Fittipaldi: The visibility was insane.

Christian Fittipaldi looked a sure bet to earn his sixth podium and fourth second place finish of the season in the Honda Indy 300 at Surfers Paradise but he dropped to an 11th place finish due to a call to end the race later than most expected.

Prior to the re-start of the rain-soaked race after debris and race cars involved in a terrifying multi-car accident were cleared from the front stretch, the event was shortened from 70 to 50 laps with Lap 36 designated as the half-way point in order to be called an official finish.

After switching to his back-up car because his primary car was damaged when he was hit from behind by someone involved in the multi-car accident, Fittipaldi began the restarted race in 12th place after initially qualifying 13th due to Adrian Fernandez not participating due to pain from the Lap 1 accident.

On the pace laps of the restart, Fittipaldi reported that his racecar was experiencing a misfire. The team instructed him to attempt to correct the problem through a variety of ways but he was unable to do so and the collective decision was made to keep Fittipaldi on track rather than loose laps to pit. Fittipaldi ran in 12th place for the first three laps, which were run under yellow before the green flag was thrown on Lap 4.

Rain began falling once again as Fittipaldi struggled with a lack of power. On Lap 8, he dropped to 13th place after being unable to hold off a charging Alex Tagliani. The following lap he dropped to 15th place ahead of eventual winner Mario Dominguez after eventual second place finisher Patrick Carpentier and Michael Andretti passed him for position.

On Lap 10 a good portion of the field, including Fittipaldi, made their first stop within the 20 lap mandatory window. The team performed a routine stop and he returned on track in 15th place before moving into 14th on Lap 12. As the field remained under caution the team monitored the problem and then decided to bring Fittipaldi in again on Lap 15 to download information to reprogram the engine due to the long lap time and fact that they would not loose many positions.

The reprogramming worked as Fittipaldi reported that his car was now working properly. He returned to the pits on Lap 16 so that his following pit window would not open until Lap 36, when the race would probably be called due to dangerous conditions. He gradually moved from 14th place into eighth on Lap 22 after others made their stops within the 20-lap minimum.

Third place Paul Tracy stopped on Lap 26 and he moved into seventh place, which he held for four laps before he moved into fourth when leader da Matta, Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti and Tagliani made their second stops. As he had the majority of the race, he reported to the crew that he had no visibility due to the water and had to fight to keep his car under him on the slick course.

On lap 31 he was scored in second place to Michael Andretti as the team attempted to ascertain the plan to end the race as the light rain steadily fell. As the visibility was diminishing not only from the water but also from the late afternoon timing, the team hoped that CART would end the race after Lap 36 when it would be declared an official finish.

On Lap 35, CART informed the field that the Honda Indy 300 would end on Lap 41 and the crew prepared to pit on the following lap as per the rules and lose a second place podium finish as well as valuable points toward their bid to move Fittipaldi to a second place finish in the 2002 standings. After his stop was completed on Lap 36, which he was credited with leading, he returned to the race in 11th place and held the position until Lap 40, when CART displayed the red and chequered flag simultaneously due to the increased amount of rainfall.

Fittipaldi collected two points toward the championship while Carpentier capitalized on a second place finish and increased his fourth place lead on Fittipaldi from one point to 15. Had Fittipaldi finished second, he not only would have surpassed Carpentier, who was then running eighth, in the standings, he would have taken over third place from Dario Franchitti, who had been running 14th.

"I'll drive in the rain if I have to just like the next guy but it was totally crazy out there," said Fittipaldi. "I couldn't see a thing and I was sliding all over the place even in second gear. It's with a lot of sadness that I have to admit that this was such a bad race for the competitors and fans. At the start of the first race I was thinking I was pretty lucky to miss the big accident happening behind me but then I was hit from behind.

"We had to get the spare car out for the second start because the race car had a broken undertray and bent rear suspension. Then on the pace laps I started to get a misfire in the spare car. We tried to stay out as long as possible after our first pit stop but we were slower than the others and finally had to come in. We downloaded information to reprogram the engine and the car was okay after that. We made a third stop on lap 16 because CART said that the race would be official on lap 36 so that we would be set in case the race was called.

"The visibility was insane and we were just trying to hang on and keep everything in one piece until the race was called. Lap 35 came and they announced that the race would go until lap 41 so we had to give up second place, pit and get back on track in eleventh. Had we been able to finish in second place with Dario not scoring any points, we would have moved up to third in the Championship."