Sunday, June 25 Penske back on top; 
de Ferran wins again

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Seems like old times in CART these days with Marlboro Team Penske at the front more often than not.

Gil de Ferran gave Roger Penske's team its third victory in the last four races, holding off Roberto Moreno at the end Sunday to win the Freightliner/G.I. Joe's 200 at Portland International Raceway.

This is the same team that went just over three years without a victory until de Ferran broke through in May in Nazareth, Pa., finally giving Penske his 100th open-wheel win.

Gil de Ferran's pit crew goes to work on his 
car during his winning run Sunday in the 
Freightliner/G.I. Joe's 200.

Helio Castroneves, also new to the Penske operation this year, added another win on June 18 in Detroit and the two started from the front row and kept the battle mostly to themselves until the waning moments of Sunday's race.

It was pit stops by the leaders late in the race that were the determining factor Sunday.

"This one was mostly due to Roger's strategy," de Ferran said. "He told me to go all out after the second stop. After that stop, the car was fantastic. I knew what I had to do. I put my head down and went as fast as I could."

De Ferran was faced with making one more quick stop for fuel before the checkered flag. Pit stops by all the leaders late in the race were the determining factor.

Castroneves led 85 of the 112 laps on the 1.969-mile, 12-turn road course, with de Ferran the one dogging the rear of his Honda-powered Reynard most of the way.

Castroneves was just under a second ahead of de Ferran when the latter made his second stop on lap 71, getting out of the pits in just 9.3 seconds. Castroneves came in a later and, taking on more fuel, wound up taking 13.6 seconds. He came out behind de Ferran on the track.

De Ferran, who won here last year while driving for Derrick Walker, got another break when Moreno's crew made a costly error while fueling his car on his last pit stop.

Moreno, easily getting the best mileage among the leaders, made only two fuel stops in the race lengthened from 98 laps last year. The strategy looked perfect until the fueler on his Patrick Racing car failed to open the valve and it took about five seconds too long to get the tank filled with methanol when he pitted for the final time on lap 75.

De Ferran had to make one more quick stop for a splash of fuel on lap 89 and raced back onto the track just ahead of Moreno, pretty much sealing the fifth victory of his career.

De Ferran and Moreno were actually running fourth and fifth at the time, but they knew Castroneves, Cristiano da Matta and Michael Andretti all had to make one more fuel stop.

"I was just biding my time and trying to stay in front of Roberto," de Ferran said with a grin.

Moreno, matching the best finish of his career, said, "We played a very strategic race. I was just trying to stay in touch with the leaders and be conservative on fuel."

Despite his fueling problem, it almost worked for Moreno when de Ferran had trouble passing the lapped car of Patrick Carpentier three laps from the end. The lead was cut to less than a second, and de Ferran almost collided with the slower car at one point.

Moreno then had similar problems getting past Carpentier and wound up trailing de Ferran across the finish line by 2.625-seconds -- about 20 car lengths.

"That almost messed up my race and then it almost messed up Moreno's race," de Ferran said.

Moreno added, "It spoiled a good end. It worked for Gil, though."

De Ferran quickly replied: "Just."

Carpentier, who finished 10th, said his radio wasn't working well and he didn't know who the leader was.

"I should have let the leaders by, but my team kept telling me not to because there were a few cars out there that were racing us for position," he said.

Christian Fittipaldi wound up third, followed by Andretti, da Matta and Kenny Brack.

Castroneves, who developed gearbox problems late in the race, also ran out of fuel as he neared the finish line, falling from fourth to seventh, just ahead of Dario Franchitti.

The only incident of the afternoon took place on the first turn of the first lap when Brack, a CART rookie, clipped the rear of Franchitti's car and ignited a melee involving defending series champion Juan Montoya, Jimmy Vasser, Max Papis, Adrian Fernandez and Paul Tracy.

The accident knocked Papis out of the race, caused damage that soon took Vasser out and left Franchitti, who stalled his car and then got a stop-and-go penalty for short-cutting the circuit, out of contention.

Tracy failed to finish the race and failed to score points for the third straight race. That knocked him out of the series lead as Moreno moved one point ahead of de Ferran, 68-67, at the top of the standings after eight of 20 races.

Montoya, who won seven races last year, had an engine failure Sunday and still has only one victory this season.

"It's a shame because the championship is slipping away," the Colombian driver said. "We didn't have the fastest car today, but we still could have gained some points. We need to really focus and gain some points in Cleveland next week."