CART - da Matta makes consistency count
CART certainly generated its fair share of headlines during 2002, but unfortunately most of them concerned matters relating to things other than the action that was taking place on track
The escalating war with the rival Indy Racing League and the defection of many of CART's leading teams and drivers, not to mention engine manufacturers Honda and Toyota, grabbed much of the attention, but there was also the collapse of chassis builder Reynard and the cancellation of the German round at the EuroSpeedway caused by the facility's dire financial problems.
With all this and more taking place in the background it could have easily overshadowed the racing itself. Thankfully, although the grid was reduced to just 18 cars mid-season after PacWest and Sigma fell by the wayside, there was still strength in depth at the head of the field both in terms of drivers and teams.
In the end the championship became a bit of a one man show as Cristiano da Matta put together a series of races wins - taking four back-to-back and seven in total - while his rivals struggled to get anywhere near his level of consistency.
Michael Andretti, Paul Tracy, Patrick Carpentier, Bruno Junqueira, Dario Franchitti, Kenny Brack, Jimmy Vasser and most surprisingly of all Mario Dominguez, all scored race wins during the year, but it was Junqueira who nicked in to clinch second place in the standings at the final round of the season.
What happens to CART in the future is unclear. Da Matta is F1-bound with Toyota, and so far only a handful of teams and drivers have signed up for the new one-chassis, one-engine formula it has become. Hopefully, sufficient interest will be generated, because as this year showed, there's little wrong with the package when it comes to creating good racing.
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