| Race details | |
|---|---|
| Race 1 of 16 in the1994 IndyCar season | |
 Map of the track | |
| Date | 20 March, 1994 |
| Official name | 1994 Australian FAI Indycar Grand Prix |
| Location | Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Queensland, Australia |
| Course | Temporary Street Circuit 2.794 mi / 4.496 km |
| Distance | 55 laps 153.670 mi / 247.280 km |
| Weather | Rain |
| Pole position | |
| Driver |  Nigel Mansell (Newman-Haas Racing) |
| Time | 1:34.877 |
| Fastest lap | |
| Driver | Nigel Mansell (Newman-Haas Racing) |
| Time | 1:37.487 (on lap 15 of 55) |
| Podium | |
| First |  Michael Andretti (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| Second |  Emerson Fittipaldi (Marlboro Team Penske) |
| Third | Mario Andretti (Newman-Haas Racing) |
The1994 Australian FAI Indycar Grand Prix was the opening round of the1994 CART World Series season, held on 20 March 1994 on theSurfers Paradise Street Circuit, Australia.
Nigel Mansell, the defendingwinner andCART series champion, won thepole position inNewman-Haas's new Lola T94/00. Alongside on the grid wasMichael Andretti, who was beginning his comeback to the CART series withChip Ganassi Racing afterspending a year inFormula One. Starting in eighth position was future CART and Formula One championJacques Villeneuve, making his first start in the CART series. It was also the IndyCar debut of theReynard chassis and theHonda engine.
The race start wasdelayed 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 collectedRaul Boesel,Willy T. Ribbs,Robbie Buhl, andAlessandro Zampedri. The second aborted start saw further carnage; this time in the secondchicane involving Boesel and Zampedri again, along withMario Andretti,Hiro Matsushita, andDavy Jones slowed the field.Bobby Rahal hit the tyre wall in the first chicane, apparently on his own, andPaul Tracy andAdrian 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'sJack 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 didRobby Gordon. In Turn 5 he muscled his way past Mansell, who soon outbraked theCalifornian 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 ofMark 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 ofEmerson Fittipaldi andTeo 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 passingMaurício Gugelmin. He spun the car around, but bumped the wall with the left rear tyre and stalled the engine. On Lap 38Stefan Johansson and rookieJacques Villeneuve touched coming towards Turn 9, ending theCanadian's IndyCar debut early. Later on, because of the delays, darkness fell overthe circuit. Former racerChip Ganassi, whose car was in the lead, was very concerned about visibility. He pleaded withCART to end the race after saying toABC'sGary Gerould"This is a dangerous situation! The lights are on along the pits here! The lights are on at theMarriott 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 alsoReynard's first IndyCar race. This continued their record of winning on their debut in various categories includingFormula 3 andF3000.Emerson Fittipaldi, driving the newPenske PC-23, finished second, followed byMario Andretti, who began his final CART season with the final podium finish of his Indy car career.Jimmy Vasser andStefan Johansson rounded out the Top five.
R = Rookie driver,DNQ = Did not qualify,W = Withdrew
*Andrea Montermini withdrew from the race after a crash during Saturday morning practice.
|
| ||||||||||||||||
| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Andretti | 21 |
| 2 | Emerson Fittipaldi | 16 |
| 3 | Mario Andretti | 14 |
| 4 | Jimmy Vasser | 12 |
| 5 |  Stefan Johansson | 10 |
| Previous race: | PPG Indy Car World Series 1994 season | Next race: 1994 Slick-50 200 |
| Previous race: 1993 Australian FAI IndyCar Grand Prix | 1994 Australian FAI IndyCar Grand Prix | Next race: 1995 Indycar Australia |
27°59′17.9″S153°25′42.1″E / 27.988306°S 153.428361°E /-27.988306; 153.428361
