2001 Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit
| Race details | |
|---|---|
| 7th round of the 2001 CART season | |
 |
|
| Date | June 17, 2001 |
| Official name | Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit |
| Location | Detroit, Michigan |
| Course | Temporary street circuit 2.35 mi / 3.78 km |
| Distance | 72 laps 168.9 mi / 271.8 km |
| Pole position | |
| Driver | Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske) |
| Time | 1:53:51.815 |
| Podium | |
| First | Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske) |
| Second | Dario Franchitti (Team Green) |
| Third | Roberto Moreno (Patrick Racing) |
The 2001 Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) race that was held on June 17, 2001 on the Raceway on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan. It was the seventh race of the 2001 CART season. The race was won for the second consecutive year by Hélio Castroneves for Team Penske. Dario Franchitti finished second, and Roberto Moreno clinched third.
There were four cautions, totalling 14 laps during the race. It was Castroneves's third victory of the 2001 season, and the fifth of his CART career. Of the 25 drivers that started, 13 were listed as running at the end of the race; six retired after contact, and six retired with mechanical issues.
Hélio Castroneves (Team Penske) returned to the site of his first victory in CART. After securing pole position he led every lap during the race to win the Detroit Grand Prix. Castroneves scored the maximum of 22 Championship points (20 for first place, 1 for Pole, 1 for leading most laps) which moved him within 5 points of Kenny Bräck (Team Rahal), series leader at that time. Dario Franchitti (Team Green) finished second. It was his first podium finish in 2001. Roberto Moreno (Patrick Racing) completed the podium to finish in third position. Michael Andretti (Team Green/Motorola) and Christian Fittipaldi (Newman-Haas Racing) followed in fourth and fifth position respectively.
The race ended early for Alex Zanardi (Mo Nunn) and Michel Jourdain, Jr. (Bettenhausen Racing) after a collision in lap 3. Zanardi later expressed in an interview during ABC's coverage that he was not very happy with handling of the car and did not see Jourdain coming. Zanardi's teammate Tony Kanaan was withdrawn prior to the race after suffering a concussion during qualifying.
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