Gearbox heartbreak for Nakano.

Shinji Nakano was within touching distance of playing a part in what would have been a best ever double finish for Fernandez Racing when he suffered a gear selection problem during his final pitstop and was forced to retire.

The emotion on Shinji Nakano's face during his post race interviewed told only half of the story as the normally composed driver cut a figure of utter dejection on the Denver pit wall.

Minutes beforehand the Japanese driver of the #52 Fernandez Racing Lola-Honda had been forced out of what should have been his first career CART FedEx podium when he was unable to select any gears on completion of his second fuel stop.

And thus, after 64 laps, Nakano's inspired drive around the 1.647-mile Streets of Denver circuit came to an end in almost the exact same fashion for the second week in a row.

"My car was really good and I think the team did a great job this weekend," said a visibly upset Nakano. "Unfortunately I had a gearbox problem in the pits and couldn't get the car into gear. It was shame because my car was good and I think I drove pretty well."

A pretty good drive by Nakano's standards would be considered an excellent performance by others for although he slipped from third to fourth behind Scott Dixon in the run down to the first corner of Sunday's Shell Grand Prix of Denver, he then stayed in touch with Dixon and his Fernandez Racing teammate Adrian Fernandez whilst at the same time keeping the closely following Christian Fittipaldi at bay.

With no yellow flag periods, Nakano did well to keep in touch with Dixon, especially after his Japanese countryman Tora Takagi proved to be less than a gentleman when Nakano tried to put him a lap down. Despite that slight delay Dixon, Nakano, Fittipaldi and Cristiano da Matta were all within striking distance of one another when they dove onto pit road for their second scheduled stops on lap 64.

After a decent stop from the #52 crew, Nakano looked set to retain his fourth position as the team dropped the jacks but, just as in Montreal last Sunday, Nakano went nowhere when he engaged first gear. Despite a frantic exchange of words with his crew on pit road, the car refused to go into gear and Nakano was forced to park it for the afternoon.

"I really felt I could have finished in the top three easily," he continued. "But that's the way it is and that's racing. Sometimes things happen. The job that everyone did this weekend was fantastic. The result was really tough for us but let's hope for the next one."

Had Nakano been able to stay ahead of da Matta for the final 35 laps there is little doubt that he would now be celebrating his first career CART FedEx podium but sadly it was not to be. After falling out of another possible top five finishing position in Montreal, Nakano has now been mathematically eliminated from Championship contention and is currently 15th overall with 43 points. Fernandez is 14th, ten points ahead of the Japanese driver.

"I feel bad for Shinji," said the Mexican owner/driver. "I think he would have been on the podium today." He went on to finish fourth, behind da Matta.

Nakano also earned praise from Fernandez Racing co-owner and managing director Tom Anderson. "Shinji had a great run going until we broke a shift selector on the second pit stop, probably trying to keep the revs up a little too high to keep the fuel moving and make the launch work perfectly," stated Anderson. "The selector inside the gearbox just wouldn't take it and so we had a problem there and couldn't select any gears.

"It could have been a great day for him but, all in all, I think it was a great weekend for both Adrian and Shinji. We look forward now to Rockingham in two weeks. I think the first Denver event was a great success for everyone."