de Ferran coughs up Nazareth win for Sharp.

Scott Sharp was gifted his seventh career Indy Racing League victory - and first of 2002 - when his fuel strategy played out marginally better than that of Penske's Gil de Ferran at Nazareth Speedway..

The pair had emerged from the last of seven caution periods at the head of the Firestone Indy 225 field, neither having pitted under the yellow, and set off on a game of fuel-controlled cat-and-mouse over the final twenty laps. de Ferran appeared to have got it right until midway around the final lap, when his red-and-white Dallara coughed, allowing both Sharp and then third-placed Felipe Giaffone to move ahead.

Sharp then held off Giaffone's Mo Nunn G-Force to win by just 0.4969secs for his first victory since the Casino Magic 500 at Texas in June 2001. de Ferran coasted to the finish in third place, having enough in hand to stave off the charging Sarah Fisher on her return to IRL action. Penske team-mate Helio Castroneves - who had stopped for fuel - took fifth.

"The Delphi team was great in the pit-stops," Sharp said later, "[Team owner] Tom [Kelley] made great strategy calls. We really had momentum right now."

The 1996 series co-champion averaged just 93.789mph for the race - the second-slowest winning speed in IRL history - after a league-record 116 laps were run under yellow due to incidents and rain.

The final-lap drama occurred as de Ferran was trying to finish the final 130 laps of the race under full power on one tank of methanol fuel. His last stop came on lap 95 as team owner Roger Penske elected to gamble by keeping the MBNA Pole winner on track during the late-race cautions, hoping either rain would end the race early or de Ferran would conserve enough fuel during the lengthy yellows to have enough to run to the finish.

As it turned out, however, Penske's gamble fell about one half-mile short.

"The engine sputtered there in the middle of [Turn] Two," de Ferran said, "We obviously were running out of fuel, and then it picked up again going through the backstretch. At one point, I was afraid that we weren't even going to make it to the line, but thankfully we picked up enough speed that I could.

"It was a shame, but nevertheless I thought it was a great strategy by Roger and the team. It was a great run for the team, both Helio and I running up front all day. We're just going to keep plugging along, and [victory] will come."

Sharp's victory meant that series leader Sam Hornish Jr kept his points advantage - despite placing only 17th for his worst finish since October 2000 at Texas Motor Speedway. The reigning champion was forced to the pits for repairs after the left front suspension on his #4 Panther Racing Dallara was damaged in a collision with Buddy Lazier on lap 38. In all, Hornish lost 47 laps behind the wall, and was classified 49 behind the eventual winner. However, he still has 154 points to lead the table, five ahead of de Ferran and nine ahead of Castroneves. Sharp climbed to fifth with 98 points with the victory.

Neither Lazier finished the race, with 1996 Indy 500 champion Buddy being forced out in the collision with Hornish, and brother Jaques coming together with Tomas Scheckter at just over half distance. Both drivers were transported by air to Lehigh Valley Hospital for tests and observation after they collided on lap 123, but were reported as were awake and alert as they left the circuit's medical centre.

There were also accidents involving rookie George Mack, who spun twice before hitting the wall late on and Jon Herb, who spun into the concrete after 90 laps. Jeff Ward retired his Chip Ganassi-run G-Force with engine problems and John de Vries did not start.

The top ten was completed by Alex Barron, who ran with the leaders before following Castroneves into the pits for a late fuel top-up, Eddie Cheever, who translated a 15th place start into seventh by the chequer despite being badly held up by the lapped Al Unser Jr, Billy Boat, rookie Anthony Lazzaro and Shigeaki Hattori.

The next event on the schedule is the Indianapolis 500 at the end of May, and Nazareth winner Sharp heads for the brickyard with renewed confidence.

"With the win here, we're really ready to go to May," he said, "We came here with some new ideas and new set-ups - and here we are."