Zanardi Denied Chance to Qualify After Causing Accident in Practice

MONTEREY, Calif. —  Alex Zanardi is the CART FedEx champ car champion for the second consecutive year, and he may be leaving for richer grounds in Formula One, but that doesn’t mean he can get away with running over his competitors.

Already on probation for two incidents at the Mid-Ohio track in Lexington in August, Zanardi was excluded from Friday’s first-day qualifying for Sunday’s Texaco/Havoline 300, feature event of the Honda Grand Prix of Monterey, for an accident during practice.

The excitable little Italian, who clinched the $1-million bonus as CART champion Sunday at Vancouver, tried to overtake Bryan Herta in the Corkscrew section of the track, near where he made an impossible pass two years ago to beat Herta to the checkered flag, but didn’t make it this time.

Worse for Zanardi, CART officials had just signaled the end of the session.

“After the flag was displayed, the No. 1 car [Zanardi’s] attempted to overtake the No. 8 car [Herta’s] in the Corkscrew and it resulted in contact,” chief steward Wally Dallenbach said. “It was a risky and unnecessary move by the No. 1 car and it resulted in damage to both cars.”

Herta’s reaction: “It was kind of silly. The session was over and I came up on one of the Toyota [powered] cars and he backed off, so I lifted and Zanardi got into me. He was going much faster than the rest of us. Our guys had to replace the left front suspension, the steering rack and the radiators on my car. It cost us some track time in qualifying.”

Zanardi will be permitted to qualify in today’s second round.

“I think the only losers today are the fans who came out to see Alex,” team owner Chip Ganassi said. “It’s an unfortunate situation. Obviously, we’ll turn our attention to tomorrow for Alex, and we’ll focus completely on Jimmy today.”

Jimmy Vasser, Zanardi’s teammate, defending Laguna Seca champion and the 1996 CART champion, did not fare so well, however, qualifying sixth.

Dario Franchitti, the Scotsman with Italian heritage, was fastest Friday, earning the provisional pole with a lap of 117.793 mph around the 2.2-mile road circuit. Franchitti, driving a Honda-powered Reynard for Barry Green, has been on the pole four times this season and won the last two races, at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., and Vancouver.

The latter win was the first for a pole sitter in 22 races.

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The Facts

* What: Grand Prix of Monterey, Laguna Seca Raceway, Monterey, Calif.

* When: Today--qualifying, 12:45 p.m. (ESPN2, 10:30 p.m.); Sunday--race, noon (ESPN).

* Race distance: 185.75 miles, 83 laps.

* Last year: Jimmy Vasser ended a 16-month victory drought, beating England’s Mark Blundell by 0.543 seconds. Vasser averaged a record 109.647 mph in the race completed without a full-course caution period. Italy’s Alex Zanardi, the 1996 winner, finished third to clinch the season title.