1999 Firestone Firehawk 500K

1999 Firestone Firehawk 500K
Race details
Race 2 of 20 in the 1999 CART season
	Twin Ring Motegi
Date	April 10, 1999
Official name	1999 Firestone Firehawk 500K
Location	Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi, Tochigi, Japan
Course	Permanent oval course; 1.549 mi / 2.493 km
Distance	201 laps; 311.349 mi / 501.093 km
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Gil de Ferran (Walker Racing)
Time	25.463
Fastest lap
Driver	Hélio Castro-Neves (Hogan Racing)
Time	25.830 (on lap 136 of 201)
Podium
First	Adrián Fernández (Patrick Racing)
Second	Gil de Ferran (Walker Racing)
Third	Christian Fittipaldi (Newman-Haas Racing)

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