MONTERREY, Nueva Leon, Mexico (March 11, 2000) - Cristiano da Matta steppedinto the seat vacated by legendary Michael Andretti at Newman/Haas Racingand continued on the road paved by CART's all-time victory leader when hecaptured Sunday's inaugural Tecate Telmex Monterrey Grand Prix Presented byHerdez, season opener of the 2001 FedEx Championship Series, before afestive crowd of 116,000 at Fundidora Park.

Da Matta (Texaco/Havoline/Kmart Toyota Lola), who moved into the seat afterAndretti elected to join newly formed Team Motorola, stepped in and swiftlycontinued the winning ways of Andretti, who collected 31 of his 40 careerwins with Newman/Haas, with a convincing 1.982-second victory over runner-upand reigning FedEx Series champion Gil de Ferran (Marlboro Honda Reynard).

Da Matta, the 1998 Dayton Indy Lights champion whose past two seasons werespent with PPI Motorsports, led a race-high 32 of 78 laps, including thefinal 18, en route to his second career win. Da Matta, whose first win cameat Chicago last season, gave Toyota its first-ever victory on a permanentroad course in six seasons of FedEx Championship Series competition. Heaveraged 81.548 miles per hour in a race run as a two-hour timed event, perCART rules on road or street courses, and concluded two laps shy of itsscheduled 80-lap distance on the 2.104-miler permanent road course.

De Ferran's (Marlboro Honda Reynard) podium result was his fifth top-sevenfinish in his past six CART season openers, topped by a runner-up result atHomestead in 1996. Third-place went to Paul Tracy (KOOL Honda Reynard) ofTeam KOOL Green, whose podium finish was the 43rd of his career and hissecond consecutive in a season opener. He also finished third at Homesteadlast year. Andretti (Motorola Honda Reynard), in his debut for TeamMotorola, finished fourth. Polesitter Kenny Brack (Shell Ford Lola)finished fifth.

Brack led the first 23 laps before his first pit stop handed the lead toPacWest Racing Group rookie Scott Dixon (Powerware Panasonic PacWestToyota). Dixon, the 2000 Dayton Indy Lights champion, led 14 laps before hisfirst pit stop handed the lead back to Brack, who held the point until Lap43, when da Matta moved in front for the first time.

Da Matta's lead, his first since his victory at Chicago last year, helduntil Lap 57 when de Ferran assumed the point for a single lap. DarioFranchitti (KOOL Honda Reynard) of Team KOOL Green led Laps 58-60 before daMatta moved in front for the final time on Lap 61.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

CRISTIANO da MATTA, Texaco/Havoline/Kmart Toyota Lola: "I had a pretty goodday. At the beginning of the race, the pace was a little slow when everyonewas concerned with conserving fuel, and it was not a big deal for me. I wasable to follow Kenny [Brack] pretty close, but he was pretty strong. His carwas running really strong during the second stint. Maybe he was using alittle bit more fuel than I was, because he pitted one lap ahead of me, andit cost him a lot. We had a few close calls, but no incidents, otherwise Iwouldn't be here. When Gil [de Ferran] got up to second, I was able to get alittle bit more control of the race. During the last part of the race, itwas pretty easy for me. I thought I had it before the last yellow if nomechanical problems came. Then the yellow came out and I had to reprogrameverything. But I got a good jump on the restart and was able to get a goodgap on Gil. The biggest thing of all was we worked very, very hard thisoff-season. The engineers and everybody were very focused on what we weredoing, and were very, very methodical. I see now, it paid off. [On winningin Mexico] "It's good to win in Mexico, as it is to win in any othercountry. But I wasn't expecting to see so much enthusiasm and so many fansthat love Champ Car racing. That made me feel so good to win in front ofthose fans. I saw more enthusiasm here with my race win than even when Andre[Ribeiro] won in Brazil in '96. I'm really happy to win in front of so manyenthusiastic fans in Mexico. [On the track] "I enjoyed this course a lot. Ithought it was a pretty interesting layout. This course is so smooth, whichall the drivers like. The slippery issue is something that is usual on a newroad course. I saw the grip improving every time we went out. I'm sure ifthere are more races here, this track will be much better when we come backto race next year."

PAUL TRACY, KOOL Honda Reynard: "The key is being very smooth, veryconsistent, and put it in lap after lap. That's our strategy. I passed acouple guys, various guys during the race. Once I got into the back of KennyBrack, which wasn't really fair to him, but we both kept going. We hadpretty good pit stops today. The guys are all coming together, and theyshowed what they're made of today. I might have been able to get by Gil atthe end, but I don't think I had enough to catch Cristiano. [On racing inMexico] It's great. The fans are really enthusiastic. It was a full house,and I'm really happy we put on a great show for them today. This was thefirst time in my whole life that I've ever been to Mexico and I had a greattime. I'm looking forward to coming back again next year."

WHAT'S NOTEWORTHY

* Tecate Telmex Monterrey Grand Prix officials announced a four-dayattendance of 318,000, including Sunday's crowd of 116,000. Both totals arebelieved to be among the largest in FedEx Championship Series history. Raceofficials termed Sunday's crowd the largest in Monterrey history for anysports/entertainment event.

* Cristiano da Matta's victory extended Newman/Haas Racing's record ofsuccess in FedEx Championship Series season-opening events. It was theteam's eighth season-opening victory in 19 CART seasons. Previousseason-opening wins came from Mario Andretti at Long Beach (1984, '85, '87)and Phoenix (1988), Nigel Mansell at Australia (1993) and Michael Andrettiat Homestead (1997, '98).

* By virtue of his victory, da Matta takes the championship lead forthe first time in his three-year career with 21 points. He earned 20 pointsfor the victory and a bonus point for leading the most laps (32). Gil deFerran (Marlboro Honda Reynard) stands second with 16 points, followed byPaul Tracy (KOOL Honda Reynard) with 14.

* Gil de Ferran's runner-up result marked his seventh top-sixperformance in his past nine FedEx Championship Series starts on permanentroad courses. The run spans three seasons and dates to a victory at Portlandin 1999.

* Paul Tracy logged his 43rd podium result in his 153rd CART careerstart by finishing third. It was his third podium finish in his past fourseason-opening starts, including finishes of second at Homestead in 1997 andthird there last year. Tracy did not compete in the 1999 season opener per aCART ruling for a driving infraction late in the 1998 season.

* By leading 29 laps, Kenny Brack (Shell Ford Lola) recorded the firstlaps led of his FedEx Championship Series career on a permanent road course.He also led at least one lap for the third consecutive event, dating to lastyear at Australia.

* Rookie Scott Dixon (Powerware Panasonic Toyota Reynard) of PacWestRacing led Laps 24-37, marking the most laps led for a PacWest car sinceMauricio Gugelmin led 21 at Japan in 1999. Dixon also became the thirdrookie driver in the past two seasons to lead a lap in the FedExChampionship Series season opener, joining Brack and Alex Tagliani, both ofwhom led at Homestead last year.

* Da Matta's victory was the 41st for a graduate of the Dayton IndyLights Championship, dating to a victory by Paul Tracy at Long Beach in1993. Seventeen of them have come over the past three seasons, including arecord nine last year. Six Indy Lights champions are currently active in theFedEx Championship Series, including Tracy in 1990, Bryan Herta ofZakspeed/Forsythe Racing in 1993; Tony Kanaan of MoNunn Racing in 1997; daMatta in 1998; Oriol Servia of Sigma Autosport in 1999 and Dixon last year.

* Two-time FedEx Championship Series champion Alex Zanardi (1997, '98)finished 24th in his return to the series following a two-year absence.Zanardi (Pioneer Honda Reynard) has joined Mo Nunn Racing this season andmade his first start Sunday since the 1998 season finale at CaliforniaSpeedway, where he finished third.

WHAT'S NEXT

The 2001 FedEx Championship Series continues with Round 2, the Toyota GrandPrix of Long Beach, April 6-8.from the streets of Long Beach, Calif.