1998 Molson Indy Toronto Explained

The 1998 Molson Indy Toronto was the eleventh round of the 1998 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series season, held on July 19, 1998, on the streets of Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Alex Zanardi passed Michael Andretti with three laps to go to win the race, after Andretti had inherited the lead when pole-sitter Dario Franchitti retired due to a brake failure.

Starting grid

1. Dario Franchitti (second straight pole in Toronto)
2. Alex Zanardi
3. Michael Andretti
4. Gil de Ferran
5. Christian Fittipaldi
6. Jimmy Vasser
7. Tony Kanaan (R)
8. Scott Pruett
9. Bobby Rahal
10. Paul Tracy
11. André Ribeiro
12. Greg Moore
13. Richie Hearn
14. Al Unser Jr.
15. Mark Blundell
16. Adrian Fernandez
17. Bryan Herta
18. Patrick Carpentier
19. Maurício Gugelmin
20. Max Papis
21. Hélio Castroneves (R)
22. Robby Gordon
23. P. J. Jones
24. Michel Jourdain Jr.
25. Arnd Meier
26. JJ Lehto (R)
27. Alex Barron (R)
28. Gualter Salles

Race

Lap 17

Richie Hearn locked up the right front tire and spun on turn 1. Top 6 was composed by: Dario Franchitti, Alex Zanardi, Michael Andretti, Gil de Ferran, Jimmy Vasser and Paul Tracy.

Lap 26

First full course caution. Michel Jourdain Jr. and Alex Barron collided at the hairpin. Arnd Meier stalled the car metres in front and started a jampack. Meanwhile, Gil de Ferran retired after an incident in the pits. Christian Fittipaldi had problems, also, but did not retired.

Lap 27

Top 6: Dario Franchitti, Michael Andretti, Jimmy Vasser, Paul Tracy, Alex Zanardi and Tony Kanaan.

Lap 30

Before going green, Patrick Carpentier collided with Mark Blundell on turn 9.

Lap 32

Second full course caution, as Blundell's car stalled on turn 9, following the collision with Carpentier. On lap 36, green flag came out.

Lap 38

JJ Lehto had a big crash. Third full course caution. Green flag came out some laps later.

Lap 52

Top 6: Dario Franchitti, Michael Andretti, Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi, Tony Kanaan and Paul Tracy.

Lap 61

Tony Kanaan had a pit fire. Meanwhile, in the hairpin, Alex Zanardi had a collision with his teammate Jimmy Vasser.

Lap 68

Gualter Salles had a collision at the hairpin with Al Unser Jr. and went airborne.

16 laps to go

Dario Franchitti spun and stalled, ending his day. Paul Tracy slightly t-boned him. Fourth full course caution was out. Green flag came out with 11 laps to go.

8 laps to go

Top 6: Michael Andretti, Alex Zanardi, Jimmy Vasser, Bobby Rahal, Bryan Herta and Scott Pruett.

5 laps to go

Paul Tracy and Adrian Fernandez collided on turn 1 while they were battling for 9th place.

3 laps to go

Alex Zanardi overtakes Michael Andretti at the hairpin.

Classification

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	95	1:52:24.080	2	20
2	6	Michael Andretti	Newman-Haas Racing	95	+1.921	3	16
3	12	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	95	+6.702	6	14
4	7	Bobby Rahal	Team Rahal	95	+8.078	9	12
5	8	Bryan Herta	Team Rahal	95	+12.984	17	10
6	20	Scott Pruett	Patrick Racing	95	+14.607	8	8
7	10	Richie Hearn	Della Penna Motorsports	95	+15.305	13	6
8	25	Max Papis	Arciero-Wells Racing	95	+24.676	20	5
9	40	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	95	+31.923	16	4
10	16	Hélio Castro-Neves	Bettenhausen Racing	95	+32.691	21	3
11	99	Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	95	+34.926	12	2
12	17	Maurício Gugelmin	PacWest Racing Group	95	+37.640	19	1
13	24	Robby Gordon	Arciero-Wells Racing	94	+1 Lap	22
14	26	Paul Tracy	Team Green	94	+1 Lap	10
15	77	Arnd Meier	Davis Racing	94	+1 Lap	25
16	11	Christian Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing	93	+2 Laps	5
17	2	Al Unser Jr.	Team Penske	93	+2 Laps	14
18	19	Michel Jourdain Jr.	Payton/Coyne Racing	93	+2 Laps	24
19	98	P. J. Jones	All American Racing	84	Suspension	23
20	27	Dario Franchitti	Team Green	79	Brakes	1	1+1
21	34	Gualter Salles	Payton/Coyne Racing	65	Contact	28
22	21	Tony Kanaan	Tasman Motorsports Group	61	Fire	7
23	3	André Ribeiro	Team Penske	54	Transmission	11
24	9	JJ Lehto	Hogan Racing	37	Contact	26
25	33	Patrick Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	33	Suspension	18
26	18	Mark Blundell	PacWest Racing Group	30	Electrical	15
27	5	Gil de Ferran	Walker Racing	26	Contact	4
28	36	Alex Barron	All American Racing	25	Contact	27

Caution flags

Laps	Cause
25-29	Multi-car contact at hairpin
33-34	Blundell (18) stopped on track
40-43	Lehto (9) contact
79-83	Franchitti (27) contact, Tracy (26) stall

Lap leaders

Laps Leader 1-65 Dario Franchitti 66 Bobby Rahal 67 Bryan Herta 68 Christian Fittipaldi 69-79 Dario Franchitti 80-92 Michael Andretti 93-95 Alex Zanardi

Driver Laps led 76 13 3 1 1 1

Point standings after race

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Pos	Driver	Points
1	Alex Zanardi	175
2	Jimmy Vasser	106
3	Greg Moore	99
4	Adrián Fernández	89
5	Michael Andretti	84