1994 Australian FAI Indycar Grand Prix


The 1994 Australian FAI Indycar Grand Prix was the opening round of the 1994 CART World Series season, held on 20 March 1994 on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, Australia.
Nigel Mansell, the defending winner and CART series champion, won the pole position in Newman-Haas's new Lola T94/00. Alongside on the grid was Michael Andretti, who was beginning his comeback to the CART series with Chip Ganassi Racing after spending a year in Formula One. Starting in eighth position was future CART and Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve, making his first start in the CART series. It was also the Indy car debut of the Reynard chassis and the Honda engine.
The race start was delayed because of changing wet weather conditions and accidents during each of the first two attempts. The first incident occurred in Turn 12 and collected Raul Boesel, Willy T. Ribbs, Robbie Buhl, and Alessandro Zampedri. The second aborted start saw further carnage; this time in the second chicane involving Boesel and Zampedri again, along with Mario Andretti, Hiro Matsushita, and Davy Jones slowed the field. Bobby Rahal hit the tyre wall in the first chicane, apparently on his own, and Paul Tracy spun off in Turn 4 undamaged. The race finally started around 4 p.m., with Andretti overtaking Mansell on the first lap.
Michael Andretti got by Mansell after the start, as did Robby Gordon. In Turn 5 he muscled his way past Mansell, who soon outbraked the Californian in the same place. On Lap 17 Gordon spun and crashed after he clipped too much curb in the backstretch chicanes. Lap 20 saw the exit of Mark Smith, who locked up the right front, and Zampedri who seemed to be watching Smith rather than the road.
On the restart Andretti caught a huge break when Mansell spun on the damp track in front of Emerson Fittipaldi and Teo Fabi. A moment later in the second chicane Michael slid into the tyre barrier but continued on undamaged. Mansell later spun off in Turn 9 while passing Maurício Gugelmin. He spun the car around, but bumped the wall with the left rear tyre and stalled the engine. On Lap 38 Stefan Johansson and rookie Jacques Villeneuve touched coming towards Turn 9, ending the Canadian's IndyCar debut early. Later on, because of the delays, darkness fell over the circuit. Former racer Chip Ganassi, whose car was in the lead, was very concerned about visibility. He pleaded with CART to end the race after saying to ABC's Gary Gerould, "This is a dangerous situation! The lights are on along the pits here! The lights are on at the Marriott hotel...the race needs to be stopped!" The circuit was lit during the end of the race, but not sufficiently to run safely as a night race, and the 65 lap distance was shortened by 10 laps due to darkness. Andretti, leading all 55 laps, won in his Ganassi debut, which was also Reynard's first IndyCar race. This continued their record of winning on their debut in various categories including Formula 3 and F3000. Emerson Fittipaldi, driving the new Penske PC-23, finished second, followed by Mario Andretti, who began his final CART season with the final podium finish of his Indy car career. Jimmy Vasser and Stefan Johansson rounded out the Top five.

Qualifying results

PosNatNameTeamCarTime
1Nigel MansellNewman-Haas RacingLola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:34.877
2Michael AndrettiChip Ganassi RacingReynard 94I-Ford-Cosworth XB1:35.568
3Emerson FittipaldiTeam PenskePenske PC-23-94-Ilmor/D1:36.023
4Adrián FernándezGalles RacingReynard 94I-Ilmor/D1:36.091
5Al Unser, Jr.Team PenskePenske PC-23-94-Ilmor/D1:36.394
6Paul TracyTeam PenskePenske PC-23-94-Ilmor/D1:36.398
7Maurício GugelminChip Ganassi RacingReynard 94I-Ford-Cosworth XB1:36.405
8Jacques Villeneuve Forsythe/Green RacingReynard 94I-Ford-Cosworth XB1:36.480
9Robby GordonWalker RacingLola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:36.678
10Jimmy VasserHayhoe RacingReynard 94I-Ford-Cosworth XB1:36.877
11Teo FabiJim Hall RacingReynard 94I-Ilmor/D1:36.925
12Stefan JohanssonBettenhausen MotorsportsPenske PC-23-93-Ilmor/D1:37.328
13Mark SmithWalker RacingLola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:37.476
14Mike GroffRahal/Hogan RacingLola T93/07-Honda1:37.633
15Arie LuyendykIndy Regency RacingLola T94/00-Ilmor/D1:37.739
16Bobby RahalRahal/Hogan RacingLola T93/00-Honda1:37.783
17Scott GoodyearBudweiser King RacingLola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:37.835
18Scott Sharp PacWest Racing GroupLola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:37.940
19Mario AndrettiNewman-Haas RacingLola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:37.940
WAndrea MonterminiDale Coyne RacingLola T93/06-Ford-Cosworth XB1:37.959
20Raul BoeselDick Simon RacingLola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:38.002
21Alessandro Zampedri EuromotorsportLola T93/07-Ilmor/C1:38.908
22Willy T. RibbsWalker RacingLola T93/06-Ford-Cosworth XB1:38.948
23Hiro MatsushitaDick Simon RacingLola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:39.089
24Robbie BuhlDale Coyne RacingLola T93/06-Ford-Cosworth XB1:39.122
25Davy JonesA. J. Foyt EnterprisesLola T92/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:39.729
26Dominic DobsonPacWest Racing GroupLola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:39.729
27Gary Brabham Bettenhausen MotorsportsPenske PC22-93-Ilmor/C1:40.117
DNQMarco GrecoArciero RacingLola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB1:40.571
DNQBuddy LazierLeader Card RacingLola T93/07-Ilmor/C1:41.164
DNQDave KudraveEuromotorsportLola T92/00-Ilmor/ANo time

R = Rookie driver, DNQ = Did not qualify, W = Andrea Montermini withdrew from the race after a crash during Saturday morning practice.

Race

PosNoDriverTeamLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
18 Michael AndrettiChip Ganassi Racing551:44:58.169221
22 Emerson FittipaldiTeam Penske55+0.2 secs316
36 Mario AndrettiNewman-Haas Racing55+7.3 secs1914
418 Jimmy VasserHayhoe Racing55+38.6 secs1012
516 Stefan JohanssonBettenhausen Motorsports55+1:03.1 secs1210
688 Maurício GugelminChip Ganassi Racing55+1:22.6 secs78
711 Teo FabiJim Hall Racing54+ 1 lap116
810 Mike GroffRahal/Hogan Racing54+ 1 lap145
91 Nigel MansellNewman-Haas Racing54+ 1 lap15
1040 Scott GoodyearKing Racing53+ 2 laps173
1171 Scott Sharp PacWest Racing Group53+ 2 laps182
1217 Dominic DobsonPacWest Racing Group52+ 3 laps261
137 Adrián FernándezGalles Racing52+ 3 laps4
1431 Al Unser, Jr.Team Penske51Electrical5
1522 Hiro MatsushitaDick Simon Racing48+ 7 laps22
163 Paul TracyTeam Penske39Electrical6
1712 Jacques Villeneuve Forsythe/Green Racing36Contact3
1824 Willy T. RibbsWalker Racing34Contact22
1914 Davy JonesA. J. Foyt Enterprises31Transmission25
2019 Robbie BuhlDale Coyne Racing30Oil pressure24
2115 Mark SmithWalker Racing19Contact13
2250 Alessandro Zampedri Euromotorsport19Contact21
239 Robby GordonWalker Racing16Contact9
2476 Gary Brabham Bettenhausen Motorsports10Transmission27
2528 Arie LuyendykIndy Regency Racing8Transmission15
264 Bobby RahalRahal/Hogan Racing0Contact16
275 Raul BoeselDick Simon Racing0Contact20