Race: Brack's sombre win in Germany

Those final laps were run under yellow, allowing Kenny Brack to lead Max Papis home in a Team Rahal one-two, with Patrick Carpentier third.

Zanardi was airlifted to the Klinikum Berlin-Marzahn hospital in what CART officials called 'extremely critical condition', having suffered massive injuries to his lower extremities when his car was T-boned at nearly 200 mph by Alex Tagliani's Reynard-Ford.

At the last official update, Zanardi was reported to be breathing and responding to direction, though unconfirmed but reliable reports state that he has lost both of his legs.

Zanardi had just pitted from the lead while engaged in a tight battle with his Mo Nunn Racing team mate Tony Kanaan when he lost control in the pit exit lane inside Turn 1. Zanardi's car spun around and slid backwards up the track toward the outer wall, only to be pierced just aft of the left front wheel by the nose of Tagliani's car.

The front half of Zanardi's Reynard-Honda, including both front wheels and suspension arms, was sheared from the rest of the monocoque near the dash bulkhead in the impact.

Tagliani had no place to go. After the accident, he was awake and alert, but only suffering bruises and back pain in the accident.

At that point in the race, the two Mo Nunn Reynard-Hondas were in control - as they had been all weekend. Zanardi and Kanaan had pulled seven seconds clear of Brack and had nearly 30 seconds in hand over the Forsythe Racing duo of Carpentier and Tagliani when they made their final pit stops.

Kanaan pitted from second place on lap 141. The Brazilian remained stationary for 7.0 seconds before blasting back onto the track. Zanardi, whose lead over Kanaan had been less than 0.2s before Kanaan peeled off, had a quicker stop at 5.5 seconds. But the Italian two-time CART champion, who was closer to a race win than he had been all year, over-cooked it in the warm-up lane as he accelerated back into the battle. The spin couldn't have happened at a worse place.

"I almost hit Zanardi," reported Carpentier, who was dicing with his team mate at the time. "He came up the track, and I went sideways and almost hit the wall. I knew somebody was going to hit him, because he was going up the track and we were at full speed.

"I was very glad when the doctors told me that Tag was okay, and I hope
Zanardi is okay too."

Carpentier had leaned out his mixture and was stretching his fuel to the finish when the accident occurred. The big question is whether the Rahal cars could have finished the race had it stayed green until the end.

"We were trying to make sure that we wouldn't have to pit one more time in the end," Brack admitted. "I think that strategy paid off very well for us, and it's unfortunate we had the events we did in the end. I hope Alex is okay.

"But for Team Rahal, it was a needed result in our quest for the championship. Our condolences go to all the people involved in the incident in the United States and also to Alessandro."

Brack has now won four of six Champ Car races on oval tracks this year, and he finished an unlucky second at Nazareth. The only blot on his oval copybook came when he and Papis crashed while racing for the win late in the Michigan 500.

The Swede's win in Germany puts him back in the CART championship lead with 131 points. Gil de Ferran, who started from the pole based on the points standings coming into the race at EuroSpeedway, finished 8th Saturday and dropped to second in the points on 120. The tight championship battle also includes Michael Andretti (115) and Helio Castroneves (111).

Andretti was one of the first to commit to a four-stop strategy, and it is possible he would have emerged as the winner had the race gone green to the finish. As it is, he finished ahead of Oriol Servia (4-stops), Tora Takagi (a career-best sixth, also using the 4-stop strategy) and Kanaan, who along with Zanardi had run full rich and only made a fourth stop because they had to, due to a general lack of yellows.

Brack led under green flag conditions for the first 63 laps until he bumped wheels while trying to lap Bruno Junqueira entering Turn 1. Kenny caught the slide and drove the car into the grass, losing only one place to Carpentier. Andretti, Tagliani and Dario Franchitti were next, followed by the Nunn team mates Kanaan and Zanardi, who had worked up from 10th and 22nd on the grid respectively.

"It was a very unfortunate incident, but in oval racing, you have to lap cars," Brack said. "I thought Junqueira was an experienced driver and I thought he knew I was there, but obviously he didn't. It was a big moment, but I somehow managed to keep it together and kept going."

Carpentier led the next stint, but Kanaan was on the charge. He moved from fifth to second between Laps 67 and 77, then pressured Carpentier into giving up the lead on Lap 95. Kanaan then led until pitting on Lap 106, while Brack and Carpentier managed to stretch their fuel until Lap 113.

When the order sorted itself out on Lap 124, Zanardi led by 2 seconds from Kanaan, Brack, Tagliani and Papis. Kanaan soon caught up, however, and the Mo Nunn cars waged a tense battle for the lead until making their final stops on Laps 141 and 142 respectively. Then came the Tagliani/Zanardi accident and the subsequent yellow flag finish.

Brack enjoyed strong support in the grandstands, but he downplayed the significance of winning in CART's European debut.

"I'm sure maybe later we'll think about that," he said. "It's been a difficult week, this whole week, because of everything that has happened. I haven't really thought about anything else."

Second-placed finisher Papis added: "These days have been very difficult for everybody, I'm sure. For people who have a heart and feelings like me, they are even more difficult. Motor racing is not the most important thing in my life. I have been praying for all of the people in the United States, and I pray for my friend Alessandro, that he will be okay."

Carpentier earned his fourth trip to the podium in the last six races, scoring more points than anyone in that period, while Andretti was poised to capitalise had events gone another way.

"The team did a great job with the strategy today," said Andretti. "We were on an equal pace with the leaders, but I think some of the guys just got better fuel mileage than we did today."

Servia's fifth place was his second consecutive in that position, while Takagi overcame an early spin to earn a career-best finish for the second straight week.

Dario Franchitti retired with mechanical problems, while De Ferran battled handling problems but was happy to finish in the points. His Penske team mate Helio Castroneves was 12th after suffering a slow third pit stop when the crew briefly could not attach the fuel hose.

The Champ Car series races next weekend at Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby, Northamptonshire.

For full EuroSpeedway Lausitz results, click here.