The 1997 Molson Indy Vancouver was the 15th round of the 1997 CART season. At that time, the Italian driver Alex Zanardi was the leader of the standings with 39 points in front of the French-Brazilian driver Gil de Ferran.

Starting grid Alex Zanardi 54.025 seconds Bobby Rahal 54.351 seconds Jimmy Vasser 54.386 seconds Michael Andretti 54.419 seconds Maurício Gugelmin 54.505 seconds Bryan Herta 54.542 seconds Gil de Ferran 54.553 seconds Mark Blundell 54.600 seconds Greg Moore 54.614 seconds Dario Franchitti 54.655 seconds Scott Pruett 54.750 seconds Raul Boesel 55.052 seconds André Ribeiro 55.090 seconds Christian Fittipaldi 55.118 seconds Michel Jourdain Jr. 55.183 seconds Adrian Fernandez 55.315 seconds Paul Tracy 55.535 seconds Parker Johnstone 55.635 seconds Max Papis 55.930 seconds Roberto Moreno 55.962 seconds Richie Hearn 56.027 seconds Al Unser Jr. 56.028 seconds Christian Danner 56.068 seconds Juan Manuel Fangio II 56.241 seconds P. J. Jones 56.373 seconds Hiro Matsushita 58.508 seconds Dennis Vitolo 1:02:557 Gualter Salles No time

Race

First 30 laps At the start, Dennis Vitolo stalled his engine at turn 3. But he continued in the race. The Penske Racing driver Paul Tracy had a collision with a driver at the chicane. The driver, probably, was André Ribeiro. First caution came out, as Dennis Vitolo had a contact with a tyre wall. P. J. Jones went to the pits at the time of the full course caution. Restart came out very soon, but Michel Jourdain Jr. was spun by Al Unser Jr. in the final corner. But he was back on the field. After 9 laps, the top 6 was: Alex Zanardi, Bobby Rahal, Jimmy Vasser, Maurício Gugelmin, Michael Andretti and Bryan Herta. At lap 16, Zanardi missed the hairpin. When he would come back to the race, his engine had stalled. But he remained in the race, although, lost many positions. At lap 20, P. J. Jones retired due to an engine failure. At lap 26, Vasser took the lead after overtaking Rahal at turn 10.

Lap 31 - Lap 60 At lap 35, Bobby Rahal retired after a transmission failure. At lap 47, Richie Hearn was hit by Michel Jourdain Jr. at turn 10. This caused a full course caution. Restart came out at lap 53. At lap 54, Alex Zanardi hit Bryan Herta at turn 10, and, at the chicane, Scott Pruett had hit the back of the car of Adrian Fernandez, resulting in another caution. Restart came at lap 57.

Lap 61 - Lap 80 Then, Greg Moore had some damages in his right-front suspension at lap 64. At lap 68, Zanardi did an amazing overtaking manoeuvre on Michael Andretti at Turn 3 (The hairpin). Right after this, Andretti suffered problems on his suspension, and retired from the race.

Last 20 laps With 18 laps to go, Alex Zanardi stalled his engine at the hairpin (Turn 3) again. He came back to the race at 10th place. The top 6 at the following lap was: Bryan Herta, Maurício Gugelmin, Jimmy Vasser, Al Unser Jr., Gil de Ferran and Mark Blundell. With 14 laps to go, Zanardi knocked Herta out at the chicane, right after the hairpin. Despite the collision, Herta did not retire. At the last lap, Christian Fittipaldi crashed at turn 10 and retired, but was classified 9th.

Box score FinishGridNameTeamChassisEngineTireLapsTime/Status 1 5 17 Maurício Gugelmin PacWest Racing Reynard 97I Mercedes-Benz 100 1:47:17.995 18 20 2 3 1 Jimmy Vasser Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 97I Honda 100 +2.872 46 17 3 7 5 Gil de Ferran Walker Racing Reynard 97I Honda 100 +3.773 1 14 4 1 4 Alex Zanardi Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 97I Honda 100 +7.738 15 13 5 22 2 Al Unser Jr. Marlboro Team Penske Penske PC-26 Mercedes-Benz 100 +16.438 0 10 6 12 40 Raul Boesel Patrick Racing Reynard 97I Ford 100 +23.160 0 8 7 8 18 Mark Blundell PacWest Racing Reynard 97I Mercedes-Benz 100 +30.416 0 6 8 6 8 Bryan Herta Team Rahal Reynard 97I Ford 100 +30.467 10 5 9 14 11 Christian Fittipaldi Newman/Haas Racing Swift 007.i Ford 99 Crash 0 4 10 13 31 André Ribeiro Tasman Motorsports Reynard 97I Honda 99 +1 Lap 0 3 11 18 27 Parker Johnstone Team Green Reynard 97I Honda 99 +1 Lap 0 2 12 24 36 Juan Manuel Fangio II All American Racers Reynard 97I Toyota 98 +2 Laps 0 1 13 10 9 Dario Franchitti Hogan Racing Reynard 97I Mercedes-Benz 95 Crash 0 0 14 26 24 Hiro Matsushita Arciero-Wells Racing Reynard 97I Toyota 94 +6 Laps 0 0 15 20 16 Roberto Moreno Bettenhausen Motorsports Reynard 97I Mercedes-Benz 80 Steering 0 0 16 4 6 Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing Swift 007.i Ford 71 Crash 0 0 17 9 99 Greg Moore Forsythe Racing Reynard 97I Mercedes-Benz 63 Crash 0 0 18 11 20 Scott Pruett Patrick Racing Reynard 97I Ford 52 Crash 0 0 19 16 32 Adrián Fernández Tasman Motorsports Lola T97/00 Honda 52 Crash 0 0 20 19 25 Max Papis Arciero-Wells Racing Reynard 97I Toyota 52 Clutch 0 0 21 15 19 Michel Jourdain Jr. Payton-Coyne Racing Reynard 97I Ford 46 Crash 0 0 22 21 21 Richie Hearn Della Penna Motorsports Lola T97/00 Ford 44 Crash 0 0 23 23 34 Christian Danner Payton-Coyne Racing Reynard 97I Ford 41 Engine 0 0 24 2 7 Bobby Rahal Team Rahal Reynard 97I Ford 34 Engine 10 0 25 25 98 P. J. Jones All American Racers Reynard 97I Toyota 19 Engine 0 0 26 28 77 Gualter Salles Davis Racing Reynard 97I Ford 19 Crash 0 0 27 27 64 Dennis Vitolo Project Indy Lola T97/00 Ford 1 Crash 0 0 28 17 3 Paul Tracy Marlboro Team Penske Penske PC-26 Mercedes-Benz 1 Crash 0 0 Source:1997 Molson Indy Vancouver1997 Vancouver Champ Cars

Race statistics

Lap Leaders Laps Leader 1–15 Alex Zanardi 16–25 Bobby Rahal 26–35 Jimmy Vasser 36–37 Maurício Gugelmin 38–73 Jimmy Vasser 74–75 Maurício Gugelmin 76 Gil de Ferran 77–86 Bryan Herta 87–100 Maurício Gugelmin

Cautions: 4 for 15 laps Laps Reason 3–6 Dennis Vitolo accident 48–52 Michel Jourdain Jr. and Richie Hearn accident 55–58 Scott Pruett and Adrián Fernández accident 87–88 Bryan Herta accident

Notes After his collision with Bryan Herta, Alex Zanardi was fined after the race. This was the last time that CART had run in Vancouver's original track. From 1998, CART had used another track. Maurício Gugelmin won for the first and only time in his CART career. Alex Zanardi took his 10th and final Pole Position in his CART career.

References