1999 Firestone Firehawk 500K

March 2026 February 2025 Japan Firestone Firehawk 500K Twin Ring Motegi oval map.svg Twin Ring Motegi April 101999 FIRESTONE FIREHAWK 500K https://www.racing-reference.info/race/1999-02/R Racing Reference 4 April 2023 1999 1999 Firestone Firehawk 500K 2 20 CART Twin Ring Motegi, Motegi, Tochigi, Japan Permanent oval course 1.549 2.493 201 311.349 501.093 Dry Gil de Ferran Walker Racing 25.463 Brazil Hélio Castro-Neves Hogan Racing 25.830 136 Brazil Adrián Fernández Patrick Racing Mexico Gil de Ferran Walker Racing Brazil Christian Fittipaldi Newman-Haas Racing Brazil The 1999 Firestone Firehawk 500K was the second round of the 1999 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series season, held on April 9, 1999, on the Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Tochigi, Japan. This was the first Champ Car race since the 1995 Indianapolis 500, in which Al Unser Jr. is absent on the starting grid. Report Race There was drama at the start when polesitter Gil de Ferran spun while taking the green flag. As a result, the start was delayed, and de Ferran was able to take back his starting position: pole. He led the early stages but then began to drop back with tire problems and Maurício Gugelmin took the lead. Gugelmin led comfortably until the first round of stops, when he overshot his pitlane, losing time. He was also given a black flag for running over pit equipment, which put him a lap down and out of contention. Adrián Fernández took the lead and led comfortably until Juan Pablo Montoya closed right up to him. Fernández held him off, and Montoya's challenge was ended when he lost three laps due to a fuel pick-up problem. In the final stages of the race, it seemed clear that everyone had to pit for fuel, and a caution brought out by Max Papis's spin was ideal. All the leaders pitted, except Fernández who for some reason stayed out. It seemed to be a mistake, as the race went green with 4 laps left, and he did not have enough fuel for 4 green-flag laps. However, Greg Moore, running second, spun while lapping backmarkers, which resulted in Richie Hearn crashing, and the caution came out again. Whereas the spin dropped Moore to fourth, the caution was till the end of the race, which meant that Fernández did not have to stop, and thus won the race. de Ferran recovered to finish second, and Christian Fittipaldi completed the podium. Classification Race Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 40 MEX Adrián Fernández Patrick Racing 201 1:46:01.463 4 20+1 2 5 BRA Gil de Ferran Walker Racing 201 +6.347 1 16+1 3 11 BRA Christian Fittipaldi Newman-Haas Racing 201 +7.669 7 14 4 99 CAN Greg Moore Forsythe Racing 201 +38.027 6 12 5 6 USA Michael Andretti Newman-Haas Racing 200 +1 Lap 5 10 6 44 BRA Tony Kanaan Forsythe Racing 200 +1 Lap 17 8 7 17 BRA Maurício Gugelmin PacWest Racing 200 +1 Lap 2 6 8 22 USA Robby Gordon Team Gordon 200 +1 Lap 14 5 9 9 BRA Hélio Castro-Neves Hogan Racing 199 +2 Laps 18 4 10 10 USA Richie Hearn Della Penna Motorsports 198 Contact 21 3 11 26 CAN Paul Tracy Team Green 198 +3 Laps 10 2 12 12 USA Jimmy Vasser Chip Ganassi Racing 198 +3 Laps 12 1 13 4 COL Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing 197 +4 Laps 15 14 2 BRA Tarso Marques Team Penske 197 +4 Laps 22 15 20 USA P. J. Jones Patrick Racing 196 +5 Laps 9 16 7 ITA Max Papis Team Rahal 196 +5 Laps 3 17 36 USA Alex Barron All American Racing 195 +6 Laps 19 18 19 MEX Michel Jourdain Jr. Payton/Coyne Racing 188 +13 Laps 26 19 71 BRA Luiz Garcia Jr. Payton/Coyne Racing 184 Engine 25 20 16 JPN Shigeaki Hattori Bettenhausen Racing 140 Clutch 24 21 24 USA Scott Pruett Arciero-Wells Racing 106 Fire 20 22 27 GBR Dario Franchitti Team Green 91 Contact 11 23 8 USA Bryan Herta Team Rahal 84 Electrical 8 24 18 GBR Mark Blundell PacWest Racing 78 Handling 16 25 25 BRA Cristiano da Matta Arciero-Wells Racing 39 Transmission 23 26 33 CAN Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Racing 10 Fuel pressure 13 Caution flags Laps Cause1-4 de Ferran (5) spin 89-96 Franchitti (27) contact140-148 Debris on track194-198 Papis (7) spin200-201 Moore (99) spin Lap Leaders Laps Leader1 Maurício Gugelmin2-26 Gil de Ferran27-46 Maurício Gugelmin47-50 Adrián Fernández51-52 Scott Pruett53-201 Adrián Fernández Driver Laps ledAdrián Fernández 153Gil de Ferran 25Maurício Gugelmin 21Scott Pruett 2 Point standings after race PosDriverPoints 1 CAN Greg Moore 34 2 USA Michael Andretti 26 3 BRA Gil de Ferran 25 4 MEX Adrián Fernández 21 5 BRA Christian Fittipaldi 18 References Firestone Firehawk 500K Firestone Firehawk 500K Category:Indy Japan 300