Da Matta gets first CART victory

Mike Harris

Sunday, July 30, 2000 | 4:28 a.m.

CICERO, Ill. - Little Cristiano da Matta came up big in his race car Sunday, becoming the fourth first-time winner in CART this season.

The Brazilian driver, who claims to be 5-foot-3 and 130 pounds but appears smaller, took the lead late in Sunday's Target Grand Prix during a series of pit stops. He was able to stay well ahead of points leader Michael Andretti, who remained in da Matta's mirrors through the final 33 laps on the 1.029-mile Chicago Motor Speedway oval.

Da Matta's Toyota-powered Reynard crossed the finish line 1.69 seconds - about 20 car-lengths - ahead of Andretti's Lola-Ford to make him the ninth different winner in 12 races this season.

The victory came in the 51st career start for the 1998 Indy Lights champion.

"It was incredible," said the 25-year-old da Matta said. "I've won some races in other series, but this was just a different emotion."

The youngster was almost as happy for PPI Motorsports owner Cal Wells III, whose team has been at the forefront of the development of the Toyota engine since the company entered the CART FedEx Series in 1996.

"It's his first win, too, and that makes me very happy," da Matta said. "This win is for Cal and for Jeff Krosnoff."

Krosnoff, Wells' driver in 1996, his first full season in CART, was killed in a crash in Toronto.

Da Matta's success didn't just pop out of nowhere, although his previous best finish in just over a season and a half in the Champ car series was a third earlier this month in Cleveland. He had finished in the top five three times in his last four starts, as well as running competitively in several other races this season before succumbing to mechanical problems.

With CART requiring a rear wing on the short ovals that makes passing for position nearly impossible, the 225-lap race turned into a strategy game.

Juan Montoya, the defending series champion and defending race winner here, started from the pole, led 110 laps and seemed headed for another victory before an electrical problem ended his day on lap 178. That came moments after his final pit stop left him just behind da Matta under the sixth and final caution flag of the afternoon.

"We were really fast," said Montoya, coming off a spectacular victory over Andretti the previous Sunday in Michigan. "I thought this was going to be like last year, but it didn't happen. The car just stopped. It's frustrating."

When Montoya's car suddenly rolled to a stop on the track, the crowd of more than 50,000 roared, and Andretti tucked up right behind da Matta for the restart on lap 183.

But Andretti, who came into the race leading Roberto Moreno by 14 points in the standings, never came close to catching the leader.

Da Matta, among the leaders through the race, pulled out to leads of more than four seconds before running into slower traffic in the waning laps.

Andretti, the CART leader with 40 career victories, tried to stay with da Matta. But the leader lapped fellow Brazilian Mauricio Gugelmin, putting a car between the leaders on lap 221, and it was no contest over the last four laps.

Asked when he knew he had the race won, da Matta said, "Only after the last pit stop. I knew I had a good car, but I got a little hard on the tires. I picked up too much push but, once I got by Gugelmin, I knew I was okay."

Gil de Ferran finished third, followed by Kenny Brack, Adrian Fernandez, Moreno - who fell 22 points behind Andretti - and Gugelmin.

Da Matta's victory was only the third for the Toyota engine, with Montoya providing the first two earlier this season.