In 2000, Toronto was Round-10 of the 20-race Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) series. It had been a very competitive season with eight different race winners in its first nine events. The event also included five previous Toronto winners. The track was an eleven-turn 1.755-mile temporary street circuit at Toronto’s Exhibition Place. The event proved quite a challenge as only eleven of the twenty-five starters were running at the end, with ten-competitors on the lead lap.

In 2000, Michael Andretti claimed his sixth CART win at Toronto’s Exhibition Place. Andretti qualified his Ford-powered Lola B2K third. Early in the race, he trailed Helio Castroneves and later Cristiano da Matta. A superior final pit-stop allowed Andretti to take the lead and win. Andretti had won five of the first ten races in Toronto but had not taken the checkered flag since 1996.
Former Toronto winner Adrian Fernandez started ninth in a Reynard 2KI. A combination of factors – the misfortune of quicker qualifiers and his team's faster pit-stops - allowed Fernandez to move up the order. He was running second on lap-79 when he was passed by eventual winner Andretti. With the retirement of Roberto Moreno, he inherited second where he would remain until the finish.
Two weeks earlier Roberto Moreno scored his first CART win at Cleveland. He started sixteenth in his Visteon sponsored Reynard 2KI. With less than 14-laps remaining Moreno found himself up front only to retire with a gearbox failure. He was classified in thirteenth place. At this point in the season, Moreno was the point’s leader but his poor finish in Toronto reduced his lead to just 2-points over Andretti.
Cristiano da Matta qualified second at Toronto - to date - his best start of his short CART career. Da Matta inherited the lead from Helio Castoneves and the led the most race laps – 72. On lap-74 da Matta made his final pit-stop which allowed Andretti to take the lead. After the pit-stop da Matta lost grip and the poor handling car dropped him down the order – he finished fourth.
At Toronto Paul Tracy wore a helmet painted in the late Greg Moore's unique design - the helmet would be auctioned off for charity. Heading into Toronto Tracy had gone four straight events without scoring a point after leading the standings early in the season. He had an excellent run in the race finishing third which moved him from fifth to fourth in the standings. He trailed Moreno by 17-points and was just two behind third-place de Ferran.
The highest placed rookie at Toronto was Canadian Alex Tagliani. Tagliani drove a Reynard 2KI powered by the very popular Ford-Cosworth XF for Forsythe Racing. He started the race nineteenth and finished fifth. In his first year of the CART series, Tagliani would finish sixteenth in the final championship standings and third in the rookie chase.
Qualifying on the pole in Toronto was Helio Castroneves. Castroneves was driving one of Roger Penske’s Reynard 2KI. He had three wins (Detroit, Mid-Ohio & Laguna Seca) during the 2000 season but some poor finishes relegated him to seventh in the final Championship standings.
The other Team Penske driver was Gil de Ferran. Coming into Toronto de Ferran had two wins (Nazareth and Portland) but was only third in the points. At Toronto, he qualified eighth and finished sixth. De Ferran would go on to win the Drivers' Championship and also contributed to the Brazilian drivers winning the Nation’s Cup.
Kenny Brack drove a Reynard 2KI for Team Rahal and won the 2000 CART Rookie or the Year title. But Brack was hardly an open wheel rookie. He entered the CART series having already won the 1998 IRL Championship and 1999 Indianapolis 500. At the Toronto round, he finished tenth after a seventh place start.
Pole-sitter Helio Castroneves had a miscue in turn-3 on the first lap. The chain of events caused by his off-line excursion caused Dario Franchitti's Reynard to run into Juan Montoya's rear suspension. CART's safety crew separated the two cars and they returned to the pits under their own power, however, neither vehicle would return to the race. Montoya was classified twenty-fourth followed by Franchitti.

FINISHSTARTDRIVERCARLAPSRETIREMENTS
13Michael AndrettiLola B2K/00 / Ford-Cosworth XF112-
29Adrian FernandezReynard 2KI / Ford-Cosworth XF112-
312Paul TracyReynard 2KI / Honda HRK112-
42Cristiano da MattaReynard 2KI / Toyota RVA112-
519Alex Tagliani (R)Reynard 2KI / Ford-Cosworth XF112-
68Gil de FerranReynard 2KI / Honda HRK112-
717Patrick CarpentierReynard 2KI / Ford-Cosworth XF112-
814Max PapisReynard 2KI / Ford-Cosworth XF112-
913Jimmy VasserLola B2K/00 / Toyota RVA112-
107Kenny Brack (R)Reynard 2KI / Ford-Cosworth XF112-
1111Oriol Servia (R)Reynard 2KI / Toyota RVA108-
1225Luiz Garcia Jr.Reynard 2KI / Mercedes IC 108E105-
1316Roberto MorenoReynard 2KI / Ford-Cosworth XF99Mechanical
1421Shinji NakanoReynard 2KI / Honda HRK56Electrical
1510Mauricio GugelminReynard 2KI / Mercedes IC 108E45Electrical
161Helio CastronevesReynard 2KI / Honda HRK45Mechanical
176Christian FittipaldiLola B2K/00 / Ford-Cosworth XF37Contact
1818Bryan HertaReynard 2KI / Mercedes IC 108E36Mechanical
1920Michel Jourdain Jr.Lola B2K / Mercedes IC 108E36Mechanical
2022Noberto Fontana (R)Reynard 2KI / Toyota RVA33Contact
2123Tarso MarquesSwift 011.c / Ford-Cosworth XF33Contact
2215Mark BlundellReynard 2KI / Mercedes IC 108E19Mechanical
2324Takuya Kurosawa (R)Lola B2K / Ford-Cosworth XF8Mechanical
244Juan MontoyaLola B2K/00 / Toyota RVA1Contact
255Dario FranchittiReynard 2KI / Honda HRK1Contact

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