2001 Molson Indy Toronto, Race
Jourdain was collected, and Kanaan spun to avoid the two drivers who temporarily blocked the track. De Ferran, da Matta and Jourdain retired, while Kanaan continued without damaging his car. Andretti retained his lead at the lap-79 restart, Fittipaldi was passed by Fernández for fourth position in the first turn. Zanardi moved from eighth to sixth by lap 82, while Fernández got ahead of Junqueira for third on the same lap. Between the 85th and 86th laps, Fittipaldi drove aggressively in an attempt to move in front of Junqueira for fourth but was unable to pass him.


2001 Molson Indy Toronto, Race
Tagliani ran in sixth gear after his team ordered him to conserve fuel and was unable to generate enough heat into his tires to challenge Andretti on the restarts. On lap 87, Fittipaldi tried an overtaking manoeuvre on Junqueira around the outside of turn three which resulted in Fittipaldi and Junqueira making contact and both drivers slid into the outside tire barrier. Andretti's lead of 7.4 seconds was reduced to nothing when the eleventh (and final) caution was displayed on the next lap to allow course officials to extract Fittipaldi's and Junquiera's cars from the track.


2001 Molson Indy Toronto, Race
Racing resumed on lap 90 with Andretti retaining the first position and pulled away from the rest of the field. Fernández's radio had malfunctioned and was in another gear in an attempt to save fuel which allowed Tagliani to pass him for second. However, Tagliani was unable to close the gap to Andretti because of the presence of Junqueira's lapped car which cost him more than two seconds. He drove on the track's dirty side on the backstraight and his tires were cleaned in the next five turns on the track.


2001 Molson Indy Toronto, Race
Kanaan ran out of fuel on the final lap; he stopped his car between turns three and four. Andretti's strategy of four pit stops did not require him to conserve fuel and maintained the lead to win the race. Tagliani finished second, Fernández took third, Zanardi fourth and Dixon fifth. Tracy, Gugelmin, Papis, Nakano and Kanaan rounded out the top ten. There were four lead changes in the race; five drivers reached the front of the field. De Ferran's total of 49 laps led was the highest of any competitor.


2001 Molson Indy Toronto, Race
There were eleven cautions (a new track record) during the race for 31 laps. The victory was Andretti's first (and only) win of the season, his seventh at Toronto (which surpassed the record of most wins in a CART event whom Andretti previously jointly held by Al Unser Jr. with six), and the 41st of his career. The attrition rate was high, with 11 of the 26 starters finishing the race.


2001 Molson Indy Toronto, Race, Post-race
Andretti appeared in victory lane and later on the podium to celebrate his first victory of the season in front of the crowd; the win earned him $100,000. He was delighted to take the victory: "Just an awesome day, a perfect day for Team Motorola, they did an awesome job,", and, "This is a big one, I'll tell you that. After the first lap, I thought the race was over for us. But it was a hard fought race".


2001 Molson Indy Toronto, Race, Post-race
Tagliani, who finished in second place, stated it was a "good day" for his team and hoped he could continue his recent successes. Third-place finisher Fernández said it was a "great day" for himself and his team but was disappointed as he felt he could have won the race because of a problem at his final pit stop. However, he felt if his team kept building their momentum, and he believed he could challenge for more strong finishes and race victories. Zanardi was pleased with his fourth-place finish, saying it was more fun than at the previous round (the Grand Prix of Cleveland) and felt his engineers were helping him to build a competitive car despite his poor qualifying performances.


2001 Molson Indy Toronto, Race, Post-race
After his retirement from an mechanical failure, Bräck stated it affected his championship chances slightly and his retirement from the race was "something that you don't want to have happen but unfortunately it happens sometimes and today it was one of those days." Three days after the race, Tracy and Takagi was penalized by CART chief steward Chris Kneifel for "unjustifiable risk" and for causing several caution periods by contact with other competitors. Tracy had two championship points deducted and was placed on probation for the next three road or street course races, while Takagi also had two points removed and was put on probation for three events. Kneifel said why the penalties were issued:


2001 Molson Indy Toronto, Race, Post-race
We did not want to simply issue probations without accompanying them with a strong signal that actions like this will not be tolerated. Championship points are very hard-earned, and they're more valuable than money. We want our response to send out the very strong message that this isn't a slap on the wrist, or a token punishment.


2001 Molson Indy Toronto, Race, Post-race
The result meant Bräck remained the leader in the Drivers' Championship with 83 points, while Andretti's victory advanced him to second place. Castroneves' retirement dropped him to third place, five points ahead of Franchitti. De Ferran fell to fifth place with 58 points. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Honda maintained the lead with 158 points. Toyota remained in second with 142 points, 12 points ahead of Ford Cosworth. The race, which was broadcast live in the United States on ESPN, averaged 726,000 viewers, earning a 0.88 rating and a share of two. Andretti's victory was rated ninth in the top ten Indy Toronto races by the Toronto Star in 2015.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver
The 2001 Molson Indy Vancouver was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) motor race held on September 2, 2001 at Concord Pacific Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was the 15th round of the 2001 CART season. Roberto Moreno won the shortened race by five seconds over Gil de Ferran and Michael Andretti.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver
Moreno won his second and final CART race by passing multiple contenders throughout the race, also earning Patrick Racing its final victory in open-wheel racing in the process. de Ferran earned his fifth podium of 2001 and moved into first place in the points standings, but he still did not have a win for Team Penske at this point in the season. Andretti picked up his fourth podium of the year and his sixth overall at Vancouver.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver
The race was marked by multiple incidents and crashes that forced CART officials to call a timed race that ended the event after two hours and 98 of the scheduled 100 laps. Despite starting on pole and leading the most laps, Alex Tagliani was forced to retire from the lead after 68 laps when his Ford-Cosworth engine let go in dramatic fashion, once again thwarting his attempts to take his first victory in the series.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Background
Vancouver was the second Canadian stop for the CART teams after Toronto, and the series had seen massive swings in form from both drivers and teams. Rookie Bruno Junqueira, who had previously been scrapping for points in the midfield, scored his first win at the preceding race in Road America. After winning the race in Toronto, Michael Andretti had been plagued with multiple DNFs before finally finishing second at Road America and was looking to get his pursuit of the championship back on track.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Background
Defending series champion Gil de Ferran, after a lukewarm start to 2001, was beginning to power his way to the front of the point standings, coming to Vancouver on the heels of three consecutive top-5 finishes and a pole position at Mid-Ohio. His teammate, Helio Castroneves, was currently leading the standings by a slim margin over Kenny Bräck.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Background
But the big story going into Vancouver was the rise of Forsythe Racing and the string of good results by Canadian drivers Patrick Carpentier and Alex Tagliani. After struggling for points at the beginning of the year, their luck began to change after Tagliani scored his first career podium in front of the home fans in Toronto, followed by Carpentier scoring his first win at the next race at Michigan. From then on, both drivers had scored solid points in every race before Vancouver, including two more podiums for Carpentier. Analysts expected both Forsythe Racing drivers to continue their momentum now that they were back on Canadian soil.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Background
Also going into the weekend, CART announced a three-year extension for the Vancouver race, meaning that the 2002 season would see three Canadian races, after it was confirmed that Montreal would host the series at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Practice and Qualifying
Practice would be a challenge for the teams and the drivers, as the weather forecasts called for light showers on Friday and again during qualifying on Saturday. For morning practice on Friday, however, the inclement weather stayed away long enough for the full session to be completed. Many driver experienced grip issues on the slick temporary street course, especially at the 90-degree right-handed Turn 1. Dario Franchitti stalled twice on track during the first session with fuel pressure issues while Max Wilson nudged into the Turn 12 barriers, causing moderate damage to the nose of the car. At the end of the session, Tony Kanaan had managed to top the time sheets with a 1:01.958 followed by Cristiano da Matta with a 1:01.968 and de Ferran with a 1:02.302. The top twelve cars were separated by less than one second.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Practice and Qualifying
Although clouds were building around Vancouver during the Friday afternoon practice, no rain fell on the track and thus the session continued as normal. The pace began to pick up as drivers started putting in more and more fast laps. The only major interruption of the day came when Junqueira hit the wall in Turn 10 and damaged the right suspension about twenty minutes into the session, bringing out the red flag. The quickest laps came right at the end, with Tagliani clocking a 1:01.230 on his final lap of the day, followed by Castroneves at 1:01.438 and Roberto Moreno at 1:01.506. Bräck, Franchitti, Wilson, Bryan Herta, and Alex Zanardi all moved to their backup cars during the session.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Practice and Qualifying
I'd like to race in Canada all the time. The media isn't easy, but I get more motivation and more support from the fans... I got lucky on my last lap and had no traffic so I was able to put in a perfect lap. But being fastest on one day doesn't mean you're going to win the weekend. We'll have to push harder tomorrow.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Practice and Qualifying
The rain that was predicted for the weekend finally fell later that night and soaked the track, and the result going into qualifying day was a track with standing water from Turn 8 to Turn 12 and dry patches of asphalt everywhere else. Drivers approached the track with rain tires at the start of Saturday morning practice, but as the session went on drivers began to put on slicks as the track dried out. Castroneves set the fastest time of the weekend with a 1:00.742, the first driver to break out of the 1:01 second range. de Ferran followed up in second with a 1:01.235 and da Matta came in third with a 1:01.503.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Practice and Qualifying
When qualifying began later that day, the track had completely dried out as the field was split into two groups for the afternoon session. Junqueira topped Group 1 with a 1:01.194, followed by Max Papis with a 1:01.668 and Adrian Fernández with a 1:01.711.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Practice and Qualifying
Group 2 saw many drivers testing the track limits, or in some cases, exceeding them. da Matta, just two minutes after the beginning of the session, slid into the barriers at Turn 12, damaging his front wing and forcing him to use the backup car for the rest of the session. Ten minutes later, Moreno, who at the time was running third in the session and fourth overall, lost power on the backstretch and was forced to retire the car. Tagliani, meanwhile, had put his car on provisional pole with a 1:00.872.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Practice and Qualifying
Little changed at the top of lap charts until minutes before the end of the session when Carpentier put in a blistering lap and qualified second overall with a 1:00.924. Immediately afterward, however, he slid into the barrier at Turn 6 and stalled the car. Compatriot Paul Tracy, just ahead of him, crashed into the barriers at Turn 7 and damaged the front suspension. CART officials threw the red-and-checkered flag, ending the session.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Practice and Qualifying
Qualifying had produced an all-Canadian front row, much to the delight of the Vancouver race fans and Forsythe Racing. This was Tagliani's second pole position in his CART career and his first on a street course; he was presented the Greg Moore Pole Trophy by Ric Moore, father of the hometown favorite who was tragically killed during the 1999 Marlboro 500 in Fontana. Coincidentally, this was the first all-Forsythe front row since Milwaukee in 1998, where Carpentier and Moore also went 1-2 in qualifying.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Practice and Qualifying
I'm really pleased and honored. I got pretty emotional when Mr. Moore presented the trophy. We're all racers and want to do well, but to do it here in Canada in front of all of our fans and friends makes it even more special. And to have both blue and white Player's cars on the front row is a great tribute to Greg.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Practice and Qualifying
The top four cars were all separated by less than one-hundredth of a second. Nevertheless, de Ferran, who was starting 3rd with a 1:00.933, was less than enthusiastic with his qualifying performance:


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Practice and Qualifying
It was a little bit frustrating session for us. I wasn't extremely happy with the car in the morning and we made some changes in the car and improved it a little bit, but it wasn't perfect. I had quite a lot of oversteer, and I had some good laps going only to mess it up in one of the last three corners. But it is what it is. That's what qualifying is all about. You need to have a complete lap, and the start/finish line isn't in Turn 9. I just couldn't get it together.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
Morning warmup saw threatening showers looming in the mountains outside of Vancouver, but for the time being the track was still dry. da Matta led the 30-minute session before the race began.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
The green flag waved for the first time just after 2:00 PM as Tagliani led the field into Turn 1. Junqueira, trying to pull to the outside of the queue, clipped the front of Tracy and spun; he managed to keep it out of the tire barriers but ended up stalling the car. Meanwhile, side-to-side contact between Bräck and Castroneves meant that the latter was forced off-track at Turn 3, where he also stalled the car. Junqueira was able to get restarted relatively quickly, but the position of Castroneves' car meant that a full-course caution was needed to get him refired. Both cars would head into the pits for service and go a lap down.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
During the opening caution, Alex Zanardi, Wilson, and Bryan Herta all went into the pits to top off on fuel, anticipating a strategy change later in the race.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
The green waved again on Lap 5, where Moreno was able to get around Bräck and take 4th place after starting 7th. Tagliani was looking to extend the gap between him and 2nd place Carpentier as the stint continued and by Lap 15 he had pulled out a five-second gap between them. On Lap 24, Moreno was finally able to get around de Ferran for 3rd place. At the same time, points-leader Castroneves came to a stop on the start-finish straight with an electrical problem, forcing the second caution of the day.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
This was the signal for all the cars to pit for fuel and tires, with Tagliani leading the way. The two Forsythe cars remained 1-2, while thanks to a quicker pit stop, de Ferran was able to edge out of the pits ahead of Moreno and retake the position. The only cars that did not pit were Scott Dixon, Memo Gidley, and Wilson; this slotted Dixon into 2nd and Gidley into 4th. Castroneves was able to get the car restarted, but he was now three laps down.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
The field went back to green on Lap 30 with Tagliani again pulling away. Tracy, who was trying to tuck in behind Fernández going into Turn 6, was clipped from behind by da Matta, who lost part of his front wing. Suffering from a right rear puncture, Tracy pulled onto the runoff area at Turn 1 and retired the car, the official cause being a gearbox malfunction that resulted from the collision with da Matta. The race continued under green as Tracy's car was removed. From Papis in 9th on back, the field was running nose-to-tail. On Lap 34, Moreno once again passed de Ferran on track to take 4th place. From there he immediately pulled away and began hounding Carpentier for 2nd place. One lap later, Wilson was forced to pull off track at Turn 6 and retire from the race with a mechanical problem.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
On Lap 41 both Dixon and Gidley finally made their pit stops, falling down the order. At the same time, leader Tagliani was beginning to lap the field, going around Herta. Dixon, who was battling for position at the back of the pack with fresher tires, collided with Tora Takagi at Turn 6, forcing him off the track and stalling the car. Almost simultaneously, Zanardi hit the tire barriers going into Turn 7, spilling water that had collected from the previous night's rain all over the track. The 3rd caution came out as a result of Zanardi's retirement, while Dixon was able to get restarted, albeit he was now a lap down. This was Zanardi's 7th DNF of the season, the most of any drivers in the series.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
CART officials sent out the jet dryers to Turn 7 in order to dry the track during the caution; the cleanup took longer than expected as the water kept seeping back onto the track from the tire barrier.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
Finally, on Lap 51, the green flag came back out with Tagliani leading. Takagi, one lap down, was positioned behind Tagliani on the restart, and over the next several laps he tried to get around Tagliani and get back on the lead lap. Unable to pass, the two cars raced ahead of the field while Bräck and Moreno kept pace with Carpentier.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
Finally, on Lap 69, Papis and Andretti pulled into the pits for their scheduled stops, both falling back down the order. Meanwhile, the race took a dramatic turn as Tagliani, who had reported a strange noise to his crew just laps earlier, was helpless as a large plume of smoke erupted from the back of his car, forcing him to pull off-course and retire from first place.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
Since Tagliani had managed to avoid bringing out a caution, his teammate Carpentier and 3rd place Bräck pulled into the pits for their scheduled stops, handing the lead to Moreno. Moreno then gave up the lead to Cristiano da Matta one lap later when he made his pit stop.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
The drama continued when Papis clouted the wall in Turn 4, destroying the right-side suspension, putting him out of the race and bringing out the full-course caution. The yellow gave the rest of the field a perfect opportunity to pit as da Matta, Franchitti, and Jimmy Vasser each made a stop for fuel and tires. This handed the lead to Michel Jourdain Jr. and Oriol Servià, who had only made one pit stop so far. Both cars would pit a few laps later, now giving the lead to Maurício Gugelmin. While the order continued to shuffle under yellow, CART officials penalized da Matta, Franchitti, and Vasser for pitting when the pits were closed by forcing all three drivers to the back of the queue.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
On Lap 80, the green came back out with Gugelmin leading and Moreno and de Ferran behind. At Turn 1, de Ferran braked hard on the inside and forced Moreno wide to take 2nd place away. 4th place Bräck misjudged his braking point and went wide at the same corner, dropping him back several positions. Just behind him, Fernández slid into the tire barriers and stalled the car, ending his day. The race continued under green as de Ferran stormed past Gugelmin on the back straight to take 1st place. At Turn 6, da Matta tangled with Takagi, sending the former into the tire barriers and forcing him to retire as well. Officials finally waved the full-course yellow in order to get both da Matta and Fernández off the track.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
The yellow meant that every car except Castroneves and Herta was now back on the lead lap and could go the rest of the race without pitting, setting up a field-wide battle for position near the end of the race. The green waved on Lap 85 with de Ferran leading, but more trouble ensued when Bräck ran into the back of Carpentier, sending both cars off track and giving Carpentier a flat right rear tire. Bräck fell from 5th to 8th place as a result of the incident, while Carpentier was forced to limp around the circuit back to pits to change tires; he would be put a lap down.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
Just a few corners later, Vasser ran off-track after punting the back of Christian Fittipaldi, who had locked up going into the corner. He severely damaged his front wing and was forced to retire from the race. At the same time, Gugelmin was struggling to keep pace with the leaders and began to fall back; going through Turn 6 he was passed by Andretti and Kanaan when he clipped the front wing of Servià, who was also trying to pass.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
Despite the carnage and bits of debris on track, CART officials kept the race under green. On Lap 87 they announced that the race would be timed and would not go the full 100 laps.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Race
On Lap 89 Moreno passed de Ferran to take the lead with less than ten minutes remaining in the race. From then on, he pulled away, leaving the rest of the field behind. The rest of the race was incident-free, and Moreno remained unchallenged as he took the checkered flag for his second career win.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Post-Race
Moreno was incredibly emotional as he circled around for his victory lap, performing donuts on the start-finish straight and celebrating on victory lane with his team and the Brazilian flag draped around his shoulders. A very popular driver in the series, he was holding back tears as he raised the winner's trophy and gave interviews.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Post-Race
For Moreno, this would be his second and final CART victory, as well as the last for Patrick Racing before it folded in 2004. Despite the good result, Moreno would have horrendous luck for the rest of the season, scoring only two points at Surfer's Paradise for pole position and leading the most laps; he would ultimately DNF at five of the last six races of the season and was dropped from the team for 2002. Moreno would come back to CART in 2003 racing for Herdez Competition and score one final career podium at Miami. Moreno was also the sixth different winner at Vancouver in as many years and he gave Toyota its first win of the season on a street course.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Post-Race
This morning when we went out for warmup, we knew straight away that we had a good car. We found something this morning that was important, and that was that the car was better on new tires, so we went out and did just one lap on the new tires to get the shine off. And then the weather cooperated too. I told my engineer not to do too much to the car because it was good ...


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Post-Race
With about five laps to go I started crying in the car, and I started thinking about Greg [Moore]. I would like to dedicate this race for Greg. We all wish he was still here, and we think about him all the time when we're up here, so I'd like to dedicate this race for him.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Post-Race
de Ferran recorded his fifth podium of the year, continuing an upward trend that would ultimately earn him two wins and the season championship. His 2nd place also vaulted him into 1st place in the drivers' standings ahead of his teammate Castroneves, becoming the third different points leader in as many races.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Post-Race
Andretti was pleased with his podium finish, as he continued his streak of strong points finishes in Canada and earned his sixth podium in Vancouver. He would go on to score another podium in Surfer's Paradise by the end of the season.


2001 Molson Indy Vancouver, Report, Post-Race
This would be Alex Zanardi's final race before his career-ending crash at the 2001 American Memorial in Germany two weeks later.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix
The 2001 Monaco Grand Prix (formally the LIX Grand Prix de Monaco) was a Formula One motor race held at the Circuit de Monaco in La Condamine and Monte Carlo on 27 May. It was the seventh race of the 2001 Formula One World Championship and the 59th Monaco Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher won the 78-lap race for the Ferrari team. His teammate Rubens Barrichello finished second with Jaguar's Eddie Irvine third.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix
David Coulthard, who qualified in pole position by setting the fastest lap in qualifying, stalled at the start of the formation lap because of an electronic launch control system fault, leading to Schumacher inheriting his position. Schumacher maintained the lead in the first laps with Mika Häkkinen second and Barrichello third. Häkkinen responded to Schumacher's pace before he lost second to Barrichello on lap 13 because his car pulled to the right. Schumacher continued to lead until he made a pit stop on the 55th lap, relinquishing it to Barrichello for four laps. He then retook it and held it to claim his fourth victory of the season, his fifth at the Monaco Grand Prix, and the 48th of his career.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix
As a consequence of the race, Michael Schumacher extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship from four to twelve points over Coulthard. Barrichello maintained third and Ralf Schumacher remained in fourth after he retired late in the event. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari extended their lead over McLaren to 32 points. Williams and Jordan kept third and fourth and Sauber maintained fifth with ten races remaining in the season.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Background
The 2001 Monaco Grand Prix was the 7th of the 17 races in the 2001 Formula One World Championship and the 59th edition of the event. It was held at the 19-turn 3.370 km (2.094 mi) Circuit de Monaco between La Condamine and Monte Carlo on 27 May. There were 11 teams (each representing a different constructor) entering two drivers each for the event. Before the race, Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher led the Drivers' Championship with 42 points, ahead of McLaren's David Coulthard in second with 38 and the second Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello in third with 18. Ralf Schumacher of Williams was fourth with 12 points, and Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld was fifth with 8 points. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari led with 60 points, McLaren and Williams were second and third with 42 and 18 points, as Jordan and Sauber contended for fourth place.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Background
Michael Schumacher had won three of the six preceding races of and took pole position in five of them. He was optimistic about his prospects of equalling Graham Hill's record of five Monaco Grand Prix victories, "Traditionally, I have always gone well in Monte Carlo. On top of that, we have a great car this year and so I think we will be very competitive in our fight with McLaren for pole position and the win."


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Background
Coulthard, the 2000 winner of the race, said he wanted to repeat his success from the year before and saw an opportunity to take the lead of the Drivers' Championship. Jaguar's Eddie Irvine said he was optimistic for Monaco because of his finishing record at the track, "I have a good track record at this place, with a second, a third and last year fourth place to my name. I am reasonably optimistic about our chances this weekend."


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Background
Following the Austrian Grand Prix two weeks prior, where four cars stalled at the start because of electronic launch control systems failures, concerns were voiced by the technical director of Williams Patrick Head and Jordan's Jarno Trulli over driver safety because of the possibility of stranded vehicles and a major accident. Others differed with Coulthard saying that launch control could help make faster getaways, and Michael Schumacher predicted that there would be no repeat of cars being unable to start, noting that McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen stalled at the Brazilian Grand Prix without launch control.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Background
Max Mosley, the president of the series' governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), advised teams to switch off their launch control systems if they expressed concerns over its reliability; he ruled out banning the aid for the Monaco race. Jordan subsequently deactivated launch control on their EJ11s and opted for a manual system due to the Circuit de Monaco's narrow characteristic. Although the FIA warned of "severe penalties" for teams who did not correctly set-up the systems, it allowed drivers to rehearse their starts at the conclusion of Friday's practice sessions.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Background
Due to the configuration of the Circuit de Monaco, with its low average speed and abundance of low-speed corners, allied to the low-grip nature of the public road surface, the teams all set their cars up to produce the maximum amount of downforce and mechanical grip possible. Prost introduced new front and rear wings, undertray and rear crash structure to Jean Alesi's car. Benetton fitted a revised aerodynamic package with new front and rear wings and sidepods to its B201s.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Background
Jaguar ran with a revised rear crash structure to match its new diffuser and new rear wing components and undertray from Saturday's practice sessions. Arrows debuted an elevated nose wing positioned vertically on two uprights over the top of Jos Verstappen's front wing aimed at increasing the maximum amount of downforce available. Jordan introduced a similar modification on Trulli's car; their design was positioned in front of the driver. The devices were examined after Thursday's practice sessions by the FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer, who believed they were an infringement of Formula One regulations. Jordan and Arrows were required to remove the devices for safety reasons, and the stewards warned the two teams that they risked exclusion from the Grand Prix if they were used again.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Practice
Four practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—two on Thursday, and two on Saturday. The Thursday morning and afternoon sessions each lasted an hour. The third and final practice sessions on Saturday morning ran for 45 minutes. Both of Thursday's sessions took place in dry and warm weather conditions. In the first practice session, Michael Schumacher set the fastest lap of 1 minute and 21.577 seconds, 0.827 seconds faster than Coulthard in second.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Practice
The two Jordan cars of Trulli and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Barrichello, Häkkinen, Olivier Panis of British American Racing (BAR), Ralf Schumacher, Irvine and Alesi rounded out the session's top ten drivers. On a dirty track, Pedro de la Rosa damaged the front left corner of his Jaguar by hitting a barrier at Portier turn, and Tarso Marques spun his Minardi car 180 degrees backwards into a wall at the entry to La Rascasse corner. Since spare cars could not be driven until qualifying on Saturday, neither driver returned to the track for the rest of the session.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Practice
Häkkinen led the second session with the day's fastest lap at 1 minute and 19.853 seconds, with Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Barrichello, Trulli, Coulthard, Frentzen, Alesi, BAR's Jacques Villeneuve and Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya in positions two through ten. Coulthard struck a barrier at Tabac corner and broke his McLaren's right-front track rod, which was replaced in the pit lane. Fernando Alonso spun his Minardi into a wall at La Rascasse turn and damaged its rear suspension, ending his session early.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Practice
With 15 minutes to go, Montoya damaged his car's rear at La Rascasse turn, and the session was stopped for four minutes as track marshals extricated him. His teammate Ralf Schumacher crashed at the Swimming Pool complex with the front left of his car. Two track marshals retrieving Schumacher's front wing narrowly avoided being hit by Enrique Bernoldi's Arrows car. Irvine spun at the Novelle Chicane and Michael Schumacher swerved to avoid contact with his car.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Practice
After taking Friday off—a feature of the event timetable unique to Monaco— the drivers returned to action on Saturday in clear weather. Ralf Schumacher complained of head and neck pain following his crash in the second session and was treated by his team's physiotherapist before being ordered to rest until Saturday. Nevertheless, he was quickest in the third practice session with a lap of 1 minute and 21.036 seconds, ahead of Villenueve, Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Sauber's Kimi Räikkönen, Irvine, Alesi, Frentzen, Panis and Trulli.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Practice
13 minutes into the session, Verstappen's engine failed, and laid oil at La Rascasse corner, prompting a quarter of an hour stoppage for marshals to clear it with sand. Luciano Burti's Prost car suffered a mechanical failure that sent him veering into the Sainte Devote tyre wall and narrowly avoided hitting multiple stationary recovery vehicles with three minutes remaining. Burti was unhurt.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Practice
The delay to dry the oil at La Rascasse turn delayed the start of the fourth session by 10 minutes. Once underway, Häkkinen was fastest with a 1 minute and 18.282 seconds lap, followed by Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Coulthard, Irvine, Trulli, Montoya, Barrichello, Alesi and Frentzen. Alonso spun 180 degrees at the Loews hairpin and blocked the track. Frentzen stopped into Casino Square corner and track marshals extricated his car. Räikkönen and Bernoldi had separate crashes at the Swimming Pool complex and La Rascasse corner; Bernoldi's front wing got lodged in Häkkinen's front suspension. Giancarlo Fisichella spun at La Racasse and blocked the circuit as track marshals extricated his Benetton car.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Qualifying
Saturday's afternoon one hour qualifying session saw each driver was limited to twelve laps, with the grid order decided by their fastest laps. During this session, the 107% rule was in effect, which necessitated each driver to set a time within 107 per cent of the quickest lap to qualify for the race. Conditions were warm and sunny for qualifying. Coulthard broke the unofficial track lap record set by Frentzen in 1997, and took his second pole position of the season, and the 12th of his career with a time of 1 minute and 17.430 seconds.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Qualifying
He was joined on the grid's front row by Michael Schumacher who was 0.201 seconds slower after aborting his first timed lap because Bernoldi caught him off guard exiting the tunnel and he lost a tenth of a second by glancing the left-hand side at Le Portier turn. Häkkinen changed his car's set-up for a final timed run but it gave him excess understeer and a lack of front grip, leaving him third. Fourth-placed Barrichello worked with his engineers following the final practice session to improve his car's performance; he flat-spotted his front-right tyre at Sainte Devote turn. Ralf Schumacher was the best of the Michelin tyre runners in fifth after Jenson Button of the Benetton team impeded his final timed lap. Sixth-placed Irvine was delayed on his third timed lap and braked early for the Novelle Chicane.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Qualifying
Montoya was seventh in his first appearance at Monaco since the 1998 International Formula 3000 Championship. Trulli secured eighth from losing about two-tenths of a second due to a slower car baulking him. Villeneuve qualified ninth and Fisichella in tenth added more front wing angle to create a balanced car. Alesi was the fastest driver not to qualify in the top ten; he improved on each of his timed laps and made contact with a barrier in the tunnel. Panis in 12th went too quickly at the Piscine chicane on his last lap.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Qualifying
Frentzen in 13th spun at Portier corner before the entrance of the tunnel, and he abandoned his car because the constricting barriers left him with little room to recover. De La Rosa was 14th, followed by Räikkönen in 15th, who encountered an abundance of traffic and a waved yellow flag on his final timed lap. His Sauber teammate Heidfeld had an unrectifiable electronic throttle problem on his second timed lap and he took the team's spare car to qualify 16th. Balance and braking problems and traffic left Button in 17th. Alonso began ahead of both the Arrows cars and Burti's Prost in 18th. Marques, 22nd, had excess oversteer.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Warm-up
A 30-minute warm-up session was held on Sunday morning in dry weather. Coulthard led the session with a 1 minute and 20.944 seconds lap, ahead of his teammate Häkkinen in second. The Ferrari cars of Michael Schumacher and Barrichello, Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, Irvine, Verstappen, de la Rosa and Fisichella followed in the top ten. While the session passed relatively peacefully, Marques crashed into an Armco metal barrier at Anthony Noghes corner.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race
The race took place in the afternoon from 14:00 local time. The weather was dry and sunny, with the air temperature 23 °C (73 °F) and a track temperature between 36–39 °C (97–102 °F). Several teams began on the soft compound tyres; a one-stop strategy was determined to be ideal, with some drivers making their first pit stops early to advance their position and others stopping later because of a similar performance level.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race
At the start of the formation lap, an electronic launch control software glitch caused Coulthard's engine to stall, prompting the McLaren mechanics to restart his engine; he was required to begin from the back of the grid. His teammate Häkkinen was stuck behind him; he drove away before the final car passed him and was allowed to start from third place. Michael Schumacher made a clean start to lead the field into Sainte Devote, ahead of Häkkinen and Barrichello. Montoya passed Irvine for fifth when the latter ran wide attempting to pass Ralf Schumacher on the left at Sainte Devote corner. Behind the two, Verstappen lost control of his car and made contact with Burti. Verstappen fell to 20th as Burti had one of his endplates removed.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race
On the run to the exit of Portier corner, Heidfeld and Bernoldi connected, causing Heidfeld to be launched over one of Bernoldi's wheels, and sending him straight into a barrier, making him the race's first retirement on lap one. At the first lap's conclusion, Michael Schumacher led Häkkinen by 1.5 seconds; the duo were followed by Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher, Montoya and Irvine. Montoya recorded the race's fastest lap at that point as he attempted to overtake his teammate Ralf Schumacher. On lap two, Burti fell to 20th when Verstappen and Coulthard passed him.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race
Up front, Michael Schumacher extended his gap over Häkkinen to 1.6 seconds at the start of lap three. That lap, Montoya shifted down a gear, slowed and collected understeer. This put him wide at the entrance of the Swimming Pool complex and hit a barrier. This moved Irvine and Trulli to fifth and sixth respectively. Further back, Marques was passed by Verstappen for 17th and Burti entered the pit lane to replace his damaged front wing. Marques lost a further position through a pass by Coulthard for 18th place on lap four.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race
Michael Schumacher increased his lead over Häkkinen by another six-tenths of a second on the fifth lap with the latter under pressure from Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher. Häkkinen then went slightly faster to lower the gap to 2.5 seconds and set a new fastest lap under 1 minute and 23 seconds to be 1.6 seconds adrift on the eighth lap, to which Michael Schumacher responded with his own fastest lap. That lap, Verstappen overtook his teammate Bernoldi for 16th and the latter now had Coulthard behind him.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race
On lap 10, Barrichello began to drop back with a cramp in his right foot, and was advised over the radio by Ferrari's technical director Ross Brawn to consume more water and move his toes, causing Barrichello to brake earlier than expected. Two laps later, Coulthard attempted a unsuccessful pass on Bernoldi at Tabac corner. Häkkinen's car began to pull to the right on lap 13, and Barrichello overtook him at the exit of the tunnel for second.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race
He entered the pit lane for a 50-second pit stop on the 14th lap to have his car's suspension push rods checked by his mechanics. No damage was found. On the 14th lap, Panis retired with a steering problem, and Häkkinen did the same two laps later because his problem persisted.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race
In the meantime, Verstappen got ahead of Button for 12th on lap 15. Button retook the position temporarily soon after as Verstappen re-passed him. Coulthard continued to duel Bernoldi for position but still could not effect a pass. On the 18th lap, tenth-placed de la Rosa had an hydraulics issue losing him gearbox and throttle control. He pulled off at the side of the track to retire on the next lap. On lap 26, Burti, who had a long brake pedal, missed the Sainte Devote corner braking point.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race
He stopped away from the barrier and he retired when his reverse gear failed. Coulthard tried again to overtake Bernoldi on the next lap but the latter defended his position. That allowed Michael Schumacher to lap Coulthard, who could not use the situation to pass Bernoldi. On lap 31, Trulli retired from fifth at La Rascasse turn with flames coming from the rear of his car due to a loss of engine hydraulic pressure. That elevated Fisichella to sixth.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race
As Coulthard allowed Barrichello to lap him on lap 32, he sought to use the opportunity to pass Bernoldi but he could not do so. Two laps later, Fisichella entered Sainte Devote corner too fast, and struck a barrier with his rear wheel. He nonetheless continued in sixth, ahead of Alesi, because his car's suspension was undamaged.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race
Michael Schumacher set a new official lap record of 1 minute and 20.770 seconds on the 38th lap. He further improved it to a time of 1 minute and 20.422 seconds four laps later, extending his lead over his teammate Barrichello to 18.3 seconds. On lap 43, Fisichella had an hydraulic failure that caused his gearbox to fail, and he crashed into the tyre wall at Sainte Devote, removing the front left wheel from his car. Bernoldi made a pit stop at the end of the following lap, allowing Coulthard to lap 4.5 seconds faster than before.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race
He took advantage of Alonso being lapped by Villeneuve to pass the latter for ninth on lap 48. Two laps later, Frentzen in seventh understeered at the apex and he drifted into a left-hand Armco metal barrier exiting the tunnel at 270 km/h (170 mph). He slid along the barrier before stopping at the Novelle Chicane and clambered out of his car unhurt. Alesi entered the pit lane on lap 51, and returned to the race still in sixth. Four laps later, Michael Schumacher made his pit stop from the lead, promoting his teammate Barrichello into first. Further down the order, Alonso retired with a failed gearbox on lap 57. Ralf Schumacher retired from third position in the pit lane on the next lap with an electrical fault that switched off his engine.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race
Irvine was promoted to third, Villeneuve fourth, Alesi fifth and Coulthard sixth. Barrichello made his pit stop from first position on lap 60, returning the lead to his teammate Michael Schumacher. That lap, Irvine made his pit stop and retained third place. Then, Marques' driveshaft broke and he drove onto the run-off area at the Novelle Chicane to retire. Six laps later, Coulthard made his pit stop and emerged in front of Button in sixth.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race
He then set the race's overall fastest lap at 1 minute and 19.424 seconds on the 68th lap as he drew closer to Alesi in fifth. Prost reacted by calling Alesi into the pit lane on the next lap for new tyres to better his defence of fifth. However, Alesi was delayed and he rejoined the race behind Coulthard in sixth. Michael Schumacher led the last nine laps to take his fourth victory of the season, his fifth at Monaco and the 48th of his career, by 0.431 seconds over Barrichello in a staged finish.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race
Irvine took Jaguar's first podium in third, ahead of the faster Villeneuve in fourth. Coulthard finished a lap behind in fifth and Alesi took sixth. Button, Verstappen and Bernoldi followed in positions seven to nine. Räikkönen was five laps down and the last finisher in tenth after an early race pit stop to rectify a wheel sensor failure and he had no traction control. The attrition rate was high with 12 of the 22 drivers not finishing the race.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
The top three drivers appeared in Prince Rainier III of Monaco's royal box to collect their trophies and appeared in the subsequent press conference to speak to the media. Michael Schumacher said he felt little emotion on the podium because he took "a very straightforward win" and that finishing the race was the most important aspect because of the circuit's narrow characteristic, "Although it was an easy drive, it was still hard to some degree, because we were still doing reasonably fast lap times. I don't know what it so special."


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
Barrichello stated his cramp disappeared after his pit stop, "I was asking God to give me a chance to race because the car was brilliant. I never had a car as good as this one of today. But as Michael was saying, I had to save so much because I couldn't do anything else." Irvine spoke of his delight to finish third and stated his hope to continue Jaguar's form into the Canadian Grand Prix, "It's good for all the guys in the team. Everyone's been working very hard. We haven't been getting very far to be honest until these new aerodynamics arrived on Saturday so it's good for the guys in factory."


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
Bernoldi, who battled Coulthard for 35 laps, alleged that the McLaren team principal Ron Dennis and the director of motorsport for Mercedes-Benz Norbert Haug had approached him and threatened to shorten his career if a similar scenario occurred in the future, a claim that Dennis denied, "It was quite a while after the race when I talked to him and I was cool, calm, and collected and I was not angry. I just told him that in my opinion it was unsporting behaviour."


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
An audio tape released to the press by McLaren on 11 June vindicated Dennis; according to transcribers he said to Bernoldi, "that was not sporting and you shouldn't carry on like that." The Arrows team principal Tom Walkinshaw rejected a claim by Dennis that Bernoldi would not allow Coulthard to pass him for television exposure. Coulthard spoke of his belief that Bernoldi was over defensive and said he would raise the issue at the next Grand Prix Drivers' Association meeting, "We agreed not to move once a driver has made his move. You make your decision – and up the hill a couple of times I was coming to get my wheels alongside him and he moved over." Bernoldi argued he was driving a routine race and was on the circuit to better his driving ability.


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
After the race, the FIA examined several Bridgestone tyres for possible illegal wear. It discovered nothing abnormal and the result of the race was declared final. Jackie Stewart, the three-time Formula One World Champion and Jaguar team founder, praised Irvine's performance and the driver's maturity, "He practised well, he qualified well and he raced well. You couldn't ask for more. He proved himself here by driving in a very controlled way so he was ready to take advantage of opportunities and to resist any pressure from Jacques (Villeneuve) at the end."


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
Alesi earned his first points finish since coming sixth in the 1999 Japanese Grand Prix and the Prost team's first since Trulli's second-place result at the 1999 European Grand Prix. He declared the result "a great thing" for himself and Prost and said that he predicted similar results in the future, "I totally enjoyed my race. But towards the end, when I felt the car vibrating in the tunnel, I was really worried. It was a flat tyre and I had to go back to the pits to change it, which cost me the fifth place points. What is really important today is that I scored the first point for the team this year – or last."


2001 Monaco Grand Prix, Race, Post-race
The result increased Michael Schumacher's lead in the Drivers' Championship to 12 points over Coulthard. Barrichello consolidated third position as Ralf Schumacher's non-finish kept him in fourth. Heidfeld was in fifth place. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari increased their advantage over McLaren to 32 points. Williams and Jordan continued to occupy third and fourth positions and Sauber were fifth with ten races remaining in the season.


2001 Mongolian Premier League
The 2001 Mongolian National Championship was the thirty-fourth recorded edition of top flight football in Mongolia and the sixth season of the Mongolian Premier League, which took over as the highest level of competition in the country from the previous Mongolian National Championship. Khangarid from Erdenet were champions, their first title and the first time the new league had been won by a team from outside Ulaanbaatar, Mon-Uran were  runners up, with Sonor in third place.


2001 Mongolian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Mongolia on 20 May 2001. The result was a victory for incumbent Natsagiin Bagabandi, who won 59.2% of the vote. Voter turnout was 82.9%.


2001 Monmouth Hawks football team
The 2001 Monmouth Hawks football team represented Monmouth University in the 2001 NCAA Division I-AA football season as a member of the Northeast Conference (NEC). The Hawks were led by ninth-year head coach Kevin Callahan and played their home games at Kessler Field. They finished the season 7–3 overall and 5–2 in NEC play to tie for third place. Monmouth’s September 15 game at Robert Morris was canceled due to college football's collective decision to postpone games following the September 11 attacks.


2001 Montana Grizzlies football team
The 2001 Montana Grizzlies football team represented the University of Montana – Missoula in the 2001 NCAA Division I-AA football season. The Grizzlies were led by second-year head coach Joe Glenn and played their home games at Washington–Grizzly Stadium.


2001 Montana State Bobcats football team
The 2001 Montana State Bobcats football team was an American football team that represented Montana State University in the Big Sky Conference during the 2001 NCAA Division I-AA football season. In their second season under head coach Mike Kramer, the Bobcats compiled a 5–6 record (4–3 against Big Sky opponents) and finished in fourth place out of eight teams in the Big Sky. The Bobcats dropped their 16th consecutive game in the Montana–Montana State football rivalry.


2001 Monte Carlo Masters
The 2001 Monte Carlo Masters was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 95th edition of the Monte Carlo Masters and was part of the Tennis Masters Series of the 2001 ATP Tour. It took place at the Monte Carlo Country Club in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin in France from 16 April through 22 April 2001.


2001 Monte Carlo Masters
The men's field was headlined by World No. 1 Marat Safin, Gustavo Kuerten and Magnus Norman. Other top seeds were Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Àlex Corretja, Arnaud Clément, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Tim Henman.


2001 Monte Carlo Masters, Finals, Doubles
Jonas Björkman /  Todd Woodbridge defeated  Joshua Eagle /  Andrew Florent 3–6, 6–4, 6–2


2001 Monte Carlo Masters – Doubles
Wayne Ferreira and Yevgeny Kafelnikov were the defending champions but lost in the first round to Scott Humphries and Andrei Olhovskiy.


2001 Monte Carlo Masters – Doubles
Jonas Björkman and Todd Woodbridge won in the final 3–6, 6–4, 6–2 against Joshua Eagle and Andrew Florent.


2001 Monte Carlo Masters – Singles
This tournament took place between April 16 and 22, 2001.


2001 Monte Carlo Masters – Singles
Cédric Pioline was the defending champion but lost in the third round to Hicham Arazi.


2001 Monte Carlo Masters – Singles
Gustavo Kuerten won in the final 6–3, 6–2, 6–4 against Arazi.


2001 Montenegrin parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Montenegro on 22 April 2001. The result was a victory for the Victory is of Montenegro alliance formed by the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro and the Social Democratic Party of Montenegro, which won 36 of the 77 seats.


2001 Montenegrin parliamentary election, Electoral system
Of the 77 seats in Parliament, 72 were elected by proportional representation in a nationwide constituency and five were elected in a special constituency for the Albanian minority. The electoral threshold was set at 3% and seats allocated using the d'Hondt method. Closed lists were used with a single list for both constituencies, although parties only had to award half their seats according to the order of the list, with the remaining half free for them to allocate.


2001 Montenegrin parliamentary election, Victory is of Montenegro
The coalition lost parliamentary majority, winning just 36 of 77 seats (30 for DPS and 6 for SDP). Contrary to everyone's expectation, the now opposing, once former ally, Liberal Alliance supported it to form a minority government under Filip Vujanović. But closer aligning of LSCG with the Together for Yugoslavia bloc distanced it from the minority coalition. The government signed the Belgrade Agreement in 2002, by which the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was transformed into the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, and the Republic of Montenegro re-integrated into political structure with Serbia.


2001 Montenegrin parliamentary election, Together for Yugoslavia
The Socialist People's Party of Montenegro received 21 seat, People's Party of Montenegro got 9 and the Serbian People's Party of Montenegro 3. The coalition won these elections and had support of the majority of the Parliament, but inner conflicts and organized obstruction from the opposition under Milo Djukanovic, prevented it from succeeding in forming the government which was supposed to be led by Prime Minister candidate Predrag Bulatović. The deadline passed an Predrag reformed a more organized and stronger coalition determined to repeat the election in 2002, however disappointment returned Milo Đukanović's DPS CG to power which won the election.


2001 Montenegrin parliamentary election, Liberal Alliance of Montenegro
At the election, LSCG received a larger number of votes: 7,85% (almost 28.000 votes), winning 6 seats in the Assembly. Due do the political deadlock, in which no party had won absolute power, LSCG made an agreement with DPS to support the minority government, following a pledge from DPS that within a year a referendum on independence will have been held. However, LSCG still retained the resolute opposition attitude, and withdrew support to the minority government due to the fact that the referendum has not been announced in the promised period.


2001 Monterey Sports Car Championships
The 2001 Monterey Sports Car Championships presented by Mazda was the ninth round of the 2001 American Le Mans Series season. It took place at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, California, on September 9, 2001.


2001 Montreal Alouettes season
The 2001 Montreal Alouettes finished in third place in the East Division following a disastrous end to the season. After starting the season with a 9–2 record, Anthony Calvillo was injured in a game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and he missed several games, leading to the team losing its remaining seven games, as well as their playoff game, to finish the season with a 9–9 record. Head Coach Rod Rust was fired after 17 games and General Manager Jim Popp replaced him as interim Head Coach for the last regular season game and only playoff game, losing both.


2001 Montreal Expos season
The 2001 Montreal Expos season was the 33rd season in franchise history.


2001 Montreal Expos season, Spring training
In 2001, the Expos held spring training at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida, a facility they shared with the St. Louis Cardinals. It was their fourth season there.


2001 Montreal Expos season, Regular season, Attendance
The Expos drew 642,745 fans during the 2001 season, and were 16th in attendance among the 16 National League teams. Their highest attendance for the season was for the home opener on April 6 against the New York Mets, which drew 45,183 fans, while their lowest was for a game on September 19 against the Florida Marlins, which only 2,887 fans attended.


2001 Montreal Expos season, Player stats, Batting
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases


2001 Montreal Expos season, Player stats, Pitching
Note: Pos = Position; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts


2001 Montreal municipal election
The 2001 Montreal municipal election took place on November 4, 2001, to elect a mayor and city councillors in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Gérald Tremblay defeated incumbent Pierre Bourque to become mayor of the newly amalgamated city. This was the only municipal election that was held for the amalgamated city (the amalgamation took effect on January 1, 2002), as the next municipal election was for the defused city.


2001 Montreal municipal election
All mayoral candidates were also allowed to run for a seat on council, with "alternates" who would assume the council seat if the mayoral candidates were elected to both offices.


2001 Montserrat Championship
The 2001 season of the Montserrat Championship was the sixth recorded season of top flight association football competition in Montserrat, with records for any competition held between 1975 and 1995 not available, and the second iteration of the championship since the 1996–97 season was abandoned when the Soufrière Hills erupted causing widespread devastation to the island. The championship was won by the Royal Montserrat Police Force, their fourth title out of the five completed seasons to date.


2001 Montserrat Championship, Awards
At the prize-giving ceremony, five prizes were awarded as follows:


2001 Montserratian general election
General elections were held in Montserrat on 2 April 2001. The result was a victory for the New People's Liberation Movement (NLPM), which won seven of the nine seats in the Legislative Council. NLPM leader John Osborne became Chief Minister.


2001 Montserratian general election, Electoral system
A new electoral system was introduced for the 2001 elections as a result of the volcanic eruptions rendering four of the seven constituencies uninhabitable. The seven single-member constituencies were replaced with one nine-member constituency in which voters could vote for nine candidates.


2001 Montserratian general election, Campaign
A total of 24 candidates contested the elections. The NLPM and the National Progressive Party both fielded nine candidates, with six independents also running.


2001 Mosconi Cup
The 2001 Daily Star Mosconi Cup, the eighth edition of the annual nine-ball pool competition between teams representing Europe and the United States, took place 20–23 December 2001 at the York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, England.


2001 Mosconi Cup
Team USA won the Mosconi Cup by defeating Team Europe 12–1.


2001 Moscow Victory Day Parade
The Moscow Victory Parade of 2001 was a celebration of the 56th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War. The commander of the parade was the acting head of the Moscow Garrison Colonel General Nikolai Makarov. Reviewing the parade was Minister of Defence Sergei Ivanov.


2001 Moscow Victory Day Parade
Music was performed by the Moscow Garrison's Central Orchestra under Lieutenant General Viktor Afanasyev.


2001 Moscow Victory Day Parade
This was the first parade that was inspected by a civilian defense minister.


2001 Moscow Victory Day Parade, Parade formations
The car carrying the commander of the parade Colonel General Nikolai Makarov


2001 Motor City Bowl
The 2001 Motor City Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association bowl game in which the Toledo Rockets of the MAC defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats of the Conference USA 23–16. It was played on December 29, 2001 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.


2001 Motor City Bowl
The Bearcats were C-USA runners-up fresh off the wins from five of their last six games, which included Syracuse and #20 Southern Mississippi. Toledo was the Mid-American Conference Champ defeating Marshall 41–36 in the 2006 MAC Championship Game.


2001 Motor City Bowl
This game marked the first time the Rockets appeared in the Motor City Bowl while the Bearcats had lost its previous iteration. Rockets running back Chester Taylor rushed for a bowl record 190 yards on 31 carries and the game-winning touchdown. Cincinnati got the ball back but Toledo safety Andy Boyd knocked a potentially game-tying pass out of the hands of Ray Jackson in the end zone. Taylor was selected as MVP of the game.


2001 Motorola 220
The 2001 Motorola 220 was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) motor race held on August 19, 2001, at the Road America circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. It was the 14th race of the 2001 CART season, and the 19th annual edition of the event. Chip Ganassi Racing's Bruno Junqueira who started from tenth position won the 45-lap race. Michael Andretti finished second for Team Green and Fernández Racing driver Adrian Fernández was third.


2001 Motorola 220
Kenny Bräck took pole position by posting the fastest lap in qualifying, and held the lead until the race was stopped because of a flooded track on the backstraight. After a 47-minute delay to address the problem, the race restarted with Hélio Castroneves leading after a switch onto slick tires at his first pit stop before it was stopped. Castroneves led a race-high 24 laps until his final pit stop for fuel to reach the end of the race. Christian Fittipaldi assumed the lead, keeping it until he and Michael Andretti made contact, allowing Junqueira into first. Junqueira maintained the lead for the rest of the race to achieve his first CART victory. There were six cautions and two lead changes among three different drivers.


2001 Motorola 220
The result of the race left Castroneves as the new Drivers' Championship leader; Bräck fell to the second position with five points separating him and Castroneves. Gil de Ferran maintained the third position, Andretti's second-place result advanced him from fifth to fourth, and Scott Dixon took fifth from Dario Franchitti. Honda increased their advantage over Toyota in the Manufacturers' Championship to 35 points while Ford Cosworth dropped to third. Lola lowered Reynard's advantage at the top of the Constructors' Championship to 37 points with seven races left in the season.


2001 Motorola 220, Background
The Motorola 220 was confirmed as part of the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) 2001 schedule for the series in August 2000. It was to be the 19th consecutive year the race was held in the series, and the sixth and final event to be held in the Midwestern United States. The Motorola 220 was the 14th race of 21 scheduled by CART for 2001. It took place at the 14-turn 4.048 mi (6.515 km) Road America circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, on August 19.


2001 Motorola 220, Background
Prior to the event, Team Penske driver Hélio Castroneves and Kenny Bräck for Team Rahal were tied for the lead of the Drivers' Championship with 103 points each. Gil de Ferran was third on 89 points, eight ahead of fourth-placed Dario Franchitti, who in turn was a further eight points in front of Michael Andretti in fifth. Honda led the Manufacturers' Championship with 212 points; Ford Cosworth was second on 185, with Toyota 11 points behind in third. Reynard led the Constructors' Championship by 41 points over Lola.


2001 Motorola 220, Background
Andretti, who won at Road America three times, said he was feeling additional positive pressure heading into the race. He and his team wanted to go to the track and please his team's primary sponsor. Castroneves won the previous race of the season (at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course) and stated he needed to maintain his recent momentum and increase his points tally. He spoke of his hope that he would be able to improve his result from the previous event at Road America in 2000.


2001 Motorola 220, Background
Bräck said his team had to improve his car, which he hoped would be fast on the straightaways since its engine produced a large amount of horsepower. He said that everything that had occurred during the season was in the past, and he had to focus on the race and attempt to win it.


2001 Motorola 220, Practice and qualifying
Two 75-minute practice sessions were held before the Sunday race. A test session, scheduled for Friday afternoon, ran for 90 minutes. Conditions were warm and sunny for both Friday practice sessions. Two red flags were shown in the first practice session. The first was for Roberto Moreno who stalled his engine in the eighth turn while on an out lap. The second was for Scott Dixon who spun into the turn five gravel trap and stalled his car, necessitating its removal from the circuit.


2001 Motorola 220, Practice and qualifying
Tora Takagi was fastest with a time of 1:42:202; Jimmy Vasser, de Ferran, Bräck, Franchitti, Bruno Junqueira, Moreno, Andretti, Bryan Herta and Castroneves rounded out the session's top ten drivers. De Ferran recorded the fastest lap of the day in the second practice session with a time of 1:41.055, ahead of Vasser, Franchitti. Andretti; Moreno, Cristiano da Matta, Junqueira, Tony Kanaan, Castroneves and Bräck.


2001 Motorola 220, Practice and qualifying
A further five stoppages occurred; Max Papis spun into the turn 12 tire barrier, sustaining rear wing damage. Max Wilson simultaneously went off the track leaving the second turn and stalled. Herta slid into the turn three gravel trap, and Wilson stalled after exiting turn three. Vasser went off into the turn four gravel trap. Weather conditions became cloudy for the Saturday practice session due to a low pressure area developing to the west of the track.


2001 Motorola 220, Practice and qualifying
The session was stopped twice when Alex Tagliani spun into the turn six gravel trap and stalled his car, and Bräck's engine failed heading into the 12th turn and steered right towards the pit lane entry but stalled. De Ferran was fastest with a time of 1:40.511; Moreno, Vasser, Junqueira, Takagi, Castroneves, Fernández, Franchitti, Herta and Bräck completed the top ten. After the session ended, Alex Zanardi stopped his car in Fernández's pit stall to prevent him from entering it because Fernández blocked by him while on a timed lap. Zanardi then nudged Fernández in an accusatory manner before others stepped in to defuse the situation.


2001 Motorola 220, Practice and qualifying
Saturday afternoon's qualifying session lasted for 75 minutes. The cars were split into two groups with the leading championship point-standing leaders and the fastest two drivers from the previous road course race composing the second group. Both groups were allowed 30 minutes on the circuit with a 15-minute break in between the two groups recording their lap times. A heavy rain shower, which ended one hour before qualifying began, made the track surface slippery and all cars were required to use wet-weather tires. Rain returned as the second group of cars drove onto the track.


2001 Motorola 220, Practice and qualifying
Several drivers slid off the track, but most avoided damaging their cars. Bräck achieved his fifth pole position of the season with a time of 2:03.531. He was joined on the grid's front row by Tagliani in his best qualifying performance on a road course in 2001. Tagliani could not claim the pole position as he slowed for Castroneves at Canada Corner during his final two timed laps. In his first time competing at Road America, Dixon qualified in third place on his final timed lap.


2001 Motorola 220, Practice and qualifying
De Ferran spun twice and entered the pit lane to make changes to his car to allow him to go faster; he took fourth, ahead of da Matta. Castroneves elected to drive his team's backup car, which was optimized for wet-weather. He took sixth due to the effects the drying track had on his strategy. Andretti qualified in seventh place, pushing Memo Gidley to eighth position. Fittipaldi took ninth, and Junqueira tenth having two wheels into the gravel on the side of the track on his final lap.


2001 Motorola 220, Practice and qualifying
Vasser started 11th, nearly one-tenth of a second faster than Patrick Carpentier in 12th, and Takagi in 13th. Moreno and Maurício Gugelmin, Herta (who was delayed by Zanardi) and Kanaan, Oriol Servià, Wilson and Michel Jourdain Jr. filled the next six positions. Shinji Nakano, Papis, Zanardi and Paul Tracy qualified in positions 21 to 24. Tracy caused the session to be stopped for four minutes when he spun into the turn four infield grass section. His session ended prematurely because he subsequently reported by radio a transmission failure to his team. Franchitti spun into the turn 12 gravel trap and was unable to go faster; he started 25th. Fernández did not set a lap time after he had spun at the third turn and hit the outside wall with his rear wing.


2001 Motorola 220, Warm-up
The drivers took to the track at 9:30 a.m. local time for a 30-minute warm-up session. Rain continued to fall on the track overnight but stopped before the session began. Kanaan was fastest in the warm-up session with a time of 1:51.743. Dixon and Wilson were second and third. The session was disrupted when Andretti spun in the 11th turn and damaged the right-front quarter of his car upon hitting the wall. Andretti was unhurt.


2001 Motorola 220, Race
A further deluge came over the track with over 1 inch (25 millimetres) of rain falling in less than half an hour. Race officials worked quickly to remove standing water from the track surface. It was announced the race would be a "Wet Start" and all cars were required to start with the rain tires installed. The air temperature ranged from 66 to 75 °F (19 to 24 °C) and the track temperature was between 67 and 90 °F (19 and 32 °C). The race began at 12:15 p.m. local time behind the pace car.


2001 Motorola 220, Race
The vehicles drove alongside each other to lift the remaining standing water on the track surface. A jet dryer was sent onto the track on lap two to assist in the drying efforts. The pit lane was opened on lap four with teammates Tracy and Franchitti making pit stops. Both drivers rejoined the race at the back of the field. The pace car entered the pit lane at the end of the fifth lap and the cars restarted in a single line. Bräck maintained the lead heading into the first turn. Dixon was blocked by another car, and he was overtaken by de Ferran for third. Farther back, Junqueira clashed wheels with Fittipaldi at the fifth turn, dropping him to the rear of the field.


2001 Motorola 220, Race
Junqueira attempted to overtake Fittipaldi but made contact with the right-front section of his car in turn five and spun. He fell from tenth to 20th. Serviá made contact with the Franchetti's front-right leaving turn five and both drivers spun towards the inside wall. They continued without any significant damage. Tagliani temporarily moved ahead of Bräck to claim the lead, but he drove too fast heading into the corner and Bräck was able to reclaim the position. De Ferran took advantage of the manoeuvre by driving on the inside lane, but he could not pass Tagliani.


2001 Motorola 220, Race
Takagi swerved to avoid the collision between Junqueira and Fittipaldi and Moreno attempted to overtake him around the outside, but both drivers made contact heading into turn nine. Takagi stalled his engine, but he managed to continue. Wilson hit the rear of Herta's car; he went airborne and over the back of it. Both competitors then drifted into the inside wall. Herta's helmet bore tyre marks from the accident. Tracy attempted to avoid the scene by driving around the inside, but he was caught up in the incident because of reduced visibility after driving through spray. No drivers were injured but all three retired from the race. The second caution flag was shown on the same lap. Franchitti, Junqueira, Fittipaldi made pit stops under caution.


2001 Motorola 220, Race
Bräck led the field at the lap-10 restart. Andretti passed Dixon for sixth place into the first turn. Dixon hit the rear of Andretti's car, sending him spinning in the center of turn five. He got his car moving in the right direction and continued. The third caution was necessitated on the same lap when Gugelmin lost control of his car after driving through standing water on the backstraight and veered right. He collided heavily with the inside wall. Gugelmin was uninjured, but he retired from the race because of the damage to his vehicle.


2001 Motorola 220, Race
On lap 11, Takagi hydroplaned in the same area and heavily damaged his car by contacting the inside barrier. All drivers, except for Castroneves, made pit stops for dry tires. The race was stopped three laps later by CART chief steward Chris Kneifel to allow course officials to deal with the standing water on the backstretch, caused by the nearby run-off area collecting water where it then seeped across the track surface. Course officials started to dig a ditch against the inside wall at the scene. CART required all drivers to drive into the pit lane; their mechanics were permitted to alter their cars. The race restarted 47 minutes later with Castroneves, Carpentier and Jourdain leading the field after they had made pit stops for slick tires before it was stopped.


2001 Motorola 220, Race
Carpentier unsuccessfully challenged Castroneves on the outside lane on the run to the first corner. Fittipaldi out-braked Bräck at turn five for fourth place. Jourdain then caught Carpentier off guard cresting a hill on the approach to turn six by passing him around the outside to move into second. Half-a-mile later, Bräck was passed by Tagliani who got ahead of him around the outside at the Carousel corner. However, Tagliani went off the circuit while trying to overtake his teammate Carpentier at turn 12 and fell to ninth.


2001 Motorola 220, Race
At the end of lap 17, Castroneves led Jourdain with Fittipaldi, Carpentier, and Bräck in positions three to five. On lap 21, the sixth caution was given. Entering turn 13, Gidley put a wheel on a damp curb and suddenly lost rear traction. He was propelled toward a concrete support to a nearby bridge at the corner. His car's right-front corner hit it at approximately 145 mph (233 km/h) at a 60 degree angle. Gidley's car was split into two pieces; he flipped and rolled several times before landing upside down in a nearby gravel trap at the outside of the circuit. Debris was scattered across the track, and Dixon collected some of it, which struck his helmet.


2001 Motorola 220, Race
Gidley was briefly knocked unconscious by the impact, but he awoke by the time safety officials came to his aid and he communicated with his team over the radio. Safety workers spent ten minutes extricating Gidley from his wrecked car. He was transported via ambulance to the HSHS St. Nicholas Hospital in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, for precautionary x-rays to his neck and had a CT scan. Jourdain, Fittipaldi, and Bräck entered the pit lane to make stops for fuel during the caution.


2001 Motorola 220, Race
Castroneves chose not to make a pit stop, and he led the field at the lap-29 restart, followed by Carpentier and de Ferran. Carpentier lost second to de Ferran at turn twelve and he then dropped to fifth after da Matta and Moreno passed him. Franchitti had lost radio communication with his team, and smoke bellowed from the rear of his car due to an engine failed leaving the second corner on lap 32. He pulled off the track at the next turn to retire. Castroneves and his teammate de Ferran, along with all drivers who did not make their pit stops during the caution, entered the pit lane three laps later for fuel stops to enable them to reach the end of the race.


2001 Motorola 220, Race
Fittipaldi became the leader with Andretti taking over second. Going into turn five, Andretti drove on the inside lane to try and overtake Fittipaldi. He defended his position by cutting down of Andretti, resulting in the two making side-by-side contact. Fittipaldi sustained a broken front-left suspension arm and retired at the side of the track forced to retire because of the significant amount of damage to his car. Andretti had a skewed steering column, but he continued driving. The incident, however, delayed Andretti long enough for him to lose the lead to Junqueira on the inside lane cresting a hill.


2001 Motorola 220, Race
Junqueira pulled away from Andretti by setting a series of fastest laps to lead by 2.931 seconds by the start of the 40th lap. Zanardi was in third but he could not match the leaders' pace and he lost as much as three seconds to them per lap. Fernández was in fourth place and under pressure from his teammate Nakano in fifth. On lap 42, Andretti, Zanardi and Nakano made their final pit stops. Andretti emerged in third. Junqueira entered the pit lane leading Fernández by 20 seconds on the next lap, returning about 100 ft (30 m) in front of him.


2001 Motorola 220, Race
At this point, CART Race Control informed all teams and drivers the race would end after two hours because of the earlier delays. Fernández conserved his fuel usage, and he allowed Andretti through into the second position on the 44th lap. Unhindered in the final two laps, Junqueira crossed the start/finish line after completing 45 laps to clinch his first victory in CART with an average speed of 90.721 mph (146.001 km/h). Andretti followed 2.687 seconds later in second and Fernández completed the podium finishers in third place.


2001 Motorola 220, Race
Off the podium, Dixon equalled his best result on a road course during the season in fourth. The Brazilian trio of de Ferran, da Matta and Castroneves were in positions five to seven. Tagliani and his fellow Canadian Carpentier finished in eighth and ninth places and Serviá tenth. Outside the top ten, Moreno was eleventh, followed by his fellow Brazilian Kanaan in twelfth. The final finishers were Zanardi, Bräck, Nakano, Papis, and Jourdain. There were a total of six cautions and two lead changes among three different drivers during the course of the race. Castroneves' total of 24 laps in the lead was the most of any competitor. Junqueira led once for a total of ten laps.


2001 Motorola 220, Race, Post-race
Junqueira appeared in the victory lane before going to the podium with the second and third-place finishers to celebrate the first victory of his career in front of the crowd; the win earned him $100,000. He dedicated his victory to his teammate Gidley. "I'm really happy to get my first win, especially on a really tough track like Road America. I was really scared when I saw [Gidley's crash], and I asked about him on the radio and Chip came on and said he was OK. I'm so happy for that."


2001 Motorola 220, Race, Post-race
Andretti spoke of an "unbelievable day" for himself and accepted his second-place result despite his collision with Fittipaldi, "There were tough conditions at the start, and I'm glad I wasn't [CART Chief Steward] Chris Kneifel. I don't know what I would have done, probably the same thing. It was just too wet for slicks, and it was just a tough sitiuation."


2001 Motorola 220, Race, Post-race
Third-place finisher Fernández commented about the changeable track conditions and improvements made to his car during the red flag, "(Engineer) John (Ward) didn't know if it was going to be a timed race, but once we found out it was going to be a timed race we couldn't race with Michael and Bruno because we had to save fuel. I ran out in Turn 2, so we just made it. The car ran really good all day."


2001 Motorola 220, Race, Post-race
After x-rays, Gidley was found to have fractured a non-weight bearing portion of the bone in his right thigh. He was evaluated by Terry Tramell in Indianapolis on August 20. Gidley revealed the extent of his injuries the day after being discharged from hospital, "I'm very sore, but not too bad really. I feel like you do after you've been skiing for the first time after a long layoff. When you get off the slopes you feel fine, but when you get up in the morning you can hardly move.


2001 Motorola 220, Race, Post-race
I feel like I've got about 25 charley horses all over me." He used crutches to aid in his mobility because his body was sore from his crash; he stopped using them on August 25. Andretti said of his contact with Fittipaldi, "I don't know if Fittipaldi was wearing blinders, but I wasn't the only one he hit out there."


2001 Motorola 220, Race, Post-race
Fittipaldi responded by saying he did not anticipate Andretti drawing alongside him, and spoke of his feeling it was slightly optimistic of Andretti to attempt his overtaking manoeuvre, "I doubted our strategy after we made our last stop but it would have ultimately put us in position to challenge Bruno or finish third at the worse but Michael made that an over optimistic pass and my car was too damaged to continue. We could have had a podium finish but ended in 18th. It's a shame for myself and the team after a lot of hard work this weekend."


2001 Motorola 220, Race, Post-race
The decision to start the race on a flooded track on the backstraight came under criticism from figures within CART which was pressured to begin the race because it purchased two hours of airtime on sports network ESPN. Herta disagreed with the decision to start the race with a wet track at turn twelve, and he told his team over the radio that officials made an error in judgement. Gugelmin concurred with his view, saying, "CART never should have started this race with the conditions the way they were.


2001 Motorola 220, Race, Post-race
Red-flagging it was the right decision, but it doesn't help me or any of the guys who crashed in this mess. These are racing cars, not powerboats. The whole thing was ridiculous." Kneifel stated he observed the track with safety officials before the race began, and acknowledged his decision-making would come under scrutiny. Criticism was also directed at CART's decision to permit teams to alter their cars during the stoppage. Bräck said he felt this gave Castroneves, Carpentier, Jourdain and Nakano an unfair advantage and prevented from finishing in a higher position. Serviá argued that all the cars should have been put into Formula One style parc fermé conditions, and did not see the logic in allowing teams to adjust and fuel their cars during a red flag period.


2001 Motorola 220, Race, Post-race
The result of the race meant Castroneves became the new leader of the Drivers' Championship with a five-point lead over previous leader Bräck in second. De Ferran remained his hold on third while Andretti's second place advanced him from fifth to fourth. Dixon took fifth from Franchitti. Honda increased its advantage to 35 points over Toyota in the Manufacturers' Championship. Ford Cosworth's results dropped it to third. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Reynard still led but their advantage over Lola had been reduced by four points with seven races left in the season.


2001 Mountain Dew Southern 500
The 2001 Mountain Dew Southern 500, the 52nd running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race held on September 2, 2001 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. Contested at 367 laps on the 1.366 mile (2.198 km) speedway, it was the 25th race of the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. Ward Burton of Bill Davis Racing won the race.


2001 Mountain Dew Southern 500, Background
Darlington Raceway, nicknamed by many NASCAR fans and drivers as "The Lady in Black" or "The Track Too Tough to Tame" and advertised as a "NASCAR Tradition", is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that will be effective at both ends.


2001 Mountain Dew Southern 500, Background
The track, Darlington Raceway,  is a four-turn 1.366 miles (2.198 km) oval. The track's first two turns are banked at twenty-five degrees, while the final two turns are banked two degrees lower at twenty-three degrees.


2001 Mountain West Conference Baseball Tournament
The 2001 Mountain West Conference Baseball Tournament took place from May 16–19. This was the second tournament held by the league. All six of the league's teams met in the double-elimination tournament held at San Diego State University's Tony Gwynn Stadium. Top seeded BYU won their first Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship with a championship game score of 4–3 and earned the conference's new automatic bid to the 2001 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.


2001 Mountain West Conference Baseball Tournament, Seeding
The teams were seeded based on regular season conference winning percentage only. Utah claimed the third seed over New Mexico by winning the season series.


2001 Mountain West Conference Baseball Tournament, All-Tournament Team, Most Valuable Player
Nate Fernley, a pitcher for the champion BYU Cougars, was named the tournament Most Valuable Player after his complete game victory in the championship game.


2001 Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2001 Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament was played at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada from March 8–10, 2001. Only 7 of the conference's 8 member schools would compete in the tournament. Host school UNLV was banned from postseason play in the wake of rules violations while recruiting Lamar Odom that ultimately led to the ouster of head coach Bill Bayno. The format of the tournament was temporarily changed, giving regular season champion Utah a quarterfinal bye to await the winner of the New Mexico-Colorado State game.


2001 Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Of note, this marked the first time that UNLV failed to appear in the championship game of the league tournament while held at the Thomas & Mack Center. As of 2011, eleven MWC Tournaments had been held in Las Vegas, with UNLV appearing in all but three championship games (2001, 2009).


2001 Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Second seeded BYU would win the tournament and the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid with a 69–65 win over #5 seed New Mexico.


2001 Mountain West Conference football season
The 2001 Mountain West Conference football season was the third since eight former members of the Western Athletic Conference banded together to form the Mountain West Conference. BYU won the conference championship in 2001, the Cougars' second title since the league began in 1999.


2001 Moyle District Council election
Elections to Moyle District Council were held on 7 June 2001 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 15 councillors.


2001 Moyle District Council election, Districts results, Ballycastle
1997: 2 x Independent, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP2001: 2 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent1997-2001 Change: SDLP gain from Independent


2001 Moyle District Council election, Districts results, Giant's Causeway
1997: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Independent Unionist2001: 2 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Independent1997-2001 Change: Independent Unionist becomes Independent


2001 Moyle District Council election, Districts results, The Glens
1997: 2 x SDLP, 2 x Independent Nationalist, 1 x Sinn Féin2001: 2 x Sinn Féin, 2 x SDLP, 1 x Independent1997-2001 Change: Independent Nationalists (two seats) become Independents


2001 Mr. Olympia
The 2001 Mr. Olympia contest was an IFBB professional bodybuilding competition held October 26–28, 2001 at the Mandalay Bay Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.


2001 Ms. Olympia
The 2001 Ms. Olympia contest is an IFBB professional bodybuilding competition and part of Joe Weider's Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend 2001 was held on October 26, 2001, at the Mandalay Bay Arena in Paradise, Nevada. It was the 22nd Ms. Olympia competition held. Other events at the exhibition include the Mr. Olympia and Fitness Olympia contests.


2001 Munster Senior Hurling Championship Final
The 2001 Munster Senior Hurling Championship Final was a hurling match played on 1 July 2001 at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork, County Cork. It was contested by Tipperary and Limerick. Tipperary claimed their first Munster Championship of the decade, beating Limerick on a scoreline of 2-16 to 1-17, a 2 point winning margin. Overall, this was Tipperary's thirty sixth Munster Senior Hurling Championship title.


2001 Munster Senior Hurling Championship Final
Tipperay had defeated Clare in the semi-final by 0-15 to 0-14 to reach the final, while Limerick had defeated Cork by 1-16 to 1-15 in the quarter final and Waterford by 4-11 to 2-14 in the semi-final to reach the final. The match was screened live by RTÉ as part of The Sunday Game programme.


2001 Music City Bowl
The 2001 Music City Bowl was the fourth edition of the bowl game held. It was played on December 28, 2001, at LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee, and featured the Georgia Bulldogs and the Boston College Eagles.


2001 Music City Bowl, Game Recap
Georgia scored first on a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback David Greene to wide receiver Fred Gibson, giving the Bulldogs an early 7-0 lead. Boston College kicker Sandro Sciortino kicked a 25-yard field goal near the end of the quarter, to cut the lead to 7-3. In the second quarter, quarterback Brian St. Pierre threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Dedrick Dewalt, as Boston College took a 10-7 lead.


2001 Music City Bowl, Game Recap
Sandro Sciortino added another 26 yard field goal to take a 13-7 lead. Georgia kicker Billy Bennett kicked a 24-yard field goal before halftime, and BC led 13-10 at halftime. In the third quarter, Georgia's Verron Haynes scored on a 1-yard touchdown run. The ensuing extra point attempt failed, and Georgia clung to a 16-13 lead. With less than 5 minutes left in the game, William Green rushed for a 7-yard touchdown, giving Boston College a 20-16 lead. BC's defense held on for the win. Green was named the game's Most Valuable Player.


2001 Myrtle Beach tornadoes
At least two destructive tornadoes struck Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on Friday, July 6, 2001. The strongest of the two was a slow-moving F2 tornado that was caught on camera moving down the beach, injuring 39. In all, the tornadoes caused $8.8 million in damage.


2001 Myrtle Beach tornadoes, Other possible tornadoes
Near southern Myrtle Beach, evidence was found for three other damage paths that were estimated to have F0 and F1 strength. These tornadoes caused roof and tree damage. However, they were not added to the official database.


2001 Myrtle Beach tornadoes, Aftermath
The storm that produced these tornadoes occurred during the Fourth of July weekend as an estimated 400,000 vacationers were at Myrtle Beach. Damage from the tornadoes is estimated to be up to $8,000,000 - with an estimated $1,000,000 damages associated with vehicles. 4,000 residents were without power during the worst parts of the storm.


2001 NACRA Rugby Championship
The 2001 NACRA Rugby Championship was a rugby union championship for Tier 3 North American and Caribbean teams, which took place between 20 and 24 November 2001.


2001 NACRA Rugby Championship
The tournament was also valid as the first round of Americas qualification for 2003 Rugby World Cup.


2001 NACRA Rugby Championship
The championship was held as single-elimination tournament. The tournament was won by Trinidad and Tobago who beat Bermuda in the finals.


2001 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
The 64th NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament was held in March at the Tulsa Convention Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was the second tournament held in the Tulsa Convention Center and the last tournament to be held in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The 64th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. 2001 would bring four new teams to the NAIA National Semifinals. The first tournament since 1969 tournament to do so. (It would be the 6th time in tournament history this has happened; previous years were the inaugural year 1937, 1945, 1947, 1965, 1969). It surpasses the 15 year gap between a fresh set of semi-finalist that was between 1947-1969. It would be the only time this would happen outside of Kansas City.


2001 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
In the end, Faulkner University would win out over University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, with a score of 63 to 59. The others rookies in the semifinals were Pikeville College and Christian Heritage (Calif.). USAO would eventually come back and win in 2002 national tournament.


2001 NAIA Football National Championship
The 2001 NAIA Football Championship Series concluded on December 15, 2001 with the championship game played at Jim Carroll Stadium in Savannah, Tennessee. The game was won by the Georgetown Tigers over the Sioux Falls Cougars by a score of 49–27. The win was the second consecutive championship for the Tigers.


2001 NAIA football rankings
One human poll made up the 2001 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football rankings, sometimes called the NAIA Coaches' Poll or the football ratings. Once the regular season was complete, the NAIA sponsored a playoff to determine the year's national champion. A final poll was then taken after completion of the 2001 NAIA Football National Championship.


2001 NAIA football rankings, Leading vote-getters
Since the inception of the Coaches' Poll in 1999, the #1 ranking in the various weekly polls has been held by only a select group of teams. Through the postseason poll of the 2001 season, the teams and the number of times they have held the #1 weekly ranking are shown below. The number of times a team has been ranked #1 in the postseason poll (the national champion) is shown in parentheses.


2001 NAIA football rankings, Leading vote-getters
In 1999, the results of a postseason poll, if one was conducted, are not known. Therefore, an additional poll has been presumed, and the #1 postseason ranking has been credited to the postseason tournament champion, the Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers.


2001 NAPA Auto Parts 300
The 2001 NAPA Auto Parts 300 was a NASCAR Busch Series race held on February 17, 2001, Contested over 120 laps, on the 2.5-mile (4.0 km) asphalt superspeedway. It was the first race of the 2001 NASCAR Busch Series season.


2001 NAPA Auto Parts 300, Media, Television
The NAPA Auto Parts 300 was carried by FOX in the United States. Mike Joy, former Cup Series champion Darrell Waltrip, and former Daytona 500 winner race crew chief Larry McReynolds called the race from the booth, with Steve Byrnes, Jeanne Zelasko, Dick Berggren and Matt Yocum covering pit road. Chris Myers hosted the show and there was also contributions from Jeff Hammond and Ken Squier. It was the first NASCAR Busch Series race broadcast on FOX as part of the new for 2001 TV contracts.


2001 NAPA Auto Parts 500
The 2001 NAPA Auto Parts 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car race held on April 29, 2001, at California Speedway in Fontana, California. Contested over 250 laps on the 2-mile (3.23 km) asphalt D-shaped oval, it was the tenth race of the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. Rusty Wallace of Penske Racing won the race.


2001 NAPA Auto Parts 500, Background
The track, California Speedway, is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2 miles (3.2 km) long. The track's turns are banked from fourteen degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at eleven degrees. Unlike the front stretch, the back straightaway is banked at three degrees.


2001 NASCAR Busch Series
The 2001 NASCAR Busch Series began February 17 and ended November 10. Kevin Harvick of Richard Childress Racing was champion.


2001 NASCAR Busch Series, Races, NAPA Auto Parts 300
The NAPA Auto Parts 300 was held February 17 at Daytona International Speedway. Joe Nemechek won the pole.


2001 NASCAR Busch Series, Races, Alltel 200
The Alltel 200 was held February 24 at North Carolina Speedway. Greg Biffle won the pole.


2001 NASCAR Busch Series, Races, Sam's Town 300
The Sam's Town 300 was held March 3 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Matt Kenseth won the pole.


2001 NASCAR Busch Series, Races, Aaron's 312
The Aaron's 312 was held March 12 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Ryan Newman won the pole.