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.

Qualifying results

Pos	Nat	Name	Team	Chassis	Time
1	Template:Flagicon	Dario Franchitti	Team Green	Reynard 98i Honda	1:32.288
2	Template:Flagicon	Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 98i Honda	1:32.310
3	Template:Flagicon	Christian Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing	Swift 009.c Ford-Cosworth	1:32.501
4	Template:Flagicon	Paul Tracy	Team Green	Reynard 98i Honda	1:32.583
5	Template:Flagicon	Bryan Herta	Team Rahal	Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth	1:32.588
6	Template:Flagicon	Michael Andretti	Newman-Haas Racing	Swift 009.c Ford-Cosworth	1:32.613
7	Template:Flagicon	Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 98i Honda	1:32.676
8	Template:Flagicon	Gil de Ferran	Walker Racing	Reynard 98i Honda	1:32.851
9	Template:Flagicon	Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	1:32.919
10	Template:Flagicon	Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth	1:33.019
11	Template:Flagicon	Bobby Rahal	Team Rahal	Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth	1:33.068
12	Template:Flagicon	Scott Pruett	Patrick Racing	Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth	1:33.236
13	Template:Flagicon	Max Papis	Arciero-Wells Racing	Reynard 98i Toyota	1:33.375
14	Template:Flagicon	Tony Kanaan	Tasman Motorsports	Reynard 98i Honda	1:33.543
15	Template:Flagicon	JJ Lehto	Hogan Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	1:33.669
16	Template:Flagicon	Patrick Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	1:33.819
17	Template:Flagicon	Mark Blundell	PacWest Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	1:33.820
18	Template:Flagicon	Hélio Castroneves	Bettenhausen Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	1:34.012
19	Template:Flagicon	Al Unser Jr.	Team Penske	Penske PC27 Mercedes-Benz	1:34.260
20	Template:Flagicon	Robby Gordon	Arciero-Wells Racing	Reynard 98i Toyota	1:34.344
21	Template:Flagicon	Maurício Gugelmin	PacWest Racing	Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz	1:34.375
22	Template:Flagicon	André Ribeiro	Team Penske	Penske PC27 Mercedes-Benz	1:34.474
23	Template:Flagicon	Richie Hearn	Della Penna Motorsports	Swift 009.c Ford-Cosworth	1:34.511
24	Template:Flagicon	Arnd Meier	Davis Racing	Lola T98/00 Ford-Cosworth	1:34.534
25	Template:Flagicon	Michel Jourdain Jr.	Payton/Coyne Racing	Reynard 98i Ford-Cosworth	1:35.109
26	Template:Flagicon	Alex Barron	All American Racers	Eagle 987 Toyota	1:35.285
27	Template:Flagicon	Vincenzo Sospiri	All American Racers	Eagle 987 Toyota	1:36.561
DNQ	Template:Flagicon	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	Template:Flagicon Alex Zanardi	Chip Ganassi Racing	62	2:01:51.170	2	20+1
2	27	Template:Flagicon Dario Franchitti	Team Green	62	+0.322	1	16+1
3	11	Template:Flagicon Christian Fittipaldi	Newman-Haas Racing	62	+1.029	3	14
4	20	Template:Flagicon Scott Pruett	Patrick Racing	62	+6.388	12	12
5	9	Template:Flagicon JJ Lehto	Hogan Racing	62	+10.792	15	10
6	40	Template:Flagicon Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	62	+11.153	10	8
7	21	Template:Flagicon Tony Kanaan	Tasman Motorsports Group	62	+11.680	14	6
8	99	Template:Flagicon Greg Moore	Forsythe Racing	62	+13.792	9	5
9	33	Template:Flagicon Patrick Carpentier	Forsythe Racing	62	+15.821	16	4
10	8	Template:Flagicon Bryan Herta	Team Rahal	62	+16.020	5	3
11	18	Template:Flagicon Mark Blundell	PacWest Racing Group	62	+19.870	17	2
12	17	Template:Flagicon Maurício Gugelmin	PacWest Racing Group	62	+20.170	21	1
13	3	Template:Flagicon André Ribeiro	Team Penske	62	+20.729	22
14	5	Template:Flagicon Gil de Ferran	Walker Racing	62	+22.072	8
15	98	Template:Flagicon Vincenzo Sospiri	All American Racing	62	+22.808	27
16	24	Template:Flagicon Robby Gordon	Arciero-Wells Racing	62	+23.747	20
17	25	Template:Flagicon Max Papis	Arciero-Wells Racing	61	Electrical	13
18	10	Template:Flagicon Richie Hearn	Della Penna Motorsports	60	+2 Laps	23
19	36	Template:Flagicon Alex Barron	All American Racing	59	Contact	26
20	6	Template:Flagicon Michael Andretti	Newman-Haas Racing	59	Contact	6
21	16	Template:Flagicon Hélio Castro-Neves	Bettenhausen Racing	54	Contact	18
22	2	Template:Flagicon Al Unser Jr.	Team Penske	53	+9 Laps	19
23	26	Template:Flagicon Paul Tracy	Team Green	45	Contact	4
24	12	Template:Flagicon Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	38	Contact	7
25	7	Template:Flagicon Bobby Rahal	Team Rahal	19	Contact	11
26	19	Template:Flagicon Michel Jourdain Jr.	Payton/Coyne Racing	11	Contact	25
27	77	Template:Flagicon Arnd Meier	Davis Racing	4	Oil leak	24
DNQ	34	Template:Flagicon 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	Template:Flagicon Alex Zanardi	271
2	Template:Flagicon Dario Franchitti	160
3	Template:Flagicon Jimmy Vasser	148
4	Template:Flagicon Adrián Fernández	142
5	Template:Flagicon Greg Moore	125