De Ferran wins CART title; Fittipaldi wins Marlboro 500

Monday, Oct. 30, 2000 | 3:43 a.m.

FONTANA, Calif. -- Christian Fittipaldi withstood a battle of attrition to win the Marlboro 500 at California Speedway while Gil de Ferran finished third and captured the season-long CART FedEx Championship Series title.

Fittipaldi, the 11th different winner this season, earned $1 million for the victory and de Ferran claimed a $1 million bonus for winning the series championship.

"It was a fantastic day ... the car was really nice," de Ferran said. "I just drove around the whole day. We always knew this is a race of attrition, difficult to get to the end. That proved to be the case today."

The race, which was resumed Monday morning after being suspended Sunday due to rain, featured 59 lead changes among 12 drivers -- but also was slowed by 11 caution flags. Only six cars were running at the end of the 500-mile race as blown engines sidelined 15 cars.

Adrian Fernandez, one of three drivers capable of catching de Ferran for the championship, finished fifth in the race and second in points.

Kenny Brack, who also had a mathematical chance to claim the championship, dropped out of the race and the title chase when his turbocharger broke on lap 170. The CART Rookie of the Year finished fourth in points.

Roberto Moreno took second in the race and was third in the championship.

Two drivers required hospitalization following separate accidents. Helio Castroneves hit the wall in Turn 1 after losing an engine on lap 226 and was taken to a local hospital after complaining of neck and ankle pain.

Las Vegas resident Alex Tagliani also crashed in Turn 1 after his engine blew on lap 248 and taken to the hospital with mid-back, chest and abdominal pain.

Both drivers were awake and alert when rescue workers reached their cars, according to a CART spokesman.

Tagliani was credited with a sixth-place finish in the season finale. Fellow Las Vegans Patrick Carpentier (14th place), Jimmy Vasser (22nd) and Paul Tracy (24th) all left the race with engine problems.