Disaster for Blundell in Vancouver.

Despite trying some major set-up changes in Sunday mornings final warm-up session, Mark Blundell was still left with almost no grip on his PacWest Reynard-Mercedes and entered Sunday's race with a car that was exceptionally difficult to drive on such a tight, bumpy street circuit.

Dropping to 21st at the start Blundell drove very cautiously in the opening two laps as he tried to generate some heat into his tyres although when Player's Forsythe team-mates Patrick Carpentier and Alex Tagliani collided at the blind Turn Ten, Mark was left unsighted and ploughed into Carpentier's stationary machine.

Despite the relatively low speed of the impact, the right front suspension on the Englishman's Reynard was bent backwards and his race was run.

"I got around the corner and Patrick's car was just sitting there and I had nowhere to go," said a frustrated Blundell who currently sits 19th in the CART fed-Ex Series points standings. "My Motorola crew has worked tirelessly all season and it has to turn around for us. Unfortunately we are running out of races."

Mark was eventually classified 25th and last, four places behind team-mate Mauricio Gugelmin who was taken out in a crash with Tarso Marques on lap 14. With PacWest's Indy Lights driver Scott Dixon aiming for a ride with the team in 2001, Mark's place in the CART Series may come under threat if his appalling luck continues.

It was Blundell who summed his year up thus far most succinctly when he added, "We have had a monkey on our back all year, but I think it has turned into a gorilla."