Dario Franchitti's pit stop strategy worked to perfection as he held off Cristiano da Matta to win the Montreal Indy.

The Scot gambled on making one halt fewer than the Championship Auto Racing Teams (Cart) series leader in the 80-lap race.

That plan gave him victory by 2.588 seconds and took him from fourth to second in the overall standings.

Brazilian Tony Kanaan and Canada's Paul Tracy finished third and fourth as Cart racing made its debut at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Franchitti has endured some frustrating moments in the pits this season, but on Sunday "nothing went wrong" for him.

He said: "The car was faultless today and the guys from Team Kool Green were on it in the pits, which is what it takes to win races."

Franchitti and Da Matta swapped the lead several times on pit stops.

And it appeared the Scottish driver was home free when he led by nearly five seconds after Da Matta made his final stop on lap 68.

But Da Matta got one last shot at the leader when Adrian Fernandez crashed on lap 71, bringing out the third and final caution flag of the race.

On the restart on lap 75, Shinji Nakano, a circuit down, was between the two leaders.

And the Japanese driver did not get allow Da Matta past until the following lap.

By that time, Franchitti was 2.6 seconds clear and heading for his second win of the year.

"The yellow came out at just the wrong time and that put it back in Cristiano's hands, but it all worked out," the winner said.

"He got caught in traffic and I got a little gap and that was it."

1 Dario Franchitti (GB), Lola-Honda 80 laps one hour 59 minutes and 40.938 seconds, av speed 110.172 mph
2 Cristiano da Matta (Bra) Lola-Toyota at 2588sec
3 Tony Kanaan (Bra) Lola-Honda 80 laps completed
4 Paul Tracy (Can) Lola-Honda 80 running
5 Jimmy Vasser Lola-Ford 80 running
6 Michel Jourdain (Mex) Lola-Ford 80 running
7 Christian Fittipaldi (Bra) Lola-Toyota 80 running
8 Michael Andretti (USA) Lola-Honda 80 running
9 Shinji Nakano (Jap) Lola-Honda 79 running
10 Scott Dixon (Nzl) Lola-Toyota 77 mechanical

Overall standings

1. Cristiano da Matta 162pts
2. Dario Franchitti 105
3. Patrick Carpentier 101
4. Bruno Junqueira 101
5. Christian Fittipaldi 88
6. Michel Jourdain Jr 88
7. Michael Andretti 82
8. Alex Tagliani 82
9. Paul Tracy 81
10. Kenny Brack 68