Molson Indy Montreal

"Montreal Grand Prix" and "Grand Prix of Montreal" redirect here. For other uses, see Montreal Grand Prix (disambiguation).

Molson Indy Montreal

IndyCar / CART / Champ Car
Venue	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
First race	1984
Last race	2006
Distance	181.503 mi
Laps	67 laps
Previous names	Molson Indy 300 (1984–1986) Molson Indy Montreal (2002–2005) Grand Prix of Montreal (2006)
Most wins (driver)	no repeat winners
Most wins (team)	Newman/Haas Racing (3)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Lola (6)

The Molson Indy Montreal was an annual auto race in Montreal, Quebec on the Champ Car World Series calendar.

History

Originally known as the Molson Indy 300, it was first held at Sanair Super Speedway, an oval track, from 1984 through 1986. The Champ Car series revived the race in 2002, and it was held in late August each year until 2006 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, a permanent road course most famous as the home of the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix.

In 2006, the name of the race was changed to the Grand Prix of Montreal after its sale by Molson Sports & Entertainment. This mirrored the name change of the Toronto Champ Car race from the Molson Indy Toronto to the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto after its sale by Molson.

Future prospects

After the 2006 race, the future of the Grand Prix of Montreal became shrouded in doubt. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is allowed to be used for one race weekend outside of the Canadian Grand Prix, and it was heavily speculated that from 2007 onwards, Canadian Grand Prix promoter Normand Legault (who promotes all races at CGV) would replace the Grand Prix of Montreal with a NASCAR Busch Series race. ^[1] Champ Car announced in September 2006 that it would indeed not be returning to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and would be replacing the event with one at Circuit Mont-Tremblant (2007 Mont-Tremblant Champ Car Grand Prix, previously held 1968–1970). Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve replaced the race with the NASCAR NAPA Auto Parts 200 race.

Race winners

Sanair (1984–1986)

Season	Winning Driver	Chassis	Engine	Team	Report	Ref
1984	Danny Sullivan	Lola	Cosworth	Doug Shierson Racing	report	[2]
1985	Johnny Rutherford	March	Cosworth	Alex Morales Autosports	report	[3]
1986	Bobby Rahal	March	Cosworth	Truesports	report	[4]

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (2002–2006)

Season	Winning Driver	Chassis	Engine	Team	Report	Ref
2002	Dario Franchitti	Lola	Honda	Team Green	report	[5]
2003	Michel Jourdain Jr.	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	Team Rahal	report	[6]
2004	Bruno Junqueira	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	Newman/Haas Racing	report	[7]
2005	Oriol Servia	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	Newman/Haas Racing	report	[8]
2006	Sébastien Bourdais	Lola	Ford-Cosworth	Newman/Haas Racing	report	[9]

Formula Atlantic winners

These races were held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Season	Winning Driver
1978	Jeff Wood
1979	Howdy Holmes
1980	Jacques Villeneuve
1981	Kevin Cogan
1982	Tim Coconis
1983	Roberto Moreno
1986	Scott Goodyear
1988	Scott Harrington
1989	Scott Goodyear
1990	Jocko Cunningham
1991	Jimmy Vasser
1992	Chris Smith
1993	Jacques Villeneuve
1994	Richie Hearn
1995	David Empringham
1996	Patrick Carpentier
1997	Bertrand Godin
1998	Lee Bentham
1999	Alex Tagliani
2000	David Rutledge
2001	David Rutledge
2002	Rocky Moran Jr.
2003	A. J. Allmendinger
2004	Jon Fogarty
2005	Antoine Bessette
2006	Graham Rahal

Attendance

Year	Race day	Weekend
2002	64,000	172,000	[10]
2003	58,000	148,000	[11]
2004	53,320	133,726	[12]
2005	36,204	93,755	[13]
2006		110,030	[14]

See also

• Molson Indy Toronto
• Molson Indy Vancouver
• List of Indycar races

References

1. ^[ dead link ]
2. "1984 Molson Indy". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
3. "1985 Molson Indy 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
4. "1986 Molson Indy Montreal". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
5. "2002 Molson Indy Montreal". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
6. "2003 Molson Indy Montreal". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
7. "2004 Molson Indy Montreal". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
8. "2005 Molson Indy Montreal". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
9. "2006 Molson Grand Prix of Montreal". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
10. Shaw, Jeremy, ed. (2002). Autocourse CART Official Champ Car Yearbook 2002-2003. Richmond, Surrey, England: Hazelton Publishing Ltd. p. 129. ISBN   1-903135-17-6.
11. Shaw, Jeremy, ed. (2004). Autocourse Official Champ Car Yearbook 2003-2004. London, England: Hazelton Publishing Ltd. p. 145. ISBN   1-903135-33-8.
12. Shaw, Jeremy, ed. (2004). Autocourse Official Champ Car Yearbook 2004-2005. Silverstone, Northants, United Kingdom: Crash Media Group. p. 131. ISBN   1-903135-33-8.
13. Shaw, Jeremy, ed. (2005). Autocourse Official Champ Car Yearbook 2005-2006. Silverstone, Northants, United Kingdom: Crash Media Group Ltd. p. 133. ISBN   1-905334-05-2.
14. "NASCAR confirms Montreal event". cbc.ca. October 2, 2006. Retrieved June 21, 2020.

External links

• Champ Car Stats: Sanair archive, Montreal archive
• Ultimate Racing History: Sanair archive, Montreal archive

45°30′2.08″N73°31′20.86″W / 45.5005778°N 73.5224611°W / 45.5005778; -73.5224611