The 2000 CART Toyota Atlantic Championship opens in late March with a doubleheader at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Round three is on the streets of Long Beach, California and has been a traditional stop for the series. Next on the calendar is the Milwaukee Mile for an oval event. Then the teams trek north of the border to compete as a support event for the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal. After Montreal, teams race on temporary circuits at Cleveland, Toronto and Trois-Rivieres. In August, the series visits two traditional road courses – Wisconsin’s Road America and Laguna Seca Raceway in California. The penultimate round of the championship is held in St. Louis at Gateway International Raceway. The season ends on the first weekend in October in Houston, Texas.

In 1989 Toyota became the title sponsor for the championship. As a result, all series cars use the Toyota 4A-GE engine. The four-cylinder DOHC 1.6-liter motor is used in many of Toyota’s production vehicles. For the Formula Atlantic series, the motor is tuned to produce approximately 240-horsepower. Teams are also required to compete with a spec chassis manufactured by Swift Engineering. The Swift 008.a model was introduced in 1998. The carbon-fiber tub with all the components weighs just under 1,300-pounds.

Round seven of the 2000 CART Toyota Atlantic Championship was held at Toronto’s Exhibition Place. Drivers would compete on the eleven-turn 1.755-mile temporary street circuit for thirty-five laps.

In the first six races of the 2000 CART Toyota Atlantic Championship, a local favourite, Andrew Bordin, was yet to find the rostrum’s top step. During the qualifying session in Toronto, he would set the fastest time. At the start of the race, Bordan pulled away from the field until he encountered transmission issues. He lost first-place to Buddy Rice but reclaimed it on lap-29 and held on to win by a margin of 0.546-seconds.
The points leader entering the Toronto event was Buddy Rice. Rice was victorious at Homestead-Miami, Long Beach and Cleveland. The title contender struggled in qualifying but recorded the fourth-fastest time. In the race, Rice moved into contention on the first lap. When Andrew Bordin developed a gearbox problem, Rice took the lead. However, he was unable to hold-off Bordin on restarts and finished second.
Rookie, Dan Weldon, made quite an impression on series regulars when he won the opening round of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Weldon adapted quickly to the Toronto circuit and started on the outside of the front row in the No. 3 Swift 008i. On the first lap of the race, he lost second to a hard-charging Buddy Rice. Weldon could not maintain the pace set by Rice and Andrew Bordin. He finished third.
Another Canadian hopefully, David Rutledge, won round five in Montreal. Rutledge piloted the No. 19 Lynx Racing prepared Swift 008i. He was one of many drivers finding the Toronto layout challenging. Rutledge crashed in the final session, but with the car repaired, he was the quickest driver in the warm-up. Unfortunately, Rutledge was one of five competitors involved in a first turn incident and retired on lap-3.
Last season William Langhorne only competed in the road course events and was a surprise winner at the Molson Indy Vancouver. In 2000 Langhorne returned to Active Motorsports, piloting the No. 23 Swift 008i. His best result leading up to the Toronto Indy was a fifth-place in the previous round at Cleveland. At Exhibition Place, Langhorne qualified third fastest and drove a clean race to finish in the fourth position.
By the time the series arrived in Toronto, Brazilian Hoover Orsi had notched up three podium finishes, but his record also included two accidents. Orsi was seventh fastest during the qualifying session for round seven. Unfortunately, he was the first retiree of the event. Heading into corner one, the ninth-place starter, Dave Cutler, ran into the No. 9 Swift 008i, causing suspension damage, which ended Orsi’s race.

FINISHSTARTDRIVERCAR / SPONSORLAPSRETIREMENTS
11Andrew BordinSwift 008i / PPI/MCI Telecommunications35-
24Buddy RiceSwift 008i / DSTP Motorsports35-
32Daniel WheldonSwift 008i / PPI/Jayhard/BG Products35-
43William LanghorneSwift 008i / Active Mts/findthe.com35-
56Martin BassoSwift 008i / Mike Shank/BBB Engine35-
611Jean-Francois VeilleuxSwift 008i / World Speed Motorsports35-
78Rocky Moran JrSwift 008i / P-1 Racing/NTN Bearing35-
89Alex GurneySwift 008i / All American Racers35-
95Mike ConteSwift 008i / Lynx Racing/Traxx35-
1013Rino MastronardisSwift 008i / Condor Motorsport35-
1114Bruno St-JacquesSwift 008i / Mike Shank35-
1216Masaoki NagashimaSwift 008i / P-1 Racing/Panasonic35-
1315Bob PeronaSwift 008i / Cobb Racing/Media One20-
1421Christophe BeauvaisSwift 008i / RDS Motorsports35-
1522Cam BinderSwift 008i / Binder Racing35-
1626Eric JensenSwift 008i / Jensen/Westin34-
1724Bob SiskaSwift 008i / R.J.S. Motorsport34-
1812Akihiro AsaiSwift 008i / World Speed Motorsports27Mechanical
1929Cemal YelkinSwift 008i / Meehan Motorsports19Off Course
2025Steve LorenzenSwift 008i / Pierce Motorsports18Mechnical
2117T.J. BellSwift 008i / Mike Shank15Contact
2218Dave CutlerSwift 008i / P-1 Racing9Contact
2323Sergi SzortykaSwift 008i / J&J Racing9Contact
2420Stephane RoySwift 008i / Port-A-Cool Racing3Contact
2510David RutledgeSwift 008i / Lynx Racing3Contact
267Hoover OrsiSwift 008i / Hylton Motorsports/0Contact

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