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 Dario Franchitti (second straight pole in Toronto) Alex Zanardi Michael Andretti Gil de Ferran Christian Fittipaldi Jimmy Vasser Tony Kanaan (R) Scott Pruett Bobby Rahal Paul Tracy André Ribeiro Greg Moore Richie Hearn Al Unser Jr. Mark Blundell Adrian Fernandez Bryan Herta Patrick Carpentier Maurício Gugelmin Max Papis Hélio Castroneves (R) Robby Gordon P. J. Jones Michel Jourdain Jr. Arnd Meier JJ Lehto (R) Alex Barron (R) 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 retire.
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 Cause25-29 Multi-car contact at hairpin33-34 Blundell (18) stopped on track40-43 Lehto (9) contact79-83 Franchitti (27) contact, Tracy (26) stall
Lap leaders
Laps Leader1-65 Dario Franchitti66 Bobby Rahal67 Bryan Herta68 Christian Fittipaldi69-79 Dario Franchitti80-92 Michael Andretti93-95 Alex Zanardi Driver Laps ledDario Franchitti 76Michael Andretti 13Alex Zanardi 3Bobby Rahal 1Bryan Herta 1Christian Fittipaldi 1
Point standings after race PosDriverPoints 1 Alex Zanardi 175 2 Jimmy Vasser 106 3 Greg Moore 99 4 Adrián Fernández 89 5 Michael Andretti 84
Broadcasting Television United States The Molson Indy Torento was carried live flag-to-flag coverage in the United States on ABC. Bob Varsha and Danny Sullivan called the race from the broadcast booth. Jack Arute and Gary Gerould handled pit road for the television side.
ABC Booth announcers Pit reporters Lap-by-lap Color-commentators Bob Varsha Danny Sullivan Jack Arute Gary Gerould
Canada The Molson Indy Torento was carried live flag-to-flag coverage in Canada on CBC. Brian Williams and Bobby Unser called the race from the broadcast booth. Jon Beekhuis and Greg Creamer handled pit road for the television side.
CBC Booth announcers Pit reporters Lap-by-lap Color-commentators Brian Williams Bobby Unser Jon Beekhuis Greg Creamer
References