Cristiano da Matta landed his third consecutive Cart series victory at the Chicago Grand Prix.

Da Matta fought off the challenge of fellow Brazilian Bruno Junqueira for his second win in three years in Chicago.

Da Matta, winning his fourth race of the season, edged out Junqueira by 0.639 seconds.

Repeat order

Scottish driver Dario Franchitti, who started on pole, led for the first 68 laps but eventually had to be content with third place.

The finishing order of the first three was a repeat of the last Cart series race in Portland.

Da Matta now has a 25-point lead over Junqueira in the series standings with 13 races remaining.

Da Matta's team have dominated road courses this season but struggled on oval tracks.

But the Brazilian rectified that on the 1.039-mile Chicago Motor Speedway oval, where he earned the first of his eight career wins in 2000.

"Everybody had a lot of doubts about our teams on the ovals," he said.

"To win a race, where the ovals weren't our strength before is pretty rewarding.

"The team worked hard to get it right."

Da Matta had earlier watched Brazil beat Germany in the World Cup final and he and his team-mates had their hair cut in a "Ronaldo" style to celebrate the South Americans' victory.

Finishing times:

1 Cristiano da Matta (Bra)Toyota/Lola, 250 laps in 2hr 7min
2 Bruno Junqueira (Bra Toyota/Lola, at .639sec
3 Dario Franchitti (Gbr), Honda/Lola, 250 laps completed
4 Toranosuke Takagi (Jpn), Toyota/Reynard, 250
5 Shinji Nakano (Jpn), Honda/Lola, 250
6 Scott Dixon, Toyota/Lola, 250
7 Alex Tagliani (Can), Ford-Cosworth/Reynard, 249
8 Tony Kanaan (Bra), Honda/Lola, 249
9 Paul Tracy (Can), Honda/Lola, 249,
10 Michel Jourdain jnr (Mex), Ford-Cosworth/Lola, 249