1994 Australian FAI Indycar Grand Prix

June 2020 February 2021 July 2026 Australia Surfers Paradise Surfers Paradise Street Circuit.svg Map of the track 20 March 1994 1994 Australian FAI Indycar Grand Prix 1 16 IndyCar Surfers Paradise Street CircuitQueensland, Australia Temporary Street Circuit 2.794 4.496 55 153.670 247.280 Rain Nigel Mansell Newman-Haas Racing 1:34.877 GBR Nigel Mansell Newman-Haas Racing 1:37.487 15 GBR Michael Andretti Target Chip Ganassi Racing USA Emerson Fittipaldi Marlboro Team Penske BRA Mario Andretti Newman-Haas Racing USA 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 IndyCar 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 (the final corner) 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 and Adrian Fernandez spun off in Turn 4, both cars undamaged. Boesel retired, while Jones and Matsushita were eventually push-started and continued in the race. However, Matsushita returned to the pits for a new rear wing as the marshals had accidentally broken off his already-damaged rear wing in their attempt to push the car away. Fernandez turned around in the escape road and continued on, however the marshals were busy dealing with the first-chicane accident and Tracy sat against the turn 4 tyre wall for a full lap under yellow before the marshals could give him a push-start. Rahal later stated in an interview with ABC's Jack Arute that he was bumped from behind coming to the green flag and into another car. This broke the front wing, which then ran under the nose of the car, causing it to lose steering. The race finally restarted around 4 p.m. Michael Andretti got by Mansell after the start (the third attempt), 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 (in his third incident of the race) who seemed to be watching Smith rather than the road. As a result, he braked too late for the corner, locking up his right-front tire and slid off the track into Smith. On the 4th 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 Pos Nat Name Team Car Time 1 GBR Nigel Mansell Newman-Haas Racing Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:34.877 2 USA Michael Andretti Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 94I-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:35.568 3 BRA Emerson Fittipaldi Team Penske Penske PC-23-94-Ilmor/D 1:36.023 4 MEX Adrián Fernández Galles Racing Reynard 94I-Ilmor/D 1:36.091 5 USA Al Unser Jr. Team Penske Penske PC-23-94-Ilmor/D 1:36.394 6 CAN Paul Tracy Team Penske Penske PC-23-94-Ilmor/D 1:36.398 7 BRA Maurício Gugelmin Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 94I-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:36.405 8 CAN Jacques Villeneuve (R) Forsythe/Green Racing Reynard 94I-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:36.480 9 USA Robby Gordon Walker Racing Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:36.678 10 USA Jimmy Vasser Hayhoe Racing Reynard 94I-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:36.877 11 ITA Teo Fabi Jim Hall Racing Reynard 94I-Ilmor/D 1:36.925 12 SWE Stefan Johansson Bettenhausen Motorsports Penske PC-23-93-Ilmor/D 1:37.328 13 USA Mark Smith Walker Racing Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:37.476 14 USA Mike Groff Rahal/Hogan Racing Lola T93/07-Honda 1:37.633 15 NED Arie Luyendyk Indy Regency Racing Lola T94/00-Ilmor/D 1:37.739 16 USA Bobby Rahal Rahal/Hogan Racing Lola T93/00-Honda 1:37.783 17 CAN Scott Goodyear Budweiser King Racing Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:37.835 18 USA Scott Sharp (R) PacWest Racing Group Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:37.940 19 USA Mario Andretti Newman-Haas Racing Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:37.940 W* ITA Andrea Montermini Dale Coyne Racing Lola T93/06-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:37.959 20 BRA Raul Boesel Dick Simon Racing Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:38.002 21 ITA Alessandro Zampedri (R) Euromotorsport Lola T93/07-Ilmor/C 1:38.908 22 USA Willy T. Ribbs Walker Racing Lola T93/06-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:38.948 23 JPN Hiro Matsushita Dick Simon Racing Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:39.089 24 USA Robbie Buhl Dale Coyne Racing Lola T93/06-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:39.122 25 USA Davy Jones A. J. Foyt Enterprises Lola T92/00-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:39.729 26 USA Dominic Dobson PacWest Racing Group Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:39.729 27 AUS Gary Brabham (R) Bettenhausen Motorsports Penske PC22-93-Ilmor/C 1:40.117 DNQ BRA Marco Greco Arciero Racing Lola T94/00-Ford-Cosworth XB 1:40.571 DNQ USA Buddy Lazier Leader Card Racing Lola T93/07-Ilmor/C 1:41.164 DNQ USA Dave Kudrave Euromotorsport Lola T92/00-Ilmor/A No time R = Rookie driver, DNQ = Did not qualify, W = Withdrew *Andrea Montermini withdrew from the race after a crash during Saturday morning practice. Race Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/retired Grid Points 1 8 USA Michael AndrettiChip Ganassi Racing 55 1:44:58.169 2 21 2 2 BRA Emerson Fittipaldi Team Penske 55 +0.2 secs 3 16 3 6 USA Mario Andretti Newman-Haas Racing 55 +7.3 secs 19 14 4 18 USA Jimmy Vasser Hayhoe Racing 55 +38.6 secs 10 12 5 16 SWE Stefan Johansson Bettenhausen Motorsports 55 +1:03.1 secs 12 10 6 88 BRA Maurício Gugelmin Chip Ganassi Racing 55 +1:22.6 secs 7 8 7 11 ITA Teo Fabi Jim Hall Racing 54 + 1 lap 11 6 8 10 USA Mike Groff Rahal/Hogan Racing 54 + 1 lap 14 5 9 1 GBR Nigel Mansell Newman-Haas Racing 54 + 1 lap 1 5 10 40 CAN Scott Goodyear King Racing 53 + 2 laps 17 3 11 71 USA Scott Sharp (R) PacWest Racing Group 53 + 2 laps 18 2 12 17 USA Dominic Dobson PacWest Racing Group 52 + 3 laps 26 1 13 7 MEX Adrián Fernández Galles Racing 52 + 3 laps 4 14 31 USA Al Unser Jr. Team Penske 51 Electrical 5 15 22 JPN Hiro Matsushita Dick Simon Racing 48 + 7 laps 22 16 3 CAN Paul Tracy Team Penske 39 Electrical 6 17 12 CAN Jacques Villeneuve (R) Forsythe/Green Racing 36 Contact 3 18 24 USA Willy T. Ribbs Walker Racing 34 Contact 22 19 14 USA Davy Jones A. J. Foyt Enterprises 31 Transmission 25 20 19 USA Robbie Buhl Dale Coyne Racing 30 Oil pressure 24 21 15 USA Mark Smith Walker Racing 19 Contact 13 22 50 ITA Alessandro Zampedri (R) Euromotorsport 19 Contact 21 23 9 USA Robby Gordon Walker Racing 16 Contact 9 24 76 AUS Gary Brabham (R) Bettenhausen Motorsports 10 Transmission 27 25 28 NED Arie Luyendyk Indy Regency Racing 8 Transmission 15 26 4 USA Bobby Rahal Rahal/Hogan Racing 0 Contact 16 27 5 BRA Raul Boesel Dick Simon Racing 0 Contact 20 Notes Average Speed: 80.994 mph km/h on Lead changes: 1 among 1 driver Lap Leaders Laps Leader 1-55 Michael Andretti Cautions: 3 for 16 laps Laps Reason 1-5 Boesel, Mario Andretti, Jones, Dobson, Buhl, Matsushita, Ribbs and Zampedri Accident 18-22 Gordon Accident 23-27 Mansell Spun Standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 US Michael Andretti 21 2 BRA Emerson Fittipaldi 16 3 US Mario Andretti 14 4 US Jimmy Vasser 12 5 SWE Stefan Johansson 10 External links Full Weekend Times & Results 1994 Australian FAI IndyCar Grand Prix 1994 1994 Slick-50 200 1993 Australian FAI IndyCar Grand Prix 1995 Indycar Australia 27 59 17.9 S 153 25 42.1 E type:event_region:AU-QLD title Australian FAI IndyCar Grand Prix FAI IndyCar Grand Prix Category:Gold Coast Indy 300