page_title: 2001 American Memorial
section_title: Race
hierarchical_section_title: 2001 American Memorial / Report / Race
caption_attribution_description: English: Kenny Bräck at the 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
context_page_description: The 2001 American Memorial was a Championship Auto Racing Teams motor race held on September 15, 2001, at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz in Klettwitz, Germany. It was the 16th round of the 2001 CART season and the first race in the series to be held in Europe. Originally known as the German 500, the race's name was changed by CART in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Kenny Bräck won the race for Team Rahal; his teammate Max Papis finished in second place, and Patrick Carpentier was third.
  The season points leader entering the race, Gil de Ferran, was awarded the pole position when qualifying was cancelled after a practice session was rained out. Bräck took the lead early in the race, and built a seven-second advantage before going off course while trying to lap another car. Carpentier took his place after the lap 64 incident, and held the lead until Tony Kanaan passed him on lap 95. After passing Carpentier for second, Alex Zanardi moved ahead of Kanaan after a series of pit stops between laps 121 to 123. Zanardi held the top spot entering his final scheduled pit stop with 12 laps remaining.
context_section_description: On race day, a 30-minute warm-up session was held before the event began; Kanaan again posted the fastest time (35.288), followed by Zanardi and Paul Tracy. The 154-lap race began at 1:56 p.m. local time; Bräck immediately took the lead, and Andretti went into second coming out of the first turn. They remained the top two in lap 20, with Dario Franchitti in third. Six laps later, Andretti passed Franchitti to reclaim second when the latter was unable to pass a slower car. Drivers near the lead begin making their first round of pit stops on lap 35, and continued doing so through lap 40. By lap 60, Bräck had built a lead of more than seven seconds. Carpentier had moved into second place, and Andretti, Tagliani, and Franchitti rounded out the top five. Bräck relinquished his lead on lap 64, when he went off course while attempting to lap Junqueira. The first caution flag of the day came out, but not before Carpentier took the lead as Bräck regained control of his car and re-entered the track in second place. Pit stops took place during the caution, with Carpentier, Bräck, and Andretti still in the top three positions.
  Green flag racing resumed on lap 70, and Kanaan began moving toward the front of the field; he passed Andretti for third place on lap 73, and took second from Bräck four laps later. The second caution of the race occurred on lap 80, when Junqueira and Tora Takagi collided; Tagaki spun off the track, but was able to continue. Andretti and Franchitti made pit stops during the caution, and the green flag came out on lap 85. Kanaan passed Carpentier on lap 95, and Zanardi went into second shortly afterward, as Carpentier tried conserving fuel to complete the race with one fewer pit stop than the other contenders. Kanaan, Zanardi, and Bräck made pit stops from laps 105 to 113, and Andretti inherited the lead. Franchitti suffered a "mechanical problem" on lap 116, becoming the first driver to retire from the race. More pit stops occurred from laps 121 to 123, and Zanardi claimed the lead over Kanaan. The two contested the lead, and Kanaan was two-tenths of a second behind Zanardi when he made a pit stop for the final time on lap 141. Bräck moved up to second, and was followed by Carpentier and Tagliani.
  Zanardi went onto pit road for his last stop on lap 142. When attempting to re-enter the track, "he seemed to accelerate too early", according to the Associated Press' recap. Zanardi could not control his vehicle's rear end, and the car slid sideways onto the track, after having gone through grass. After Carpentier veered up the track to narrowly miss Zanardi's car, Tagliani drove straight into it at an estimated speed of 200 miles per hour. The impact split Zanardi's chassis into two pieces and littered the circuit with debris. The drivers were taken by airlift to the Klinikum Berlin-Marzahn hospital. Following the accident, the last 12 laps were run under a caution flag. There was one further retirement, on lap 153; Christian Fittipaldi made a pit stop due to a fire in the back of his car and dropped out. Bräck won the race, finishing ahead of Papis and Carpentier, who were second and third respectively. Andretti took fourth place, followed by Oriol Servia in fifth, Takagi in sixth, and Kanaan in seventh. De Ferran, Scott Dixon, and Tracy rounded out the top ten.
caption: Kenny Bräck (pictured in 2011) won the race, which finished under caution due to Zanardi's accident.
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