Chicago Grand Prix: Lap-by-lap

Lap 225- Juan Montoya wins his sixth CART race of the year after a tense battle with Franchitti. Vasser holds 3rd

Drama even before the start of the race. Robby Gordon pits with an electrical problem on the pace laps but rejoins okay. Luiz Garcia Jr will not start after his practice crash.

Start delayed, frontrunners out of alignment. First two laps run under yellow as a result

Lap 1- Papis lead, Franchitti around the outside of Vasser into 3rd

Lap 2- Montoya up from 10th to 8th already, Franchitti working on Blundell for 2nd and gets through

Lap 7- Montoya now 5th. Blundell going backwards, he drops to 4th. Tracy is making progress through the midfield

Lap 9- Order: Papis, Franchitti, Vasser, Castro-Neves, Montoya, Blundell, Carpentier, Herta, Moreno, Moore, Jones, Andretti, Tracy, De Ferran, Gugelmin, Pruett, Da Matta, Kanaan, Magnussen, Jourdain, Boesel, Gordon, Unser Jr, Hearn, Hattori, Vitolo

Lap 12- Da Matta gets very sideways and slows on front straight with smoke coming from the engine.

Blundell is complaing of a 'loose condition' (oversteer)

Da Matta's smoke is actually from a tyre. He pits for repairs. Papis now lapping Vitolo, Hattori and Hearn

Lap 21- Papis has a 1.2s lead but is struggling to lap Al Unser Jr, Gordon and Boesel.

Lap 30- Leaders in very heavy traffic. Papis gets away a little but Vasser is closing in on Franchitti. Tracy and Magnussen making a lot of progress through the midfield

Lap 40- Order: Papis, Franchitti, Vasser, Castro-Neves, Montoya, Blundell, Carpentier, Herta, Andretti, Moreno, Jones, Tracy, Moore, Gugelmin, Magnussen, De Ferran, Pruett, Kanaan, Jourdain Jr, Unser Jr, Boesel, Gordon, Hattori, Hearn, Vitolo, Da Matta

Lap 43: Shigeaki Hattori's car is sounding sick and losing places. Carpentier passes Blundell for 6th, Andretti follows him through

Lap 45: Montoya passes Castro-Neves for 4th and closes on his team-mate Jimmy Vasser. Blundell now really struggling and down to 12th

Lap 53: Vasser gets wide, passed by Montoya, Castro-Neves and Andretti, the latter making up two places as he passes Castro Neves as well

Lap 60: Montoya and Andretti both pass Franchitti. Moore said to be losing power

Order- Papis, Montoya, Andretti, Franchitti, Castro-Neves, Franchitti

Lap 63- Yellow, Moore and Unser Jr both have engine failures

Lap 67- Montoya comes out of the pits in the lead. Papis loses a lot of places

Lap 70- Order: Montoya, Andretti, Franchitti, Tracy, Vasser, Papis, Carpentier, Castro-Neves, Jones, Magnussen, Herta, Moreno, Pruett, Gugelmin, Blundell, Kanaan, De Ferran, Jourdain Jr, Gordon, Boesel, Vitolo, Hearn, Hattori, Da Matta

Lap 71- Two penalties applied. Tracy for passing under yellow, De Ferran for pit lane speeding

Andretti and Montoya both passed Papis before the yellow and alledgedly touched wheels on pit road

Lap 76- Green flag. Franchitti and Tracy both pass Andretti but Michael is able to repass the latter

Lap 77- Tracy penalty withdrawn due to incorrect procedure. He runs 4th

Lap 83- Montoya and Franchitti leaving the rest behind. Herta passes Magnussen for 10th

Lap 87- Yellow flag. Magnussen and Moreno collide in turn one, Magnussen's car heavily damaged on the left rear corner, Moreno appears undamaged.

Lap 89- Moreno is able to return to the pits for attention. Rejoins but will get a penalty because the pits were closed. Magnussen is still with the CART safety team and appears shaken by the impact

Lap 98: Restart at last. Tracy working on Andretti, Franchitti moves into the lead in turn 3 but Montoya stays on the outside. Tracy and Andretti collide in turn 3 and both go into the wall. Both cars badly damaged but drivers are moving around okay

Lap 104: Order under yellow: 1. Franchitti, 2. Montoya, 3.Vasser, 4. Papis, 5. Carpentier, 6. Castro-Neves, 7. Jones, 8. Herta, 9. Pruett, 10. Blundell, 11. Gugelmin, 12. Kanaan, 13. Gordon, 14. Jourdain Jr, 15. Boesel, 16. De Ferran, 17. Moreno, 18. Vitolo, 19. Hearn, 20. Hattori, 21. Da Matta

Da Matta is in and out of the pits with a suspected handling problem

Andretti went to walk away from the car but stopped and had to sit down. He has been taken to the medical centre for a precuationary check. He will join Jan Magnussen there

Both the collisions have been caused by Newman-Haas cars trying over-ambitious overtaking moves: Moreno put Magnussen in the wall, Andretti responsible for the Tracy incident

Lap 108- Moreno and De Ferran both pit for fuel. They are gambling on a different strategy to get them back on the lead lap

Lap 115- Green flag. Franchitti makes a break for it and quickly pulls out a 1.5s lead. Vasser working on Montoya, Castro-Neves passes Carpentier for 5th

Lap 123- De Ferran has been awarded his second pit speed violation penalty of the day. Andretti apparently has a bruised achilles tendon. Magnussen is unhurt

Lap 124- Montoya dives into the lead as Boesel blocks Franchitti

Lap 134- Montoya has a 2.2s lead. Blundell is reporting a header problem but is actually running quicker than he has for a while. Kanaan slows on course.

Lap 150- Montoya has a 7s lead as Franchitti comes under massive pressure from Vasser, Papis and Castro Neves. Blundell is out, he has problems with both the engine and the transmission of his car.

Lap 159- Second round of pit stops start under green. Papis and Castro Neves first to come in, no problems

Lap 161- Montoya's lead dwindles to 3.5s in traffic, he then pits, no problems

Lap 167- Franchitti pits. It's an excellent stop but he rejoins behind Montoya.

Lap 179- Pruett has a major engine failure and retires. He pulls off quickly so the track stays green. Montoya leads by 3s. Moreno's fuel gamble is paying off at present, he is back on the lead lap in 8th place

Order- 1. Montoya, 2. Franchitti, 3. Vasser, 4. Papis, 5. Castro-Neves, 6. Carpentier, 7. Jones, 8. Moreno, 9. Herta, 10. Gugelmin, 11. De Ferran, 12. Boesel, 13. Gordon, 14. Kanaan, 15. Jourdain, 16. Da Matta, 17. Vitolo, 18. Hearn, 19. Hattori

Lap 182- Franchitti closes hugely on Montoya as the Columbian struggles to lap the battling Jones and Moreno

Lap 183- Moreno gets out of the way by pitting, leaders split by 0.4s

Lap 187- De Ferran gets his third pit speed violation penalty of the drive. Jones badly blocking Montoya. Gugelmin slows and retires

Lap 192- Franchitti trying to pass Montoya on the outside. Jones still baulking them both

Lap 193- Gugelmin retired due to gearbox problems

Lap 198- Franchitti just 0.5s behind Montoya but there is no way past

Lap 199- Jourdain slows on backstretch and crwals to the pits

Lap 200- Montoya has now secured the bonus point for leading the most laps, he now shares the series lead with Franchitti. Montoya getting seriously frustrated with the obstructive Jones

Lap 212- Leaders still inseperable. Is Franchitti hanging back to prepare for a final charge?

Lap 215- Vasser now a long way behind the leaders but he is under big pressure from Papis and Castro Neves

Lap 219- Moreno surprises Franchitti and unlaps himself. He now sits between Montoya and Franchitti.

Lap 221- Montoya leads by 0.8s but Moreno is now working on him, trying to get back onto the lead lap