The 2001 CART PPG/Dayton Indy Lights Championship Powered By

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

consisted of 12 races. It was dominated by Townsend Bell who captured six victories on his way to the championship. It was the last Indy Lights season, as the series organizer,

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

, decided to drop the Indy Lights series and concentrate its efforts on the

Toyota Atlantic Championship The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...

. Most former Indy Lights teams that wished to stay in business went either to the Atlantic series, which replaced Indy Lights as the support race at most CART events, or the new Infiniti Pro Series, which ran in support of Indy Racing League events.

Drivers and teams

All teams utilized Lola T97/20 chassis with

V6 engines.

Calendar

Race summaries

Monterrey

*March 11, 2001 *

Fundidora Park Fundidora Park (''Parque Fundidora'' in Spanish) is an urban park located in the Mexican city of Monterrey, built in what once were the grounds of the Monterrey Foundry, the first steel and iron foundry in Latin America, and, for many years, th ...

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

, Mexico *Pole position:

Derek Higgins Derek Higgins ( ga, Ruaridh Ó hUiginn; born June 12, 1964) is an Irish former race car driver. Born in Dublin, he was a two-time winner of the Mexican Formula 3 championship in 1995 and 1997 before moving to the American Indy Lights series in 1 ...

, 1:25.345,

Long Beach

*April 8, 2001 * Long Beach street circuit,

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

*Pole position: Mario Domínguez, 1:15.968,

Texas

*April 28, 2001 * Texas Motor Speedway,

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

*Pole position: Damien Faulkner, 0:29:060, *The

race that weekend was cancelled due to track incompatibility, so this was the only race completed that weekend.

Milwaukee

*June 3, 2001 *

Milwaukee Mile The Milwaukee Mile is a oval race track in the central United States, located on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis, Wisconsin, a suburb west of Milwaukee. Its grandstand and bleachers seats approximately 37,000 spectator ...

West Allis, Wisconsin West Allis is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. A suburb of Milwaukee, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The population was 60,325 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Histo ...

*Pole position: Townsend Bell (qualifying rained out; grid determined by championship points)

Portland

*June 24, 2001 * Portland International Raceway,

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

*Pole position: Townsend Bell, 1:04.991,

Kansas

*July 8, 2001 * Kansas Speedway,

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of the ...

*Pole position: Mario Domínguez, 0:30.252, ‡Townsend Bell was penalized two positions for aggressive driving.

Toronto

*July 15, 2001 * Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario *Pole position: Townsend Bell, 1:04.202,

Mid-Ohio

*August 12, 2001 *

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington. Mid-Ohio has also colloquially become a term for the entire north-central regio ...

, Lexington, Ohio *Pole position: Townsend Bell, 1:13.809,

Gateway

*August 26, 2001 * Gateway International Raceway,

Madison, Illinois Madison is a city in Madison and St. Clair counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 3,891 at the 2010 census. It is home to World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway and the first Bulgarian Orthodox church in the United States. ...

*Pole position: Townsend Bell (qualifying rained out; grid determined by championship points)

Road Atlanta

*October 5, 2001 * Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia *Pole position: Townsend Bell, 1:14.883,

Laguna Seca

*October 14, 2001 * Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca,

Monterey, California Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...

*Pole position: Townsend Bell, 1:16.313,

Fontana

*November 4, 2001 * California Speedway,

Fontana, California Fontana is a city in San Bernardino County, California. Founded by Azariel Blanchard Miller in 1913, it remained essentially rural until World War II, when entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser built a large steel mill in the area. It is now a regional h ...

*Pole position: Townsend Bell (qualifying rained out; grid determined by championship points) *This was the last CART-sanctioned Indy Lights race.

Final points standings

Note: Race 4 no additional point for the qualifying was awarded due to rain, starting grid were determined by championship points standing. Race 9 no additional point for the qualifying was awarded due to rain, starting grid were determined by championship points standing.

Complete Overview

R9=retired, but classified NS=did not start

References

External links

2001 season data
from Motorsport.com {{Firestone Indy Lights Series Indy Lights seasons Indy Lights Indy Lights