2003 German 500
The 2003 German 500 was the fifth round of the
Qualifying results
Pos | Nat | Name | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sébastien Bourdais | Newman/Haas Racing
|
37.000 | |
2 | Bruno Junqueira | Newman/Haas Racing | 37.211 | |
3 | Michel Jourdain Jr. | Team Rahal
|
37.274 | |
4 | Mario Haberfeld
|
Mi-Jack Conquest Racing | 37.392 | |
5 | Darren Manning | Walker Racing | 37.532 | |
6 | Mario Domínguez | Herdez Competition | 37.690 | |
7 | Oriol Servià | Patrick Racing | 37.702 | |
8 | Rodolfo Lavín | Walker Racing | 37.717 | |
9 | Alex Tagliani | Rocketsports Racing | 37.732 | |
10 | Patrick Lemarié | PK Racing
|
37.806 | |
11 | Jimmy Vasser | American Spirit Team Johansson
|
37.911 | |
12 | Roberto Moreno | Herdez Competition | 38.057 | |
13 | Alex Yoong | Dale Coyne Racing | 38.152 | |
14 | Tiago Monteiro | Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing
|
38.196 | |
15 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | American Spirit Team Johansson | 38.220 | |
16 | Paul Tracy | Team Player's | 38.244 | |
17 | Patrick Carpentier | Team Player's | 38.286 | |
18 | Joël Camathias | Dale Coyne Racing | 38.558 | |
19 | Adrian Fernández
|
Fernández Racing | 38.666 |
Alex Zanardi's 13 Laps
With 13 laps remaining in the
For this event a 2002
Zanardi would go on to return to competitive auto racing in 2004, driving a BMW in the
Race
The end of the race featured a thrilling battle between Bourdais and Dominguez. Dominguez' team appealed to CART officials multiple times claiming Bourdais deserved penalties for blocking but officials sided with Bourdais. In the closest finish of the season, Bourdais edged out Dominguez at the line.
In an effort to reduce freight costs, CART mandated teams run the same aero package for both the Brands Hatch and German rounds. While most teams ran a package more suited to EuroSpeedway, Team Player's committed to running a full road course aerodynamics package for both races. Some were concerned their parts, only designed to hit 190 mph for a brief moment, would not survive the full race with sustained speeds over 210 mph for the entire race. While their parts ultimately held for the full distance, the team saw their strategy completely backfire. After Tracy lost a gearbox at Brands Hatch, the two cars were unable to draft effectively and fought poor handling. Tracy's engine also suffered misfires lowering his speed. After entering Europe with over a full race lead in the championship, Tracy would leave Europe tied with Junqueira for the championship lead with Dominguez, Bourdais, and Jourdain all within one race striking distance of the leaders.
Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | Sébastien Bourdais | Newman/Haas Racing
|
154 | 1:49:22.498 | 1 | 22 |
2 | 55 | Mario Domínguez | Herdez Competition | 154 | +0.084 secs | 6 | 16 |
3 | 9 | Michel Jourdain Jr. | Team Rahal
|
154 | +0.245 secs | 3 | 14 |
4 | 1 | Bruno Junqueira | Newman/Haas Racing | 154 | +12.042 secs | 2 | 12 |
5 | 20 | Oriol Servià | Patrick Racing | 154 | +12.055 secs | 7 | 10 |
6 | 15 | Darren Manning | Walker Racing | 154 | +24.602 secs | 5 | 8 |
7 | 32 | Patrick Carpentier | Team Player's | 153 | + 1 Lap | 17 | 6 |
8 | 12 | Jimmy Vasser | American Spirit Team Johansson
|
153 | + 1 Lap | 11 | 5 |
9 | 5 | Rodolfo Lavín | Walker Racing | 153 | + 1 Lap | 8 | 4 |
10 | 4 | Roberto Moreno | Herdez Competition | 153 | + 1 Lap | 12 | 3 |
11 | 31 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | American Spirit Team Johansson | 152 | + 2 Laps | 15 | 2 |
12 | 3 | Paul Tracy | Team Player's | 152 | + 2 Laps | 16 | 1 |
13 | 7 | Tiago Monteiro | Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing
|
152 | + 2 Laps | 14 | 0 |
14 | 34 | Mario Haberfeld
|
Mi-Jack Conquest Racing | 152 | + 2 Laps | 4 | 0 |
15 | 51 | Adrian Fernández
|
Fernández Racing | 152 | + 2 Laps | 19 | 0 |
16 | 19 | Joël Camathias | Dale Coyne Racing | 152 | + 2 Laps | 18 | 0 |
17 | 11 | Alex Yoong | Dale Coyne Racing | 81 | Mechanical | 13 | 0 |
18 | 33 | Alex Tagliani | Rocketsports Racing | 28 | Mechanical | 9 | 0 |
19 | 27 | Patrick Lemarié | PK Racing
|
25 | Contact | 10 | 0 |
Caution flags
Laps | Cause |
---|---|
23-27 | Debris |
83-88 | Debris |
Notes
|
|
- New Track Record Sébastien Bourdais 37.000 (qualifying)
- New Race Record Sébastien Bourdais 1:49:22.498
- Average Speed 170.903 mph
The race aired via same-day tape delay on CBS in the United States. Zanardi's laps were shown in their entirety at the start of the broadcast.
External links