Minardi picks up a point

The Hungarian was lying just outside the points in ninth place with six laps left of the Indy race when Lady Luck shone down on him as Sauber's Giancarlo Fisichella, who was eighth at the time, retired from the race.

Baumgartner was actually fortunate to even finish the race though after a coming together with Jaguar's Christian Klien.

"I was not so happy at the beginning of the race, as there were a lot of incidents on the track and, as a result, I wrecked my first set of tyres avoiding several of them," he said. "After my first pitstop, and on new tyres, the car just got better and better. Unfortunately, Klien misjudged an overtaking manoeuvre while I was in my second stint and hit the right front tyre of my car with his left rear, which caused me to spin. Despite all that, though, I am pleased to have finished another race and to have set some consistent lap times."

Team-mate Gimmi Bruni retired on the first lap due to a gearbox problem. "It was a good race to begin with, and the car was quick in the first two stints. There was a problem at the first pit stop, which lost me some time, but once I was back out on the track again, I was able to re-pass Zsolt and pull away. Unfortunately, a problem developed with the gearbox, and there was no choice but to retire."

Team boss Paul Stoddart was happy to score a point but was disappointed the team was unable to bring two cars home.

"The team was pleased to get Zsolt's car to the finish today, but saddened by the curtailment of Gimmi's race as the result of a gearbox problem," he said. "All in all, though, the performance was about the best that could be expected today."