The 1998 Molson Indy Vancouver was the fifteenth round of the 1998 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series season, held on September 6, 1998, at Concord Pacific Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Dario Franchitti took his second consecutive win at this race, after passing Michael Andretti for the lead with seven laps left. In doing so, Franchitti became the first driver to win a race from pole for over a year.
Building an insurmountable lead in the championship standings, Alex Zanardi's 4th-place finish in this race clinched the 1998 CART title with still four races remaining.
This marks the final career podium for Scott Pruett in CART.
Classification
Race Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 27 Dario Franchitti Team Green 86 2:00:37.871 1 20+1+1 2 6 Michael Andretti Newman-Haas Racing 86 +3.437 6 16 3 20 Scott Pruett Patrick Racing 86 +4.745 8 14 4 1 Alex Zanardi Chip Ganassi Racing 86 +5.002 3 12 5 2 Al Unser Jr. Team Penske 86 +13.832 22 10 6 17 Maurício Gugelmin PacWest Racing Group 86 +14.933 13 8 7 3 André Ribeiro Team Penske 86 +16.246 19 6 8 9 JJ Lehto Hogan Racing 86 +17.565 16 5 9 25 Max Papis Arciero-Wells Racing 86 +19.206 23 4 10 19 Michel Jourdain Jr. Payton/Coyne Racing 86 +19.625 25 3 11 26 Paul Tracy Team Green 86 +19.759 7 2 12 18 Mark Blundell PacWest Racing Group 86 +20.284 16 1 13 5 Gil de Ferran Walker Racing 85 Brakes 14 14 11 Christian Fittipaldi Newman-Haas Racing 85 +1 Lap 12 15 40 Adrián Fernández Patrick Racing 84 +2 Laps 21 16 10 Richie Hearn Della Penna Motorsports 73 Contact 10 17 34 Dennis Vitolo Payton/Coyne Racing 69 Transmission 28 18 21 Tony Kanaan Tasman Motorsports Group 67 Contact 5 19 36 Alex Barron All American Racing 62 Contact 27 20 99 Greg Moore Forsythe Racing 55 Contact 4 21 98 P. J. Jones All American Racing 54 Contact 26 22 8 Bryan Herta Team Rahal 51 Contact 2 23 24 Robby Gordon Arciero-Wells Racing 47 Electrical 24 24 16 Hélio Castro-Neves Bettenhausen Racing 41 Fuel 9 25 7 Bobby Rahal Team Rahal 30 Engine 11 26 12 Jimmy Vasser Chip Ganassi Racing 10 Contact 15 27 33 Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Racing 10 Contact 17 28 77 Arnd Meier Davis Racing 6 Contact 20
Caution flags Laps Cause11-17 Vasser (12), Carpentier (33) contact, Zanardi (1) spin21-23 Jones (98), Vitolo (34) spin43-45 Castro-Neves (16) stalled on course52-55 Herta (8), Hearn (10) contact57-61 Blundell (18), Moore (99), Jones (98) contact, Fittipaldi (11) spin 64-66 Barron (36) contact69-70 Kanaan (21), Tracy (26) contact
Lap Leaders
Laps Leader1-21 Dario Franchitti22-41 Hélio Castro-Neves43-50 Al Unser Jr.51-62 Alex Barron63-79 Michael Andretti80-86 Dario Franchitti Driver Laps ledDario Franchitti 28Hélio Castro-Neves 20Michael Andretti 17Alex Barron 12Al Unser Jr. 9
Point standings after race PosDriverPoints 1 Alex Zanardi 218 2 Jimmy Vasser 126 3 Adrián Fernández 120 4 Greg Moore 119 5 Dario Franchitti 110
Broadcasting Television United States The Molson Indy Torento was carried live flag-to-flag coverage in the United States on ESPN. Bob Varsha, Danny Sullivan and Tommy Kendall called the race from the broadcast booth. Gary Gerould and Jon Beekhuis handled pit road for the television side.
ESPN Booth announcers Pit reporters Lap-by-lap Color-commentators Bob Varsha Danny Sullivan Tommy Kendall Jack Arute Gary Gerould
Canada The Molson Indy Vancouver was carried live flag-to-flag coverage in Canada on CBC. Brian Williams and Bobby Unser called the race from the broadcast booth. Jack Arute and Greg Creamer handled pit road for the television side.
CBC Booth announcers Pit reporters Lap-by-lap Color-commentators Brian Williams Bobby Unser Jack Arute Greg Creamer
References