1997 Sunbelt IndyCarnival

The 1997 Sunbelt IndyCarnival was the second round of the 1997 CART World Series Season, held on 6 April 1997 on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. Scott Pruett won his 2nd and final victory of his career as a driver in CART.

1997 Surfers Paradise

Race details
Race 2 of 17 in the 1997 CART season
Map of the track
Date	6 April, 1997
Official name	Sunbelt IndyCarnival
Location	Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Queensland, Australia
Course	Temporary Street Circuit 2.795 mi / 4.498 km
Distance	57 laps 159.315 mi / 256.386 km
Pole position
Driver	Alex Zanardi (Target Chip Ganassi)
Time	1:35.940
Fastest lap
Driver	Alex Zanardi (Target Chip Ganassi)
Time	1:38.026 (on lap 37 of 57)
Podium
First	Scott Pruett (Patrick Racing)
Second	Greg Moore (Forsythe Racing)
Third	Michael Andretti (Newman-Haas Racing)

Qualifying results

Pos	Nat	Name	Team	Chassis	Time
1		Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 97I Honda	1:35.940
2		Paul Tracy	Team Penske	Penske PC-26-97 Mercedes-Benz	1:36.140
3		Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 97I Honda	1:36.441
4		Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	Reynard 96I Mercedes-Benz	1:36.754
5		Mark Blundell	PacWest	Reynard 97I Mercedes-Benz	1:36.754
6		Parker Johnstone	Team Green	Reynard 97I Honda	1:36.772
7		Scott Pruett	Patrick Racing	Reynard 97I Ford XD Cosworth	1:36.831
8		Maurício Gugelmin	PacWest	Reynard 97I Mercedes-Benz	1:36.896
9		Christian Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing	Swift 007.i Ford XD Cosworth	1:36.945
10		Bobby Rahal	Team Rahal	Reynard 97I Ford XD Cosworth	1:37.078
11		Gil de Ferran	Walker Racing	Reynard 97I Honda	1:37.324
12		Michael Andretti	Newman-Haas Racing	Swift 007.i Ford XD Cosworth	1:37.371
13		Dario Franchitti	Hogan Racing	Reynard 97I Mercedes-Benz	1:37.592
14		André Ribeiro	Tasman Motorsports	Lola T97/00 Honda	1:37.646
15		Adrián Fernández	Tasman Motorsports	Lola T97/00 Honda	1:37.819
16		Bryan Herta	Team Rahal	Reynard 97I Ford XB Cosworth	1:37.895
17		Al Unser Jr.	Team Penske	Penske PC-26-97 Mercedes-Benz	1:38.218
18		Gualter Salles	Davis Racing	Reynard 97I Ford XD Cosworth	1:38.325
19		Raul Boesel	Patrick Racing	Reynard 97I Ford XD Cosworth	1:38.521
20		Richie Hearn	Della Penna Motorsports	Lola T97/00 Ford XD Cosworth	1:38.990
21		Patrick Carpentier	Bettenhausen Racing	Reynard 97I Mercedes-Benz	1:39.595
22		Max Papis	Arciero-Wells Racing	Reynard 97I Toyota	1:39.927
23		Juan Manuel Fangio II	All American Racing	Reynard 96I Toyota	1:39.981
24		Paul Jasper	Payton/Coyne Racing	Lola T97/00 Ford XD Cosworth	1:40.138
25		P. J. Jones	All American Racing	Reynard 96I Toyota	1:40.505
26		Michel Jourdain Jr.	Payton/Coyne Racing	Lola T97/00 Ford XD Cosworth	1:41.871
27		Arnd Meier	Project Indy	Lola T97/00 Ford XD Cosworth	1:42.316
28		Hiro Matsushita	Arciero-Wells Racing	Reynard 97I Toyota	1:42.795

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/retired	Grid	Points
1	20	Scott Pruett	Patrick Racing	57	2:01:04.678	7	20
2	99	Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	57	+0.7 secs	4	16
3	6	Michael Andretti	Newman-Haas Racing	57	+11.3 secs	12	14
4	4	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	57	+14.8 secs	1	13
5	5	Gil de Ferran	Walker Racing	57	+15.6 secs	11	10
6	31	André Ribeiro	Tasman Motorsports	57	+16.8 secs	14	8
7	40	Raul Boesel	Patrick Racing	57	+17.6 secs	19	6
8	18	Mark Blundell	PacWest Racing	57	+18.2 secs	5	5
9	9	Dario Franchitti	Hogan Racing	57	+23.6 secs	13	4
10	7	Bobby Rahal	Team Rahal	57	+25.9 secs	11	3
11	32	Adrián Fernández	Tasman Motorsports	57	+29.7 secs	15	2
12	1	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	57	+30.2 secs	3	1
13	10	Richie Hearn	Della Penna Motorsports	57	+38.2 secs	20
14	25	Max Papis	Arciero-Wells Racing	57	+39.5 secs	22
15	16	Patrick Carpentier	Bettenhausen Racing	57	+41.8 secs	21
16	64	Arnd Meier	Project Indy	57	+58.1 secs	27
17	17	Maurício Gugelmin	PacWest	57	+1:14.1 secs	8
18	19	Michel Jourdain Jr.	Payton/Coyne Racing	43	Transmission	26
19	3	Paul Tracy	Team Penske	41	Contact	2	1
20	36	Juan Manuel Fangio II	All American Racing	37	Fire	23
21	27	Parker Johnstone	Team Green	35	Broken wheel	6
22	8	Bryan Herta	Team Rahal	29	Contact	16
23	34	Paul Jasper	Payton/Coyne Racing	24	Broken transmission	24
24	77	Gualter Salles	Davis Racing	17	Contact	18
25	24	Hiro Matsushita	Arciero-Wells Racing	16	Electrical	28
26	98	P. J. Jones	All American Racing	15	Fire	25
27	2	Al Unser Jr.	Team Penske	10	Lost wheel	17
DNS	11	Christian Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing			9

Christian Fittipaldi started the race but broke his leg in a massive crash on Lap 2. Because the race was restarted, the first start was considered void and thus Fittipaldi was not classified starting the race.

Notes

• Average Speed 85.328 mph

External links

• Full Weekend Times & Results