The 2003 Lexmark Indy 300 was the eighteenth last race of the 2003 CART World Series season, held on 26 October 2003 on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, Queensland, Australia. A hail storm 20 minutes into the race caused an hour long red flag period and shortened the race to 47 laps from the scheduled 65.
Ryan Hunter-Reay won the race, his first victory in top-level American open wheel racing, and Reynard's final win in CART competition (sweeping the podium positions). Neither of the two drivers who could still win the season championship, leader Paul Tracy and second-place Bruno Junqueira, finished in the Top 12 points-paying positions (though Junqueira received two bonus points on the weekend: one for having the fastest lap in Friday qualifying, and the other for leading the most laps in the race), meaning Tracy had a big enough lead to clinch the championship with one race to go.[1]
The event was to have been the penultimate race of the 2003 season, but it later became the final round after the 2003 King Taco 500 was canceled because of a wildfire near to the California Speedway venue. In December 2003 the CART World Series declared bankruptcy and as a result went out of business. Therefore, this race became the final completed CART sanctioned event, although the series would be reborn under new ownership as the Champ Car World Series in 2004.
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/retired | Grid | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31 |  Ryan Hunter-Reay | American Spirit Team Johansson | 47 | 1:49:02.803 | 12 | 20 | |
| 2 | 15 | Darren Manning | Walker Racing | 47 | +1.546 secs | 14 | 16 | |
| 3 | 12 | Jimmy Vasser | American Spirit Team Johansson | 47 | +3.792 secs | 15 | 14 | |
| 4 | 9 |  Michel Jourdain Jr. | Team Rahal | 47 | +5.315 secs | 9 | 12 | |
| 5 | 32 |  Patrick Carpentier | Team Player's | 47 | +5.837 secs | 11 | 10 | |
| 6 | 19 |  Gualter Salles | Dale Coyne Racing | 47 | +8.180 secs | 17 | 8 | |
| 7 | 33 | Alex Tagliani | Rocketsports Racing | 47 | +10.131 secs | 4 | 6 | |
| 8 | 5 | Rodolfo Lavín | Walker Racing | 47 | +11.673 secs | 18 | 5 | |
| 9 | 11 | Geoff Boss | Dale Coyne Racing | 47 | +50.728 secs | 19 | 4 | |
| 10 | 55 | Mario Domínguez | Herdez Competition | 46 | + 1 Lap | 8 | 3 | |
| 11 | 27 |  Mika Salo | PK Racing | 46 | + 1 Lap | 10 | 2 | |
| 12 | 51 | Adrian Fernández | Fernández Racing | 46 | + 1 Lap | 5 | 1 | |
| 13 | 3 | Paul Tracy | Team Player's | 45 | + 2 Laps | 3 | 0 | |
| 14 | 34 | Mario Haberfeld | Mi-Jack Conquest Racing | 43 | + 4 Laps | 16 | 0 | |
| 15 | 1 | Bruno Junqueira | Newman/Haas Racing | 36 | Contact | 2 | 2 | |
| 16 | 4 | Roberto Moreno | Herdez Competition | 23 | Contact | 7 | 0 | |
| 17 | 2 |  Sébastien Bourdais | Newman-Haas Racing | 11 | Contact | 1 | 1 | |
| 18 | 7 |  Tiago Monteiro | Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing | 3 | Mechanical | 13 | 0 | |
| 19 | 20 |  Oriol Servià | Patrick Racing | 1 | Contact | 6 | 0 |
| Laps | Cause | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yellow start | |
| 2 | Servià (20) contact | |
| 11-13 | Bourdais (2) contact | |
| 14-15 | Restart after red flag (rain) | |
| 16-17 | Salo (27) spun/stalled | |
| 19-20 | Tracy (3), Tagliani (33), Manning (15), Salles (19) & Moreno (4) contact | |
| 31-34 | Tagliani (33) & Haberfeld (34) spun/stalled; Domínguez (55) loose wheel | |
| 37-39 | Junqueira (1) & Haberfeld (34) contact; Haberfeld (34) stopped on course | |
| 41-42 | Fernández (51) spun/stalled |
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