   RIO   MOT   NAZ   MIL   DET   POR   CLE   TOR   MIC   CHI   MDO   ROA   VAN   LAG   GAT   HOU   SUR   FON   Pts

Chassis Constructors' Cup

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Pos Chassis Pts Wins
1   Reynard 2KI 393 13
2   Lola B2K/00 313 7
Pos Chassis Pts Wins

Engine Manufacturers' Cup

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Pos Engine Pts Wins
1  
  Ford-Cosworth XF
334 7
2   Honda HR-0 314 8
3   Toyota RV8E 275 5
4   Mercedes IC 108E 66 0
Pos Engine Pts Wins

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Honda Championship Auto Racing Highlights". April 2002.
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