Time Flies for Papis

Bobby Rahal may have to change his mind about his 2002 driver lineup after lame duck Max Papis stole the Honda Grand Prix of Monterey from a field of 26 CART drivers Sunday at Laguna Seca Raceway.

It was the type of race where the last car running was going to win. Papis, who was not on Rahal’s wish list before Sunday, was the benefactor of a CART rule that declares a race over after two hours, even if it has not completed its scheduled distance.

Sunday’s race was supposed to be 83 laps around the 11-turn, 2.2-mile course on the Monterey peninsula, but a series of accidents and yellow caution flags caused the race to end after 76 laps.

“I did it for Alex,” said Papis about spinning a doughnut in the second turn after taking the checkered flag, carrying on a tradition started by fellow Italian driver Zanardi after winning here in 1996. Zanardi, Papis’ close friend, lost his legs in a racing accident last month in Germany.

Papis and the Rahal crew took advantage of eight caution flags by making five pit stops in the first half of the race, enabling Papis to move up from his 25th starting position to take the lead on lap 61.

“Now you know why they call me Mad Max, to come from last to first,” he said grinning. “I kept my focus all race long and the team took the best out of themselves. We knew by starting in the back, we had to do something different, so we kept taking on a little fuel a little at a time and getting laps back because we didn’t have to save fuel at the end.”.

Once Papis emerged from the pack, he was never in danger of being caught as he pulled away from second-place finisher Memo Gidley, who started 23rd, and pole-sitter Gil de Ferran, who was content with a third place finish as it gained him 15 points--14 for finishing third and one for leading the most laps--in his championship duel with Kenny Brack.

“Everything looked good for us from the start and we were pushing hard to keep ahead of [New Zealand rookie Scott] Dixon and Helio [Castroneves] until all those cautions cut the race short,” de Ferran said. “But all the credit to Max. He was under tremendous pressure and he never made a mistake.

“At the end, with Michael Andretti between me and Memo, I decided to contain myself and be content with third place.”

With two races--Australia and California Speedway--remaining, de Ferran has 179 points to 153 for Brack and 141 for Castroneves.

De Ferran’s finish enabled Honda to clinch its fourth CART manufacturers title since 1994. Honda announced earlier this week that it is leaving CART after the 2002 season.

When Rahal announced on Friday that Jimmy Vasser would be his lead driver next year, he said, “I’m looking at some young American drivers for the other car, depending on what we can get for sponsorship.”

In as much as Papis is Italian and turned 32 last week, that would seem to leave him out.

‘I’m a fighter, I expect to have many more successes to show in the future,” Papis said when asked about his 2002 plans.

“Max did a super job,” said Rahal, who won four consecutive CART races at Laguna Seca from 1984 to 1987. “The guy, when he had to go fast, he went for it and did a beautiful job. The yellows early on helped us, but then he got fantastic fuel mileage.”

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The wrecks started early. On the first turn of the race, Brack and Mauricio Gugelmin tangled and in the ensuing melee, Andretti was also knocked off the course. Brack’s crew tried to repair the damage, but the car lasted only five more laps.

Andretti lost a lap and never got it back.

One lap later, Player’s Forsythe Racing teammates, Patrick Carpentier and Alex Tagliani, had side-by-side contact that knocked Carpentier into a tire barrier and spun Tagliani into the gravel pit.

“It’s disappointing because it was too early for any kind of an incident,” said Carpentier. “I’ll take the blame for that one, but for sure it was not intentional because we are both fighting for championship points. I thought I saw an opening, but Alex accelerated much better than I expected and I hit his rear wheel.”.

The day’s most frightening accident occurred in the second turn on lap 65 when Oriol Servia’s Lola climbed over Gugelmin’s car and catapulted in the air as if off a springboard. It flipped one and a half times before landing on its side and tumbling right side up.

Servia, wearing a HANS device, apparently suffered no injuries. He was taken to Community Hospital of Monterey Peninsula for precautionary measures and was released.

One incident that did not bring out a yellow occurred when de Ferran, Dixon, Castroneves and Paul Tracy raced out of the pits in a pack. Everyone made it out but Tracy, who had been fourth.

Barry Green, Team Kool Green owner, was blunt in his comments.

“I happen to think it’s the Penske game,” he said. “De Ferran pulled out in front of Dario [Franchitti] in pit lane here last year. Castroneves pulled out in front of Michael Andretti earlier this year at Indy. And now Castroneves was clearly beaten out of the pits and he turns Paul around in pit lane.

“I’m just surprised Roger Penske allows these things to happen. It’s about time that CART took a stand and stood up to their game.”