2001 – Target Chip Ganassi Racing - Summary - December 4th 2001

Minassian for Target Chip Ganassi Racing

After finishing a close second in F3000 in 2000, Nicolas Minassian packed his bags and headed to the United States to race in the CART FedEx Championship. Teaming up with F3000 rival Bruno Junqueira, Minassian completed seven races for the team in total, including the Indianapolis 500.

The season started in Monterrey, Mexico. After a difficult qualifying session, Minassian worked his up to finish in 11th place of the 28 entries and secured two championship points on his CART debut. "Monterrey was a difficult, but fun track to start out on,” the Frenchman explained. “I’m happy I was able to finish my first race and score a couple points. The competition is great in the series, but I now know that I’m able to compete against these guys and race well. I’m looking forward to doing it again."

With a ban on testing in place between the races, Minassian was unable to test and acclimatise himself further with the Champ Car. However, at Long Beach, Minassian put in a strong performance to beat teammate Junqueira across the line to eighth position, his best result of the season.

Minassian’s first oval race in a Champ Car came at Nazareth where he finished in 18th position but admitted that it was a steep learning curve. “Nazareth was good experience, I learned a lot, but I know we can be even faster."

May would prove a busy month for Minassian. Following Nazareth at the start of the month, Minassian competed in the CART Motegi event in Japan as well as the Indianapolis 500. Motegi saw Minassian crash out after hitting oil on the ultra-fast oval. “Before the accident we were turning very fast lap times. Many of the laps were faster than what the leaders were turning, but these things happen in racing,” Minassian said.

Minassian at the Indy 500

The Indianapolis 500 Indy Racing League event saw Minassian running well until he suffered a gearbox failure which took him out of the action.

The final two races of his CART season took place at Milwaukee and Detroit. Minassian qualified in 14th position for both events, but an accident at Milwaukee ended his day prematurely, while mechanical woes let him down again in Detroit.

In the fickle world of Motorsport, Minassian was replaced by Memo Gidley for the Portland event. The Frenchman returned to Europe and wasted no time in finding himself a new challenge for the following season.

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