Following two strong seasons in CART, including a second-place finish in the championship in 2001, Kenny Brack moved over to the powerhouse Chip Ganassi Racing team for 2002. The combination appeared to be a favorite to take the title prior to the beginning of the season. However, as the season would unfold, the results were not at the level that the team or the driver expected.
Yet the opportunity remained for Brack to make a lasting impression on the season. For the first time in over 20 years, CART was returning to Mexico City to again race on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. But for the 21st century, the track was revitalized and bore little resemblance to the circuit which last hosted a CART event in 1981. Ticket sales were enormous, and race officials were expecting over 300,000 spectators to flow through the gates over the weekend for the 2002 season finale.
First-day qualifying honors went to Brack’s teammate, Bruno Junqueira. His quick pace was attributed, in part, to his enjoyment of racing on the natural terrain road course. “I just love this track,” explained an enthusiastic Junqueira. “The high speed corners are what I like the most. It feels great to be on the pole today and get another point in the championship. On my last lap, I pushed really hard on my last lap and got the pole.”
The second day of qualifying saw Junqueira consolidate his position at the top of the time sheets. Lining up on the grid behind the quick Brazilian were Christian Fittipaldi, Dario Franchitti, and Tony Kanaan, while Jimmy Vasser and Brack filled out row 3.
“Overall, it was a successful session for the [team],” summarized Brack in regards to his and Junqueira’s qualifying efforts. “We improved the car a lot from yesterday and we have a good car now. I’m very happy with the progress that we’ve made so far this weekend. I got one good lap in, but the red came out on one that was even faster. It could have been better for us, but we’re now on the right track.”
A single-day CART attendance record of nearly 175,000 spectators came out to watch on race day. Two crowd favorites were Mexican drivers Mario Dominguez and Michel Jourdain Jr. In his rookie season, Dominguez had already won a race at the rain-soaked event in Australia and clinched the Jim Trueman Rookie-of-the-Year Award. Veteran driver, Jourdain, was enjoying his career best season in CART, setting new personal standards for points, top-five finishes and championship finish.
The first lap of the race was action packed as contact at the first turn brought out the yellow flag. However, it did not prevent pole sitter Junqueira front spinning out of the lead and handing over the reigns to Kanaan. After recovering from his mishap, Junqueira found himself in ninth.
Kanaan led convincingly until a fueling mishap on his second pit stop and subsequent black flag penalty dropped him back in the field. Franchitti assumed the lead which he maintained until he too fell victim to circumstances during pit stops. In Franchitti’s case, his final stop came under a full course yellow and he lost valuable track position to the race’s other contenders.
Jourdain, who was out of pit sequence, took over at the front of the field and the massive crowd roared its approval for nine glorious laps as Jourdain ran out the string in the lead before coming in for his last pit stop.
Brack, who was running a strong and steady pace all day, found himself in the lead with 12 laps remaining. The Swede did not put a wheel wrong in the closing laps and won for the first time in 2002 at the last race of the season.
“It’s been a strange season. It’s nice to finish this way,” said a happy Brack. “It’s really, really fantastic to come here to Mexico and see, first of all, this facility with all the fans. It’s really a track that has very high standards. It’s been a pleasure to run here all weekend.”
Brack spoke about how much the victory meant for his crew. “We’ve been so close so many times this year. We led a lot of laps, but not the last one. Today was finally great to do that. For me, too, I mean, to win on a road course here, I thought I wasn’t going to win on a road course. We’ve been good this year on road courses, but we haven’t won. It’s a fantastic feeling for me and the team.”
Finishing second was new series champion, Cristiano da Matta. Junqueira recovered from his early spin to take the last podium position, and with it, second place in the championship behind his countryman, da Matta.
“Today was a tough race. But in the end I’m quite happy to finish second in the championship. I had a very good car all the weekend,” explained Junqueira. “Our last pit stop for sure my crew did a good job, put me behind Carpentier. I knew the second place in the championship was between me and him. On the restart, I did a very good last turn, outbreak him in Turn One. Then I just follow Cristiano, make sure that I’m going to finish in front of Patrick, guarantee the second place in the championship. That’s quite good because Cristiano drove very well, but I am not ashamed to finish second in the championship.”
With a victory in the last race of the season for Brack and a runner-up championship placing for Junqueira, the Chip Ganassi Racing teammates gave their crews a nice sendoff at the end of the 2002 season as both drivers were already confirmed to go to new teams for 2003.