page_title: 2000 Rio 200
section_title: Practice and qualifying
hierarchical_section_title: 2000 Rio 200 / Practice and qualifying
caption_attribution_description: English: Alex Tagliani at Carb Day 2015 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
context_page_description: The 2000 Rio 200 was a Championship Auto Racing Teams auto race held at the trapezoid-shaped Autódromo de Jacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on April 30, 2000. It was the third race of the 2000 CART season, the fifth running of the event, and the first round of the year to be held outside of the United States. The 108-lap race was won by Patrick Racing driver Adrián Fernández after he started from sixteenth. Jimmy Vasser of Chip Ganassi Racing finished second and Team Green's Paul Tracy was third.
  Tagliani set the fastest overall lap time in qualifying to start the race from the pole position. He led for a total of 76 laps, more than any other driver. However, Tagliani did not win the event because he lost traction in his car on the 100th lap and spun in the second corner which promoted Fernández to the lead. The race ended under caution and no overtaking was permitted after Tagliani spun for a second time at the end of lap 105. This enabled Fernández to win, his first of the season, and the sixth of his career. There were five cautions and eight lead changes among five different drivers during the course of the event.
context_section_description: Three practice sessions were held before the Sunday race: two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session ran for 90 minutes, the second 60 minutes, and the third 75 minutes. Conditions during the Friday practice sessions were hot and sunny.  De Ferran set the first practice session's fastest lap at 39.610 seconds, followed by Tagliani, Tracy, Hélio Castroneves, Kenny Bräck, Vasser, Papis, Cristiano da Matta, Moreno, and Christian Fittipaldi. Five yellow flags were waved. The first was for Takuya Kurosawa whose engine failed on the exit of turn four. He turned left to leave the main straight and allow safety officials to extinguish a fire in the engine compartment. The next two cautions were necessitated when Luiz Garcia Jr. and Mark Blundell stalled on the track separately. Both were towed back to pit road by circuit officials. Gualter Salles caused the fourth yellow flag with a heavily crash against the right-hand barrier at the first corner. Salles was not injured but his car sustained heavy damage to its right-side suspension. He stopped in the centre of the circuit in turn two. The last caution was activated for Fittipaldi who stalled on track.
  In the second practice session, Juan Pablo Montoya set the day's fastest lap with a time of 38.922 seconds and was the only driver to go below 39 seconds. He was almost three-tenths of a second faster than Bräck in second and Tagliani was third. Fittipaldi, Castroneves, Vasser, Da Matta, Papis, de Ferran, and Michael Andretti were in positions four through ten. The first three cautions came within half an hour of each other because debris and fluids were observed lying on the track and separate track inspections were needed to inspect and clean it. De Ferran caused the fourth caution by spinning in the third turn but avoided car damage. The final caution came out after Maurício Gugelmin spun in turn four and collided against a left-hand tire barrier with the rear of his car. Gugelmin was unhurt.
  Conditions remained hot and sunny during Saturday morning's practice session. The first caution came out for debris on the backstraight that needed clearing. Montoya prompted the second caution when he spun 360 degrees in turn four but did not damage his car. Bräck caused a third yellow flag after he stalled on the exit of pit road. Six minutes later, a fourth caution was waved for debris leaving the pit lane that course officials removed. The fifth yellow flags were necessitated after Moreno broke his right-front wheel and wing endplate in a collision with the turn one outside barrier. Bryan Herta stalled on the backstraight and triggered the final caution with 14 minutes to go. Tagliani continued to perform well with the fastest lap of the session at 38.694 seconds. Montoya was one-tenth of a second slower in second, and Tracy replicated his first practice result in third. Bräck, Fittipaldi, Papis, Tony Kanaan, Castroneves, Vasser, and Adrián Fernández completed the top ten ahead of qualifying.
  Saturday afternoon's 135 minute qualifying session began with the slowest driver in the weekend's combined practice sessions going out first and the quickest competitor ventured out last. Each driver was restricted to two timed laps and the starting order was determined by the competitor's fastest lap times. One point was awarded to the pole position winner. Tagliani took the first pole position of his career with a lap of 38.587 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by Montoya who was 0.109 seconds slower because of an oversteer in the first corner. Tracy's car steeped out of him once he accelerated out of turn one and took third. Bräck was fourth, and the fastest Brazilian was Fittipaldi in fifth. Vasser changed the set-up of his car to go sixth. Castroneves was unhappy with the set-up of his vehicle and took seventh. Dario Franchitti ran slightly wide by driving too fast into turn four on his fastest lap and was eighth. Rounding out the top ten were Kanaan and Papis.
  Gidley was the fastest driver not to qualify in the top ten; his fastest time of 39.246 seconds was nearly sev
caption: Alex Tagliani (pictured in 2015) won the first pole position of his career.
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