1999 ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix
# 1999 ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix

The 1999 ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix was the thirteenth round of the 1999 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series season, held on August 8, 1999, on The Raceway on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan. The race marks the 17th and final career podium for Greg Moore, who finished third.

## Report

### Race

Championship leader Juan Pablo Montoya took his fifth pole of the season, and he dominated the early stages of the race, rapidly building a 6-second lead. Paul Tracy ran second early on, although it did not last for long as his teammate Dario Franchitti passed him. Franchitti was able to pull away from Tracy but had no answer for Montoya, whose lead was up to 10 seconds before a caution caused by a coming together between Robby Gordon and Jan Magnussen triggered the first round of pit stops, during with the top 3 remained unchanged. Montoya continued to dominate once the green flag was brought out, although a miscommunication meant that he did not enter the pits when another caution period caused by Memo Gidley's car failure. The other drivers were all able to make their second stops and effectively gained a free pitstop on him. Montoya stayed out in an attempt to get as big a lead as possible once the track went green. He built a lead of 15 seconds before he made his pitstop, but rejoined only eighth, as Franchitti was handed the lead. Franchitti, despite more caution periods, went on to win the race ahead of teammate Tracy in another Team Green 1-2, with Greg Moore taking the final spot on the podium. The win handed Franchitti the championship lead as well, as Montoya was taken out of the race by Hélio Castroneves after the latter misjudged a restart attempt.

## Classification

### Qualifying

August 7, 1999 - Qualifying Speeds :

| Grid | Driver | Team | Lap Time | Leader | Speed (mph) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:13,585 | | 114,773 |
| 2 | Paul Tracy | Team Green | 1:13.611 | +0.026 | 114,733 |
| 3 | Gil de Ferran | Walker Racing | 1:13.789 | +0.204 | 114,456 |
| 4 | Dario Franchitti | Team Green | 1:13.792 | +0.207 | 114,451 |
| 5 | Roberto Moreno | Newman-Haas Racing | 1:13.865 | +0.280 | 114,338 |
| 6 | Tony Kanaan | Forysthe Championship Racing | 1:13.958 | +0.373 | 114,195 |
| 7 | Greg Moore | Forsythe Racing | 1:14.020 | +0.435 | 114,099 |
| 8 | Michael Andretti | Newman-Haas Racing | 1:14.039 | +0.454 | 114,070 |
| 9 | Patrick Carpentier | Forsythe Racing | 1:14.090 | +0.505 | 113,991 |
| 10 | Max Papis | Team Rahal | 1:14.215 | +0.630 | 113,799 |
| 11 | Bryan Herta | Team Rahal | 1:14.222 | +0.637 | 113,788 |
| 12 | Jimmy Vasser | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:14.355 | +0.770 | 113,585 |
| 13 | Mauricio Gugelmin | PacWest Racing Group | 1:14.530 | +0.945 | 113,381 |
| 14 | Cristiano da Matta | Arciero-Wells Racing | 1:14.753 | +1.168 | 112,980 |
| 15 | Mark Blundell | PacWest Racing Group | 1:14.877 | +1.292 | 112,793 |
| 16 | Gonzalo Rodriguez | Team Penske | 1:15.034 | +1.449 | 112,557 |
| 17 | Scott Pruett | Arciero-Wells Racing | 1:15.059 | +1.474 | 112,519 |
| 18 | Helio Castroneves | Hogan Racing | 1:15.095 | +1.510 | 112,466 |
| 19 | Robby Gordon | Team Gordon | 1:15.101 | +1.516 | 112,457 |
| 20 | Al Unser Jr. | Team Penske | 1:15.495 | +1.910 | 111,870 |
| 21 | Richie Hearn | Della Penna Motorsports | 1:15.650 | +2.065 | 111,640 |
| 22 | Jan Magnussen | Patrick Racing | 1:15.749 | +2.164 | 111,495 |
| 23 | Michel Jourdain Jr. | Payton-Coyne Racing | 1:15.807 | +2.222 | 111,409 |
| 24 | Memo Gidley | Payton-Coyne Racing | 1:16.372 | +2.787 | 110,585 |
| 25 | Gualter Salles | All-American Racers | 1:16.452 | +2.867 | 110,469 |
| 26 | Naoki Hattori | Walker Racing | 1:17.005 | +3.420 | 109,679 |
| Source: ||||||

### Race

| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 27 | Dario Franchitti | Team Green | 71 | 2:02:24.662 | 4 | 20 |
| 2 | 26 | Paul Tracy | Team Green | 71 | +0.135 | 2 | 16 |
| 3 | 99 | Greg Moore | Forsythe Racing | 71 | +0.530 | 7 | 14 |
| 4 | 6 | Michael Andretti | Newman-Haas Racing | 71 | +1.471 | 8 | 12 |
| 5 | 12 | Jimmy Vasser | Chip Ganassi Racing | 71 | +2.594 | 12 | 10 |
| 6 | 44 | Tony Kanaan | Forsythe Racing | 71 | +3.652 | 6 | 8 |
| 7 | 9 | Hélio Castro-Neves | Hogan Racing | 71 | +4.802 | 18 | 6 |
| 8 | 24 | Scott Pruett | Arciero-Wells Racing | 71 | +6.750 | 17 | 5 |
| 9 | 8 | Bryan Herta | Team Rahal | 71 | +7.211 | 11 | 4 |
| 10 | 18 | Mark Blundell | PacWest Racing | 71 | +8.230 | 15 | 3 |
| 11 | 36 | Gualter Salles | All American Racing | 71 | +9.220 | 25 | 2 |
| 12 | 3 | Gonzalo Rodríguez | Team Penske | 71 | +14.473 | 16 | 1 |
| 13 | 10 | Richie Hearn | Della Penna Motorsports | 71 | +15.831 | 21 | |
| 14 | 11 | Roberto Moreno | Newman-Haas Racing | 70 | +1 Lap | 5 | |
| 15 | 2 | Al Unser Jr. | Team Penske | 70 | +1 Lap | 20 | |
| 16 | 15 | Naoki Hattori | Walker Racing | 70 | +1 Lap | 26 | |
| 17 | 4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Chip Ganassi Racing | 68 | Contact | 1 | 1+1 |
| 18 | 20 | Jan Magnussen | Patrick Racing | 68 | +3 Laps | 22 | |
| 19 | 25 | Cristiano da Matta | Arciero-Wells Racing | 65 | Contact | 14 | |
| 20 | 71 | Memo Gidley | Payton/Coyne Racing | 42 | Transmission | 24 | |
| 21 | 19 | Michel Jourdain Jr. | Payton/Coyne Racing | 41 | Transmission | 23 | |
| 22 | 5 | Gil de Ferran | Walker Racing | 32 | Contact | 3 | |
| 23 | 33 | Patrick Carpentier | Forsythe Racing | 27 | Contact | 9 | |
| 24 | 17 | Maurício Gugelmin | PacWest Racing | 27 | Contact | 13 | |
| 25 | 22 | Robby Gordon | Team Gordon | 23 | Contact | 19 | |
| 26 | 7 | Max Papis | Team Rahal | 0 | Contact | 10 | |
| DNS | 40 | Adrián Fernández | Patrick Racing | | Injury | | |

## Caution flags

| Laps | Cause |
| - | - |
| 2-3 | Carpentier (33), Papis (7) contact |
| 24-27 | Gordon (22), Magnussen (20) contact |
| 29-33 | Carpentier (33), Gugelmin (17) contact |
| 34-35 | de Ferran (5) contact |
| 45-46 | Gidley (71) stopped on course |
| 64-65 | Moreno (11), Montoya (4) contact |
| 67-69 | da Matta (25) contact, Unser Jr. (2) spin |
| 70-71 | Montoya (4), Castro-Neves (9) contact |

## Lap Leaders

| Laps | Leader |
| - | - |
| 1-58 | Juan Pablo Montoya |
| 59-71 | Dario Franchitti |
| Driver | Laps led |
| Juan Pablo Montoya | 58 |
| Dario Franchitti | 13 |

## Point standings after race

| Pos | Driver | Points |
| - | - | - |
| 1 | Dario Franchitti | 136 |
| 2 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 131 |
| 3 | Michael Andretti | 119 |
| 4 | Paul Tracy | 106 |
| 5 | Christian Fittipaldi | 101 |
