The 1998 Honda Indy 300 was the eighteenth and penultimate round of the 1998 CART World Series Season, held on 18 October 1998 on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. Alex Zanardi won the race, his 15th and final CART victory, after taking the lead from polesitter Dario Franchitti at the first round of pitstops.

Qualifying results

Pos Nat Name Team Chassis Time 1 Dario Franchitti Team Green Reynard 98i Honda 1:32.288 2 Alex Zanardi Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 98i Honda 1:32.310 3 Christian Fittipaldi Newman-Haas Racing Swift 009.c Ford-Cosworth 1:32.501 4 Paul Tracy Team Green Reynard 98i Honda 1:32.583 5 Bryan Herta Team Rahal Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth 1:32.588 6 Michael Andretti Newman-Haas Racing Swift 009.c Ford-Cosworth 1:32.613 7 Jimmy Vasser Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 98i Honda 1:32.676 8 Gil de Ferran Walker Racing Reynard 98i Honda 1:32.851 9 Greg Moore Forsythe Racing Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz 1:32.919 10 Adrián Fernández Patrick Racing Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth 1:33.019 11 Bobby Rahal Team Rahal Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth 1:33.068 12 Scott Pruett Patrick Racing Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth 1:33.236 13 Max Papis Arciero-Wells Racing Reynard 98i Toyota 1:33.375 14 Tony Kanaan Tasman Motorsports Reynard 98i Honda 1:33.543 15 JJ Lehto Hogan Racing Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz 1:33.669 16 Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Racing Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz 1:33.819 17 Mark Blundell PacWest Racing Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz 1:33.820 18 Hélio Castroneves Bettenhausen Racing Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz 1:34.012 19 Al Unser Jr. Team Penske Penske PC27 Mercedes-Benz 1:34.260 20 Robby Gordon Arciero-Wells Racing Reynard 98i Toyota 1:34.344 21 Maurício Gugelmin PacWest Racing Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz 1:34.375 22 André Ribeiro Team Penske Penske PC27 Mercedes-Benz 1:34.474 23 Richie Hearn Della Penna Motorsports Swift 009.c Ford-Cosworth 1:34.511 24 Arnd Meier Davis Racing Lola T98/00 Ford-Cosworth 1:34.534 25 Michel Jourdain Jr. Payton/Coyne Racing Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth 1:35.109 26 Alex Barron All American Racers Eagle 987 Toyota 1:35.285 27 Vincenzo Sospiri All American Racers Eagle 987 Toyota 1:36.561 DNQ Dennis Vitolo Payton/Coyne Racing Reynard 97i Ford-Cosworth 1:38.726

Classification Race

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/retired Grid Points 1 1 Alex Zanardi Chip Ganassi Racing 62 2:01:51.170 2 20+1 2 27 Dario Franchitti Team Green 62 +0.322 1 16+1 3 11 Christian Fittipaldi Newman-Haas Racing 62 +1.029 3 14 4 20 Scott Pruett Patrick Racing 62 +6.388 12 12 5 9 JJ Lehto Hogan Racing 62 +10.792 15 10 6 40 Adrián Fernández Patrick Racing 62 +11.153 10 8 7 21 Tony Kanaan Tasman Motorsports Group 62 +11.680 14 6 8 99 Greg Moore Forsythe Racing 62 +13.792 9 5 9 33 Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Racing 62 +15.821 16 4 10 8 Bryan Herta Team Rahal 62 +16.020 5 3 11 18 Mark Blundell PacWest Racing Group 62 +19.870 17 2 12 17 Maurício Gugelmin PacWest Racing Group 62 +20.170 21 1 13 3 André Ribeiro Team Penske 62 +20.729 22 14 5 Gil de Ferran Walker Racing 62 +22.072 8 15 98 Vincenzo Sospiri All American Racing 62 +22.808 27 16 24 Robby Gordon Arciero-Wells Racing 62 +23.747 20 17 25 Max Papis Arciero-Wells Racing 61 Electrical 13 18 10 Richie Hearn Della Penna Motorsports 60 +2 Laps 23 19 36 Alex Barron All American Racing 59 Contact 26 20 6 Michael Andretti Newman-Haas Racing 59 Contact 6 21 16 Hélio Castro-Neves Bettenhausen Racing 54 Contact 18 22 2 Al Unser Jr. Team Penske 53 +9 Laps 19 23 26 Paul Tracy Team Green 45 Contact 4 24 12 Jimmy Vasser Chip Ganassi Racing 38 Contact 7 25 7 Bobby Rahal Team Rahal 19 Contact 11 26 19 Michel Jourdain Jr. Payton/Coyne Racing 11 Contact 25 27 77 Arnd Meier Davis Racing 4 Oil leak 24 DNQ 34 Dennis Vitolo Payton/Coyne Racing Did not Qualify

Caution flags Laps Cause14–16 Jourdain Jr. (19) contact21–24 Rahal (7) contact36–37 Tire wall problem40–41 Castro-Neves (16), Vasser (12) contact43–44 Hearn (10) spin56–58 Castro-Neves (16) contact61–62 Barron (36), Andretti (6), Hearn (10) contact

Lap Leaders

Laps Leader1–13 Dario Franchitti14–62 Alex Zanardi Driver Laps ledAlex Zanardi 49Dario Franchitti 13

Point standings after race

PosDriverPoints 1 Alex Zanardi 271 2 Dario Franchitti 160 3 Jimmy Vasser 148 4 Adrián Fernández 142 5 Greg Moore 125

References