The 1996 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Presented by Toyota was a CART race at the Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex, held on March 3, 1996. It was the first round of the 1996 IndyCar season, and first CART race since the open-wheel split in 1996. It was preceded in the 1996 racing season by the inaugural Indy Racing League race in Orlando, which was not contested by any of the CART drivers that appeared at Homestead. Jimmy Vasser scored the first win of his CART career. It was also the second major racing event at the recently completed 1.527-mile oval, which had previously hosted a NASCAR Busch Grand National event in November 1995.
Report
Qualifying Due to rain on Saturday afternoon, the qualifying session occurred on Sunday morning. Canadian driver Paul Tracy, on his return to Marlboro Team Penske after spending a year at Newman/Haas Racing, set the pole with a lap of 198.590 mph (27.681s) in a Penske PC25-Mercedes car. All of the qualified cars were newly built for the 1996 season, with CART having adopted new technical rules that altered the underbody tunnels and sidepods, and were expected to reduce downforce and increase the focus on mechanical grip.
Race On the start, Mark Blundell spun and Roberto Moreno had an unrelated contact with the wall. Then, the start was aborted for the second time, as Tracy was deemed to have jumped the start. At the end of lap 1, another caution came out as Michael Andretti hit Maurício Gugelmin and lost his front wing. After the restart, Tracy continued to lead for 8 laps of racing, until rain began to fall. The cars circulated under caution period conditions until the decision was made to red flag the race with Tracy in the lead.
The race restarted after a half-hour delay, with Tracy continuing to lead the race comfortably while second-place was contested between Gil de Ferran, Vasser, and Scott Pruett. Meanwhile, Al Unser Jr. hit Carlos Guerrero, and fell a lap down to repair his front wing. Andre Ribeiro and Robby Gordon made contact on Lap 82 while fighting for position, bringing out a caution period. During the ensuing pit stops, Tracy retired from the lead due to a transmission failure. On the same lap, rookie Alex Zanardi crashed under caution as his wheel separated following his pit stop.
Light rain again delayed the restart until Lap 102. De Ferran led at the restart, but slower traffic in front of the leaders enabled Vasser to overtake and hold onto the lead until the finish.
Pos No. Driver Team Chassis Engine Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Laps Led Points 1 12 Jimmy VasserTarget/Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 96I Honda 1331:51:23.10033220 2 8 Gil de FerranHall Racing Reynard 96I Honda 133+ 3.15621816 3 5 Robby GordonWalker Racing Reynard 96I Ford XD 133+ 3.7407014 4 20 Scott PruettPatrick Racing Lola T95/00 Ford XD 133+ 3.7444012 5 18 Bobby RahalTeam Rahal Reynard 96I Mercedes 133+ 4.3685010 6 11 Christian FittipaldiNewman/Haas Racing Lola T96/00 Ford XD 133+ 16.6641508 7 99 Greg Moore R Forsythe Racing Reynard 96I Mercedes 133+ 20.660606 8 2 Al Unser Jr.Marlboro Team Penske Penske PC25 Mercedes 132+ 1 lap1305 9 6 Michael AndrettiNewman/Haas Racing Lola T96/00 Ford XD 132+ 1 lap1004 10 28 Bryan HertaTeam Rahal Reynard 96I Mercedes 131+ 2 laps1103 11 32 Adrian FernandezTasman Motorsports Lola T96/00 Honda 131+ 2 laps1602 12 15 Scott GoodyearWalker Racing Reynard 96I Ford XB 131+ 2 laps2201 13 9 Emerson FittipaldiHogan Penske Racing Penske PC25 Mercedes 131+ 2 laps1200 14 1 Raul BoeselBrahma Sports Team Reynard 96I Ford XD 131+ 2 laps1700 15 10 Eddie Lawson RGalles Racing Lola T96/00 Mercedes 131+ 2 laps2000 16 31 Andre RibeiroTasman Motorsports Lola T96/00 Honda 130+ 3 laps900 17 21 Mark Blundell RPacWest Racing Group Reynard 96I Ford XB 129+ 4 laps1900 18 19 Hiro MatsushitaPayton/Coyne Racing Lola T96/00 Ford XB 124+ 9 laps2300 19 16 Stefan JohanssonBettenhausen Motorsports Reynard 96I Mercedes 115Transmission1800 20 22 Carlos GuerreroScandia/Simon Racing Lola T96/00 Ford XB 112+ 21 laps2100 21 36 Juan Manuel Fangio IIAll American Racers Eagle Mk. V Toyota 108Fuel2600 22 25 Jeff Krosnoff RArciero-Wells Racing Reynard 96I Toyota 102Engine2500 23 3 Paul TracyMarlboro Team Penske Penske PC25 Mercedes 84Transmission1832 24 4 Alex Zanardi RTarget/Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 96I Honda 83Accident1400 25 7 Marco GrecoScandia/Simon Racing Lola T96/00 Ford XB 64Electrical2400 26 17 Mauricio GugelminPacWest Racing Group Reynard 96I Ford XB 53Accident800 34 Roberto MorenoPayton/Coyne Racing Lola T96/00 Ford XB 0Accident27-- 49 Parker JohnstoneBrix Comptech Racing Reynard 96I Honda -Accident in practice---
Race statistics Lap Leaders Laps Leader 1–83 Paul Tracy 84-101 Gil de Ferran 102-133 Jimmy Vasser
Notes First CART race: Greg Moore, Eddie Lawson, Mark Blundell, Jeff Krosnoff, Alex Zanardi Parker Johnstone did not start the race, having suffered a concussion from a practice crash. All American Racers returned to CART as a team and a constructor for the first time since 1986. This was the first CART race since 1991 that long-time entrant A. J. Foyt Enterprises did not enter, as Foyt had elected to participate in the new Indy Racing League instead.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jimmy Vasser 20 2 Gil de Ferran 16 3 Robby Gordon 14 4 Scott Pruett 12 5 Bobby Rahal 10
References