1996 Grand Prix of Miami

March 2026 August 2023 United States Homestead Homestead Miami Speedway Original Layout.png March 3 1996 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami 1 16 IndyCar Homestead, Florida, United States Oval 1.527 http://www.motorsport.com/stats/champ/data/ch199601.pdf 1996 Championship Results: Homestead, FL 200 Mile Race - March 3, 1996 motorsport.com Philip Harms 2001-01-06 2009-12-21 https://web.archive.org/web/20110608001151/http://www.motorsport.com/stats/champ/data/ch199601.pdf June 8, 2011 dead 2.457 133 203.091 326.843 Temperatures reaching up to 66.9 F C; wind speeds up to 14.7 mph km/h https://www.almanac.com/weather/history/FL/Homestead/1996-03-03 Weather information for the 1996 Grand Prix of Miami The Old Farmers' Almanac 2018-09-12 Paul Tracy Penske Racing 27.681 CAN Greg Moore Forsythe Racing 28.385 131 CAN Jimmy Vasser Chip Ganassi Racing USA Gil de Ferran Hall Racing BRA Robby Gordon Walker Racing USA The 1996 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Presented by Toyota was a CART race at the Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex, held on March 3, 1996. It was the first round of the 1996 IndyCar season, and first CART race since the open-wheel split in 1996. It was preceded in the 1996 racing season by the inaugural Indy Racing League race in Orlando, which was not contested by any of the CART drivers that appeared at Homestead. Jimmy Vasser scored the first win of his CART career. It was also the second major racing event at the recently completed 1.527-mile oval, which had previously hosted a NASCAR Busch Grand National event in November 1995. Report Qualifying Due to rain on Saturday afternoon, the qualifying session occurred on Sunday morning. Canadian driver Paul Tracy, on his return to Marlboro Team Penske after spending a year at Newman/Haas Racing, set the pole with a lap of 198.590 mph (27.681s) in a Penske PC25-Mercedes car. All of the qualified cars were newly built for the 1996 season, with CART having adopted new technical rules that altered the underbody tunnels and sidepods, and were expected to reduce downforce and increase the focus on mechanical grip.Autocourse Indy car, 1996-97 Autocourse 1996 Hazleton Pub. 1874557071 Richmond, Surrey, Eng. 37423587 Race On the start, Mark Blundell spun and Roberto Moreno had an unrelated contact with the wall. Then, the start was aborted for the second time, as Tracy was deemed to have jumped the start. At the end of lap 1, another caution came out as Michael Andretti hit Maurício Gugelmin and lost his front wing. After the restart, Tracy continued to lead for 8 laps of racing, until rain began to fall. The cars circulated under caution period conditions until the decision was made to red flag the race with Tracy in the lead. The race restarted after a half-hour delay, with Tracy continuing to lead the race comfortably while second-place was contested between Gil de Ferran, Vasser, and Scott Pruett. Meanwhile, Al Unser Jr. hit Carlos Guerrero, and fell a lap down to repair his front wing. Andre Ribeiro and Robby Gordon made contact on Lap 82 while fighting for position, bringing out a caution period. During the ensuing pit stops, Tracy retired from the lead due to a transmission failure. On the same lap, rookie Alex Zanardi crashed under caution as his wheel separated following his pit stop. Light rain again delayed the restart until Lap 102. De Ferran led at the restart, but slower traffic in front of the leaders enabled Vasser to overtake and hold onto the lead until the finish. Pos No. Driver Team Chassis Engine Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Laps Led Points 1 12US Jimmy VasserTarget/Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 96I Honda Firestone1331:51:23.10033220 2 8BRA Gil de FerranHall Racing Reynard 96I Honda Goodyear133+ 3.15621816 3 5US Robby GordonWalker Racing Reynard 96I Ford XD Goodyear133+ 3.7407014 4 20US Scott PruettPatrick Racing Lola T95/00 Ford XD Firestone133+ 3.7444012 5 18USA Bobby RahalTeam Rahal Reynard 96I Mercedes Goodyear133+ 4.3685010 6 11BRA Christian FittipaldiNewman/Haas Racing Lola T96/00 Ford XD Goodyear133+ 16.6641508 7 99CAN Greg Moore R   Forsythe Racing Reynard 96I Mercedes Firestone133+ 20.660606 8 2USA Al Unser Jr.Marlboro Team Penske Penske PC25 Mercedes Goodyear132+ 1 lap1305 9 6USA Michael AndrettiNewman/Haas Racing Lola T96/00 Ford XD Goodyear132+ 1 lap1004 10 28USA Bryan HertaTeam Rahal Reynard 96I Mercedes Goodyear131+ 2 laps1103 11 32MEX Adrian FernandezTasman Motorsports Lola T96/00 Honda Firestone131+ 2 laps1602 12 15CAN Scott GoodyearWalker Racing Reynard 96I Ford XB Goodyear131+ 2 laps2201 13 9BRA Emerson FittipaldiHogan Penske Racing Penske PC25 Mercedes Goodyear131+ 2 laps1200 14 1BRA Raul BoeselBrahma Sports Team Reynard 96I Ford XD Goodyear131+ 2 laps1700 15 10US Eddie Lawson RGalles Racing Lola T96/00 Mercedes Goodyear131+ 2 laps2000 16 31BRA Andre RibeiroTasman Motorsports Lola T96/00 Honda Firestone130+ 3 laps900 17 21GBR Mark Blundell RPacWest Racing Group Reynard 96I Ford XB Goodyear129+ 4 laps1900 18 19JPN Hiro MatsushitaPayton/Coyne Racing Lola T96/00 Ford XB Firestone124+ 9 laps2300 19 16SWE Stefan JohanssonBettenhausen Motorsports Reynard 96I Mercedes Goodyear115Transmission1800 20 22MEX Carlos GuerreroScandia/Simon Racing Lola T96/00 Ford XB Goodyear112+ 21 laps2100 21 36ARG Juan Manuel Fangio IIAll American Racers Eagle Mk. V Toyota Goodyear108Fuel2600 22 25USA Jeff Krosnoff RArciero-Wells Racing Reynard 96I Toyota Firestone102Engine2500 23 3CAN Paul TracyMarlboro Team Penske Penske PC25 Mercedes Goodyear84Transmission1832 24 4ITA Alex Zanardi RTarget/Chip Ganassi Racing Reynard 96I Honda Firestone83Accident1400 25 7BRA Marco GrecoScandia/Simon Racing Lola T96/00 Ford XB Goodyear64Electrical2400 26 17BRA Mauricio GugelminPacWest Racing Group Reynard 96I Ford XB Goodyear53Accident800 34BRA Roberto MorenoPayton/Coyne Racing Lola T96/00 Ford XB Firestone0Accident27-- 49USA Parker JohnstoneBrix Comptech Racing Reynard 96I Honda Firestone-Accident in practice--- Race statistics Lap Leaders Laps Leader 1–83 Paul Tracy 84-101 Gil de Ferran 102-133 Jimmy Vasser Notes First CART race: Greg Moore, Eddie Lawson, Mark Blundell, Jeff Krosnoff, Alex Zanardi Parker Johnstone did not start the race, having suffered a concussion from a practice crash. All American Racers returned to CART as a team and a constructor for the first time since 1986. This was the first CART race since 1991 that long-time entrant A. J. Foyt Enterprises did not enter, as Foyt had elected to participate in the new Indy Racing League instead. Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 USA Jimmy Vasser 20 2 BRA Gil de Ferran 16 3 USA Robby Gordon 14 4 USA Scott Pruett 12 5 USA Bobby Rahal 10 References PPG Indy Car World Series Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami 1996 none 1996 Rio 400 1995 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami 1997 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Grand Prix Of Miami, 1996 Category:Homestead–Miami Indy 300 Category:1996 in sports in Florida