page_title: 2001 Honda Indy 300
section_title: Race
hierarchical_section_title: 2001 Honda Indy 300 / Race
caption_attribution_description: English: Cristiano da Matta, Indianapolis, 2004
context_page_description: The 2001 Honda Indy 300 was a Championship Auto Racing Teams motor race held on 28 October 2001 at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, in front of a crowd of 110,187 people. It was the twentieth and penultimate round of the 2001 CART season, the eleventh iteration of the Honda Indy 300 and the last race of 2001 to be held outside the United States. The 65-lap race was won by Cristiano da Matta of the Newman-Haas Racing team who began from third. Michael Andretti finished second for Team Motorola and Forsythe Racing driver Alex Tagliani took third.
  Roberto Moreno won the second pole position of his career by recording the fastest lap in qualifying but lost his start-line advantage to de Ferran on the approach to the first corner. De Ferran pulled away from the rest of the field and retained the lead until the first round of pit stops. Moreno retook first by staying on the track for a lap longer than de Ferran. He lost the first position when his car developed a gear selection problem that led to his retirement on the 54th lap.
context_section_description: Weather conditions at the start were dry and sunny. The ambient temperature ranged from 76 to 78 °F (24 to 26 °C) and the track temperature was between 114 to 128 °F (46 to 53 °C). Approximately 110,187 people were in attendance. Starter Jim Swintal waved the green flag at 13:57 local time to signal begin the race. De Ferran accelerated faster than Moreno off the line and was ahead of him on the approach to the first corner. On the lap, the first caution was displayed when Mears tried to overtake Gidley on the right but braked too late and locked his tyres to avoid piling into the rear of Herta's car. He spun on the outside line at the turn one chicane and damaged the right-front corner of his car in an impact with a wall. Mears retired due to the damage to his car. He was transported to Allamanda Private Hospital for a precautionary x-ray and treatment to his swollen right index finger. Racing resumed at the start of the third lap as de Ferran maintained first over Moreno. On that lap, da Matta out-braked Tracy for a pass around the left for fourth at turn three. De Ferran and Moreno began pulling away from the rest of the field, increasing their lead over da Matta to 3.473 seconds by the start of lap ten. Da Matta in turn drew clear from Tracy and Franchitti as Tagliani could not match the Team Green cars' pace. He was 12 seconds adrift by lap 12.
  In the meantime, 11th-placed Serviá informed his race engineer Phil Howard of a mechanical failure and stopped his car between turns five and six with a gearbox failure on lap eleven. Five laps later, Castroneves tried to pass Carpentier at turn five but locked his tyres and narrowly avoided hitting the rear of his car. He braked hard to pull back in line to protect eleventh from Bräck. Green flag pit stops began on lap 20 when Junqeuira entered the pit lane. Franchitti did the same on the next lap when a fuel pressure problem caused his engine to misfire forcing him to make his first stop three laps early. He glanced a barrier alongside the circuit at turn eight on lap 22 but continued without sustaining major car damage. De Ferran made his pit stop from first on the lap and gave the lead back to Moreno. He led lap 23 before entering the pit lane and relinquishing the lead to Dixon. The extra lap Moreno spent on the circuit got him ahead of de Ferran. On lap 24, the second caution was shown for an incident at turn four. Franchitti sought to recover lost ground when he glanced the turn four left wall and pirouetted under heavy acceleration leaving the corner. He could not reverse out of the area and his car overheated. Franchitti's car was extricated by course officials so he could continue driving.
  CART chief steward Chris Kneifel barred entry to the pit lane to all racers until the pace car picked up the race leader. Third-placed Carpentier was caught out by this and was sent to the rear of the pack. Takagi did the same but avoided a penalty because he drove through pit road. Moreno retook first place when Dixon made his pit stop for fuel and tyres on the 25th lap. Two laps later, the pace car was withdrawn and Moreno retained the lead with de Ferran second and da Matta third. Moreno began pulling away from the rest of the field. A frustrated Bräck attempted to pass Castroneves on the right but was forced onto the inside of the first chicane. This manoeuvre did not lose or gain any time for Bräck who overtook Castroneves soon after. Franchitti became the third retirement with an engine failure on lap 36. He pulled off onto the turn three run-off area so he could leave his car. On the 40th lap, Castroneves was in seventh when he spun onto the turn eight outside run-off area after brake locking. CART safety officials moved Castroneves' vehicle behind the wall, so his engine could be restarted. He fell to 22nd and a lap behind Moreno. De Ferran lowered Moreno's lead to 4.6 seconds by lap 46. Moreno slowed greatly on the backstraight leaving turn four after losing the use of second gear after he felt a vibration.
  The second round of green flag pit stops began on the same lap wh
caption: Cristiano da Matta (pictured in 2004) took his second victory of the season and third of his career.
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