# 2001 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

33°45′59″N 118°11′34″W﻿ / ﻿33.76639°N 118.19278°W﻿ / 33.76639; -118.19278
The 2001 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) motor race held on April 8, 2001 on the streets of Long Beach, California, USA. It was the 2nd round of the 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series season. Team Penske driver Hélio Castroneves led all 82 laps from pole position ahead of Monterrey winner Cristiano da Matta and Penske teammate Gil de Ferran to win his fourth career race.
While Castroneves dominated the race from the front, his lead was threatened with each of the four caution periods throughout the race, which grouped the field together behind the pace car and erased the gap between each driver. Nevertheless, Castroneves was able to pull away each time with little threat to his position. After starting in 2nd place, Kenny Bräck was forced to retire early due to a gearbox issue.
Castroneves jumped five places in the points standings to 3rd overall, while podium finishers da Matta and de Ferran remained 1st and 2nd, respectively. Meanwhile, Honda eked ahead of Toyota in the manufacturer's standings by one point. This would be the last CART race for Dale Coyne Racing's two drivers, Luiz Garcia Jr. and Michael Krumm; after competing full-time since 1984, the team withdrew from the series after the race and did not return until 2003.

## Qualifying

April 7, 2001 - Qualifying Speeds :
| Rank | Driver | Time | Leader | Speed (mph) | Team |
| 1 | Hélio Castroneves | 1:08.556 | — | 103.343 | Team Penske |
| 2 | Kenny Bräck | 1:09.097 | +0.541 | 102.534 | Team Rahal |
| 3 | Tony Kanaan | 1:09.223 | +0.667 | 102.347 | Mo Nunn Racing |
| 4 | Cristiano da Matta | 1:09.312 | +0.756 | 102.216 | Newman-Haas Racing |
| 5 | Gil de Ferran | 1:09.344 | +0.788 | 102.169 | Team Penske |
| 6 | Dario Franchitti | 1:09.366 | +0.810 | 102.136 | Team Green |
| 7 | Michel Jourdain Jr. | 1:09.589 | +1.033 | 101.809 | Bettenhausen Racing |
| 8 | Jimmy Vasser | 1:09.807 | +1.251 | 101.491 | Patrick Racing |
| 9 | Michael Andretti | 1:09.853 | +1.297 | 101.424 | Team Motorola |
| 10 | Christian Fittipaldi | 1:09.999 | +1.443 | 101.213 | Newman-Haas Racing |
| 11 | Alex Tagliani | 1:10.013 | +1.457 | 101.193 | Forsythe Racing |
| 12 | Paul Tracy | 1:10.073 | +1.517 | 101.106 | Team Green |
| 13 | Max Papis | 1:10.903 | +1.537 | 101.077 | Team Rahal |
| 14 | Nicolas Minassian (R) | 1:10.099 | +1.543 | 101.068 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 15 | Bryan Herta | 1:10.146 | +1.590 | 101.001 | Forsythe Racing |
| 16 | Tora Takagi (R) | 1:10.202 | +1.646 | 100.920 | Walker Motorsport |
| 17 | Patrick Carpentier | 1:10.272 | +1.716 | 100.820 | Forsythe Racing |
| 18 | Scott Dixon (R) | 1:10.303 | +1.747 | 100.775 | PacWest Racing |
| 19 | Maurício Gugelmin | 1:10.670 | +2.114 | 100.252 | PacWest Racing |
| 20 | Alex Zanardi | 1:10.675 | +2.119 | 100.245 | Mo Nunn Racing |
| 21 | Max Wilson (R) | 1:10.683 | +2.127 | 100.233 | Arciero Racing |
| 22 | Roberto Moreno | 1:10.769 | +2.213 | 100.112 | Patrick Racing |
| 23 | Shinji Nakano | 1:11.871 | +3.315 | 98.577 | Fernandez Racing |
| 24 | Oriol Servià | 1:11.919 | +3.363 | 98.511 | Sigma Autosport |
| 25 | Michael Krumm | 1:11.974 | +3.418 | 98.436 | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 26 | Adrian Fernández | 1:12.403 | +3.847 | 97.852 | Fernandez Racing |
| 27 | Luiz Garcia Jr. | 1:16.483 | +7.927 | 92.632 | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 28 | Bruno Junqueira (R) | 1:39.916 | +31.360 | 70.908 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| Source: ||||||

## Race

| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 3 | Hélio Castroneves | Team Penske | 82 | 1:52:17.779 | 1 | 22 |
| 2 | 6 | Cristiano da Matta | Newman-Haas Racing | 82 | +0.534 | 4 | 16 |
| 3 | 1 | Gil de Ferran | Team Penske | 82 | +1.787 | 5 | 14 |
| 4 | 26 | Paul Tracy | Team Green | 82 | +2.435 | 12 | 12 |
| 5 | 40 | Jimmy Vasser | Patrick Racing | 82 | +3.342 | 8 | 10 |
| 6 | 27 | Dario Franchitti | Team Green | 82 | +4.855 | 6 | 8 |
| 7 | 55 | Tony Kanaan | Mo Nunn Racing | 82 | +5.915 | 3 | 6 |
| 8 | 12 | Nicolas Minassian (R) | Chip Ganassi Racing | 82 | +6.749 | 14 | 5 |
| 9 | 4 | Bruno Junqueira (R) | Chip Ganassi Racing | 82 | +7.565 | 28 | 4 |
| 10 | 77 | Bryan Herta | Forsythe Racing | 82 | +11.169 | 15 | 3 |
| 11 | 20 | Roberto Moreno | Patrick Racing | 82 | +11.588 | 22 | 2 |
| 12 | 52 | Shinji Nakano | Fernandez Racing | 82 | +12.364 | 23 | 1 |
| 13 | 7 | Michel Jourdain Jr. | Bettenhausen Racing | 82 | +13.458 | 7 | — |
| 14 | 22 | Oriol Servià | Sigma Autosport | 82 | +18.602 | 24 | — |
| 15 | 19 | Michael Krumm | Dale Coyne Racing | 82 | +20.583 | 25 | — |
| 16 | 51 | Adrian Fernández | Fernandez Racing | 81 | +1 Lap | 26 | — |
| 17 | 7 | Max Papis | Team Rahal | 81 | +1 Lap | 13 | — |
| 18 | 33 | Alex Tagliani | Forsythe Racing | 81 | +1 Lap | 11 | — |
| 19 | 18 | Scott Dixon (R) | PacWest Racing | 81 | +1 Lap | 18 | — |
| 20 | 5 | Tora Takagi (R) | Walker Motorsport | 74 | Contact | 16 | — |
| 21 | 25 | Max Wilson (R) | Arciero Racing | 67 | Contact | 21 | — |
| 22 | 17 | Maurício Gugelmin | PacWest Racing | 59 | Contact | 19 | — |
| 23 | 32 | Patrick Carpentier | Forsythe Racing | 53 | Contact | 17 | — |
| 24 | 11 | Christian Fittipaldi | Newman-Haas Racing | 47 | Electrical | 10 | — |
| 25 | 8 | Kenny Bräck | Team Rahal | 31 | Gearbox | 2 | — |
| 26 | 66 | Alex Zanardi | Mo Nunn Racing | 27 | Overheating | 20 | — |
| 27 | 21 | Luiz Garcia Jr. | Dale Coyne Racing | 18 | Handling | 27 | — |
| 28 | 39 | Michael Andretti | Team Motorola | 3 | Electrical | 9 | — |
| Source: ||||||||
* – Includes two bonus points for leading the most laps and being the fastest qualifier.

## Race statistics

* Lead changes: 0 among 0 drivers
Lap Leaders :
| Laps | Leader |
| 1–82 | Helio Castroneves |
Total laps led :
| Leader | Laps |
| Helio Castroneves | 82 |
Cautions: 4 for 18 laps :
| Laps | Reason |
| 10-13 | Garcia Jr. crashes |
| 30-32 | Takagi and Gugelmin collide |
| 55-63 | Carpentier and Papis collide |
| 75-78 | Takagi hits the barriers in Turn 1 |

## Standings after the race

| Pos | +/- | Driver | Points |
| 1 | | Cristiano da Matta | 37 |
| 2 | | Gil de Ferran | 30 |
| 3 | 5 | Hélio Castroneves | 27 |
| 4 | 1 | Paul Tracy | 12 |
| 5 | 1 | Jimmy Vasser | 18 |
| Pos | +/– | Constructor | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Reynard | 38 |
| 2 | 1 | Lola | 37 |
| Pos | +/- | Manufacturer | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Honda | 38 |
| 2 | 1 | Toyota | 37 |
| 3 | | Ford-Cosworth | 14 |
| 4 | | Phoenix | 0 |