1994 Australian FAI Indycar Grand Prix

Last updated

Flag of Australia (converted).svg 1994 Surfers Paradise
Race details
Race 1 of 16 in the 1994 IndyCar season
Surfers Paradise Street Circuit.svg
Map of the track
Date20 March, 1994
Official name 1994 Australian FAI Indycar Grand Prix
Location Surfers Paradise Street Circuit
Queensland, Australia
CourseTemporary Street Circuit
2.794 mi / 4.496 km
Distance55 laps
153.670 mi / 247.280 km
WeatherRain
Pole position
Driver Nigel Mansell  (Newman-Haas Racing)
Time1:34.877
Fastest lap
Driver Nigel Mansell  (Newman-Haas Racing)
Time1:37.487 (on lap 15 of 55)
Podium
First Michael Andretti  (Target Chip Ganassi Racing)
Second Emerson Fittipaldi  (Marlboro Team Penske)
Third Mario Andretti  (Newman-Haas Racing)

The 1994 Australian FAI Indycar Grand Prix was the opening round of the 1994 CART World Series season, held on 20 March 1994 on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, Australia.

Contents

Nigel Mansell, the defending winner and CART series champion, won the pole position in Newman-Haas's new Lola T94/00. Alongside on the grid was Michael Andretti, who was beginning his comeback to the CART series with Chip Ganassi Racing after spending a year in Formula One. Starting in eighth position was future CART and Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve, making his first start in the CART series. It was also the IndyCar debut of the Reynard chassis and the Honda engine.

The race start was delayed because of changing wet weather conditions and accidents during each of the first two attempts. The first incident occurred in Turn 12 (the final corner) and collected Raul Boesel, Willy T. Ribbs, Robbie Buhl, and Alessandro Zampedri. The second aborted start saw further carnage; this time in the second chicane involving Boesel and Zampedri again, along with Mario Andretti, Hiro Matsushita, and Davy Jones slowed the field. Bobby Rahal hit the tyre wall in the first chicane, apparently on his own, and Paul Tracy and Adrian Fernandez spun off in Turn 4, both cars undamaged. Boesel retired, while Jones and Matsushita were eventually push-started and continued in the race. However, Matsushita returned to the pits for a new rear wing as the marshals had accidentally broken off his already-damaged rear wing in their attempt to push the car away. Fernandez turned around in the escape road and continued on, however the marshals were busy dealing with the first-chicane accident and Tracy sat against the turn 4 tyre wall for a full lap under yellow before the marshals could give him a push-start. Rahal later stated in an interview with ABC's Jack Arute that he was bumped from behind coming to the green flag and into another car. This broke the front wing, which then ran under the nose of the car, causing it to lose steering.

The race finally restarted around 4 p.m.

Michael Andretti got by Mansell after the start (the third attempt), as did Robby Gordon. In Turn 5 he muscled his way past Mansell, who soon outbraked the Californian in the same place. On Lap 17 Gordon spun and crashed after he clipped too much curb in the backstretch chicanes. Lap 20 saw the exit of Mark Smith, who locked up the right front, and Zampedri (in his third incident of the race) who seemed to be watching Smith rather than the road. As a result, he braked too late for the corner, locking up his right-front tire and slid off the track into Smith.

On the 4th restart, Andretti caught a huge break when Mansell spun on the damp track in front of Emerson Fittipaldi and Teo Fabi. A moment later in the second chicane Michael slid into the tyre barrier but continued on undamaged. Mansell later spun off in Turn 9 while passing Maurício Gugelmin. He spun the car around, but bumped the wall with the left rear tyre and stalled the engine. On Lap 38 Stefan Johansson and rookie Jacques Villeneuve touched coming towards Turn 9, ending the Canadian's IndyCar debut early. Later on, because of the delays, darkness fell over the circuit. Former racer Chip Ganassi, whose car was in the lead, was very concerned about visibility. He pleaded with CART to end the race after saying to ABC's Gary Gerould "This is a dangerous situation! The lights are on along the pits here! The lights are on at the Marriott hotel...the race needs to be stopped!" The circuit was lit during the end of the race, but not sufficiently to run safely as a night race, and the 65 lap distance was shortened by 10 laps due to darkness. Andretti, leading all 55 laps, won in his Ganassi debut, which was also Reynard's first IndyCar race. This continued their record of winning on their debut in various categories including Formula 3 and F3000. Emerson Fittipaldi, driving the new Penske PC-23, finished second, followed by Mario Andretti, who began his final CART season with the final podium finish of his Indy car career. Jimmy Vasser and Stefan Johansson rounded out the Top five.

Qualifying results

PosNatNameTeamCarTime
1 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Newman-Haas Racing Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:34.877
2 Flag of the United States.svg Michael Andretti Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 94I-Ford-Cosworth XB1:35.568
3 Flag of Brazil.svg Emerson Fittipaldi Team Penske Penske PC-23-94-Ilmor/D1:36.023
4 Flag of Mexico.svg Adrián Fernández Galles Racing Reynard 94I-Ilmor/D1:36.091
5 Flag of the United States.svg Al Unser Jr. Team Penske Penske PC-23-94-Ilmor/D1:36.394
6 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Paul Tracy Team Penske Penske PC-23-94-Ilmor/D1:36.398
7 Flag of Brazil.svg Maurício Gugelmin Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 94I-Ford-Cosworth XB1:36.405
8 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Jacques Villeneuve (R) Forsythe/Green Racing Reynard 94I-Ford-Cosworth XB1:36.480
9 Flag of the United States.svg Robby Gordon Walker Racing Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:36.678
10 Flag of the United States.svg Jimmy Vasser Hayhoe Racing Reynard 94I-Ford-Cosworth XB1:36.877
11 Flag of Italy.svg Teo Fabi Jim Hall Racing Reynard 94I-Ilmor/D1:36.925
12 Flag of Sweden.svg Stefan Johansson Bettenhausen Motorsports Penske PC-23-93-Ilmor/D1:37.328
13 Flag of the United States.svg Mark Smith Walker Racing Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:37.476
14 Flag of the United States.svg Mike Groff Rahal/Hogan Racing Lola T93/07-Honda 1:37.633
15 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Arie Luyendyk Indy Regency Racing Lola T94/00-Ilmor/D1:37.739
16 Flag of the United States.svg Bobby Rahal Rahal/Hogan Racing Lola T93/00-Honda 1:37.783
17 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Scott Goodyear Budweiser King Racing Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:37.835
18 Flag of the United States.svg Scott Sharp (R) PacWest Racing Group Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:37.940
19 Flag of the United States.svg Mario Andretti Newman-Haas Racing Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:37.940
W* Flag of Italy.svg Andrea Montermini Dale Coyne Racing Lola T93/06-Ford-Cosworth XB1:37.959
20 Flag of Brazil.svg Raul Boesel Dick Simon Racing Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:38.002
21 Flag of Italy.svg Alessandro Zampedri (R) Euromotorsport Lola T93/07-Ilmor/C1:38.908
22 Flag of the United States.svg Willy T. Ribbs Walker Racing Lola T93/06-Ford-Cosworth XB1:38.948
23 Flag of Japan.svg Hiro Matsushita Dick Simon Racing Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:39.089
24 Flag of the United States.svg Robbie Buhl Dale Coyne Racing Lola T93/06-Ford-Cosworth XB1:39.122
25 Flag of the United States.svg Davy Jones A. J. Foyt Enterprises Lola T92/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:39.729
26 Flag of the United States.svg Dominic Dobson PacWest Racing Group Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:39.729
27 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Gary Brabham (R) Bettenhausen Motorsports Penske PC22-93-Ilmor/C1:40.117
DNQ Flag of Brazil.svg Marco Greco Arciero Racing Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:40.571
DNQ Flag of the United States.svg Buddy Lazier Leader Card Racing Lola T93/07-Ilmor/C1:41.164
DNQ Flag of the United States.svg Dave Kudrave Euromotorsport Lola T92/00-Ilmor/ANo time

R = Rookie driver, DNQ = Did not qualify, W = Withdrew

*Andrea Montermini withdrew from the race after a crash during Saturday morning practice.

Race

PosNoDriverTeamLapsTime/retiredGridPoints
18 Flag of the United States.svg Michael Andretti Chip Ganassi Racing 551:44:58.169221
22 Flag of Brazil.svg Emerson Fittipaldi Team Penske 55+0.2 secs316
36 Flag of the United States.svg Mario Andretti Newman-Haas Racing 55+7.3 secs1914
418 Flag of the United States.svg Jimmy Vasser Hayhoe Racing55+38.6 secs1012
516 Flag of Sweden.svg Stefan Johansson Bettenhausen Motorsports 55+1:03.1 secs1210
688 Flag of Brazil.svg Maurício Gugelmin Chip Ganassi Racing 55+1:22.6 secs78
711 Flag of Italy.svg Teo Fabi Jim Hall Racing 54+ 1 lap116
810 Flag of the United States.svg Mike Groff Rahal/Hogan Racing 54+ 1 lap145
91 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Newman-Haas Racing 54+ 1 lap15
1040 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Scott Goodyear King Racing 53+ 2 laps173
1171 Flag of the United States.svg Scott Sharp (R) PacWest Racing Group 53+ 2 laps182
1217 Flag of the United States.svg Dominic Dobson PacWest Racing Group 52+ 3 laps261
137 Flag of Mexico.svg Adrián Fernández Galles Racing 52+ 3 laps4
1431 Flag of the United States.svg Al Unser Jr. Team Penske 51Electrical5
1522 Flag of Japan.svg Hiro Matsushita Dick Simon Racing 48+ 7 laps22
163 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Paul Tracy Team Penske 39Electrical6
1712 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Jacques Villeneuve (R) Forsythe/Green Racing 36Contact3
1824 Flag of the United States.svg Willy T. Ribbs Walker Racing 34Contact22
1914 Flag of the United States.svg Davy Jones A. J. Foyt Enterprises 31Transmission25
2019 Flag of the United States.svg Robbie Buhl Dale Coyne Racing 30Oil pressure24
2115 Flag of the United States.svg Mark Smith Walker Racing 19Contact13
2250 Flag of Italy.svg Alessandro Zampedri (R) Euromotorsport 19Contact21
239 Flag of the United States.svg Robby Gordon Walker Racing 16Contact9
2476 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Gary Brabham (R) Bettenhausen Motorsports 10Transmission27
2528 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Arie Luyendyk Indy Regency Racing 8Transmission15
264 Flag of the United States.svg Bobby Rahal Rahal/Hogan Racing 0Contact16
275 Flag of Brazil.svg Raul Boesel Dick Simon Racing 0Contact20

Notes

Previous race:
Indy Car Indycar World Series
1994 season
Next race:
1994 Slick-50 200
Previous race:
1993 Australian FAI IndyCar Grand Prix
1994 Australian FAI IndyCar Grand Prix Next race:
1995 Indycar Australia

27°59′17.9″S153°25′42.1″E / 27.988306°S 153.428361°E / -27.988306; 153.428361