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CART Notebook Zanardi turns in best performance of comeback
Updated: Sunday July 15, 2001 6:53 PM
TORONTO (AP) -- It's taken him longer than he would have liked, but Alex Zanardi finally seems to be on the road back. After an ill-fated attempt to race Formula One in 1999 and sitting out last year, Zanardi, a two-time CART champion, posted the best finish of his comeback season Sunday, finishing fourth in the Molson Indy for Mo Nunn Racing. "It looks like my engineers are getting good at giving me a competitive race car on Sundays," said Zanardi, who started 24th. "That's definitely a step in the right direction for our team. We struggle trying to get a good qualifying car, which has put us in a rather difficult position at the start of our races." Zanardi was in position two weeks ago at Cleveland for his first podium. He was fourth and poised to take the lead, then punctured a tire on a pass by Max Wilson and dropped to 19th before finishing 11th, only his second points-producing race this year. "This was even more fun than Cleveland," said Zanardi, who won here in 1998 after two consecutive seconds. "We're starting to get the job done for the race. That's a great feeling for a race car driver."
Oh, CanadaCanadians Alex Tagliani and Paul Tracy finished second and sixth, respectively, in Sunday's Molson Indy. Maybe that's why a record Sunday crowd of 73,628 turned out to bring the three-day total for the race to another record -- 169,023. Tracy broke a five-race streak in which he had failed to finish, but he wasn't too happy afterward. He had slammed the back of Oriol Servia on lap 9 to bring out the third caution of the race, dropped out of the top 20, and had to fight back all day. "I'm really disappointed with the way I drove," said Tracy, who finished on the podium here the previous two races. "I took myself out of the race early and eliminated any chance of scoring big points. The rest of the race I was just fighting for every position I could." The other Canadian driver in the race, Patrick Carpentier, finished 21st.
Tony the TigerTony Kanaan, who crashed in qualifying at Detroit in mid-June and suffered a concussion that knocked him out of that race, didn't race in Toronto last year because he had broken his left arm in qualifying, also at Detroit. The 1997 Indy Lights champion got back on track Sunday at Exhibition Place with a 10th but was upset because it might have been much better. Kanaan was in the lead with 30 laps to go but failed to take on enough fuel to finish the race. When he pitted for a splash of fuel under a late caution, that's all he got, and he ran out on the final lap, dropping two positions. "This is the most disappointed I've been in a very long time," Kanaan said. "I definitely had a car that could have won the race."
Spark plugsAdrian Fernandez locked his brakes and slid nose-first into the tire barrier at turn 5 in Sunday's 30-minute practice. He served an eight-minute penalty but no damage was done to the car. ... Bruno Junqueira and Dario Franchitti made contact in practice at the entrance to pit road but race stewards reported no damage to either car. ... Before the race, pole-sitter Gil de Ferran had completed every lap contested this season on street circuits. ... Kanaan piloted his Honda Reynard to the top of the time charts in the warmup for the race at 105.530 mph and 59.969 seconds. Second-quickest was Forsythe Racing's Bryan Herta, followed by Fernandez, points leader Kenny Brack of Team Rahal and de Ferran of Team Penske. ... Cory Witherill, the only full-blooded Native American Indian to race in the Indy 500, brushed a wall and broke his suspension on the 14th lap of the 43-lap Indy Lights race Sunday and was through for the day. Points leader Townsend Bell easily won from the pole, his third victory in seven races. ... Since its inception in 1986, the Molson Indy has raised over $4 million for Toronto charities. ... In nine races, 16 drivers have made the podium.
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