1998 Honda Indy 300

The 1998 Honda Indy 300 was the eighteenth and penultimate round of the 1998 CART World Series Season, held on 18 October 1998 on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. Alex Zanardi won the race, his 15th and final CART victory, after taking the lead from polesitter Dario Franchitti at the first round of pitstops.

1998 Honda Indy 300

Race details
Race 18 of 19 in the 1998 CART season
Map of the track
Date	18 October, 1998
Official name	Honda Indy 300
Location	Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Queensland, Australia
Course	Temporary Street Circuit 2.795 mi / 4.498 km
Distance	62 laps 173.290 mi / 278.876 km
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Dario Franchitti (Team KOOL Green)
Time	1:32.288
Fastest lap
Driver	Alex Zanardi (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Time	1:33.780 (on lap 54 of 62)
Podium
First	Alex Zanardi (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Second	Dario Franchitti (Team KOOL Green)
Third	Christian Fittipaldi (Newman-Haas Racing)

Qualifying results

Pos	Nat	Name	Team	Chassis	Time
1		Dario Franchitti	Team Green	Reynard 98i Honda	1:32.288
2		Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 98i Honda	1:32.310
3		Christian Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing	Swift 009.c Ford-Cosworth	1:32.501
4		Paul Tracy	Team Green	Reynard 98i Honda	1:32.583
5		Bryan Herta	Team Rahal	Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth	1:32.588
6		Michael Andretti	Newman-Haas Racing	Swift 009.c Ford-Cosworth	1:32.613
7		Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 98i Honda	1:32.676
8		Gil de Ferran	Walker Racing	Reynard 98i Honda	1:32.851
9		Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	1:32.919
10		Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth	1:33.019
11		Bobby Rahal	Team Rahal	Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth	1:33.068
12		Scott Pruett	Patrick Racing	Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth	1:33.236
13		Max Papis	Arciero-Wells Racing	Reynard 98i Toyota	1:33.375
14		Tony Kanaan	Tasman Motorsports	Reynard 98i Honda	1:33.543
15		JJ Lehto	Hogan Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	1:33.669
16		Patrick Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	1:33.819
17		Mark Blundell	PacWest Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	1:33.820
18		Hélio Castroneves	Bettenhausen Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	1:34.012
19		Al Unser Jr.	Team Penske	Penske PC27 Mercedes-Benz	1:34.260
20		Robby Gordon	Arciero-Wells Racing	Reynard 98i Toyota	1:34.344
21		Maurício Gugelmin	PacWest Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	1:34.375
22		André Ribeiro	Team Penske	Penske PC27 Mercedes-Benz	1:34.474
23		Richie Hearn	Della Penna Motorsports	Swift 009.c Ford-Cosworth	1:34.511
24		Arnd Meier	Davis Racing	Lola T98/00 Ford-Cosworth	1:34.534
25		Michel Jourdain Jr.	Payton/Coyne Racing	Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth	1:35.109
26		Alex Barron	All American Racers	Eagle 987 Toyota	1:35.285
27		Vincenzo Sospiri	All American Racers	Eagle 987 Toyota	1:36.561
DNQ		Dennis Vitolo	Payton/Coyne Racing	Reynard 97i Ford-Cosworth	1:38.726

Classification

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	62	2:01:51.170	2	20+1
2	27	Dario Franchitti	Team Green	62	+0.322	1	16+1
3	11	Christian Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing	62	+1.029	3	14
4	20	Scott Pruett	Patrick Racing	62	+6.388	12	12
5	9	JJ Lehto	Hogan Racing	62	+10.792	15	10
6	40	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	62	+11.153	10	8
7	21	Tony Kanaan	Tasman Motorsports Group	62	+11.680	14	6
8	99	Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	62	+13.792	9	5
9	33	Patrick Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	62	+15.821	16	4
10	8	Bryan Herta	Team Rahal	62	+16.020	5	3
11	18	Mark Blundell	PacWest Racing Group	62	+19.870	17	2
12	17	Maurício Gugelmin	PacWest Racing Group	62	+20.170	21	1
13	3	André Ribeiro	Team Penske	62	+20.729	22
14	5	Gil de Ferran	Walker Racing	62	+22.072	8
15	98	Vincenzo Sospiri	All American Racing	62	+22.808	27
16	24	Robby Gordon	Arciero-Wells Racing	62	+23.747	20
17	25	Max Papis	Arciero-Wells Racing	61	Electrical	13
18	10	Richie Hearn	Della Penna Motorsports	60	+2 Laps	23
19	36	Alex Barron	All American Racing	59	Contact	26
20	6	Michael Andretti	Newman-Haas Racing	59	Contact	6
21	16	Hélio Castro-Neves	Bettenhausen Racing	54	Contact	18
22	2	Al Unser Jr.	Team Penske	53	+9 Laps	19
23	26	Paul Tracy	Team Green	45	Contact	4
24	12	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	38	Contact	7
25	7	Bobby Rahal	Team Rahal	19	Contact	11
26	19	Michel Jourdain Jr.	Payton/Coyne Racing	11	Contact	25
27	77	Arnd Meier	Davis Racing	4	Oil leak	24
DNQ	34	Dennis Vitolo	Payton/Coyne Racing		Did not Qualify

Caution flags

Laps	Cause
14–16	Jourdain Jr. (19) contact
21–24	Rahal (7) contact
36–37	Tire wall problem
40–41	Castro-Neves (16), Vasser (12) contact
43–44	Hearn (10) spin
56–58	Castro-Neves (16) contact
61–62	Barron (36), Andretti (6), Hearn (10) contact

Lap Leaders

Laps Leader 1–13 Dario Franchitti 14–62 Alex Zanardi

Driver Laps led Alex Zanardi 49 Dario Franchitti 13

Point standings after race

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Alex Zanardi	271
2	Dario Franchitti	160
3	Jimmy Vasser	148
4	Adrián Fernández	142
5	Greg Moore	125