Laguna Seca: Da Matta leads team 1-2

"I had a good start, which was my main concern," da Matta related. "Once I was clear, I knew the car was good. We were fastest in seven of eight sessions at this track this year, but none of that matters if you don't do it when it counts."

Da Matta saw a double-digit lead shrink to less than five seconds during the second stint of the race. But changes at the next pitstop restored the balance of his Lola-Toyota and helped him pull out a 16-second gap before he eased off at the finish.

"I was a little concerned, because I had a little traction problem and too much understeer in that stint," he said. "I also had traffic, but I knew we had a good gap and at the next car we put the car back the way it was at the start of the race."

Fittipaldi used quick pitstops to gain positions throughout the race. He led the last Newman/Haas one-two at Road America in 1999.

"Today was a great day for the team," Fittipaldi remarked. "It was a hard day for us, stuck behind traffic, but after the track cleared I closed on Brack pretty quick and beat him to the finish."

The Swede admitted he just didn't have quite enough speed to beat the Newman/Haas pair.

"I thought we could get second, but somehow Christian got ahead of me on the last stop," he said.

Patrick Carpentier recovered from a spin at the fast Turn Six to take fifth ahead of Scott Dixon, while Townsend Bell ran competitively and notched his first finish of the year in seventh.

Team Green's woes continued. Dario Franchitti was eliminated in a seven-car pile-up at the first turn that also ended the challenge of Adrian Fernandez, and Paul Tracy crashed out when his left-rear wheel flew off four corners after a pitstop. Michael Andretti managed 11th place.

The maximum haul of 23 points on the weekend elevates da Matta back into the CART championship lead, six points ahead of Michel Jourdain, who was delayed by the first lap incident before recovering to finish ninth.