1996 Grand Prix of Long Beach

1996 Grand Prix of Long Beach
Race details
Race 4 of 16 in the 1996 IndyCar season
Date April 14, 1996
Official name Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
Location Long Beach, California, United States
Course Street
1.590 mi / 2.559 km
Distance 105 laps
166.950 mi / 268.680 km
Weather Temperatures up to 94 °F (34 °C); wind speeds up to 12 miles per hour (19 km/h)[1]
Pole position
Driver Gil de Ferran (Hall Racing)
Time 52.208
Fastest lap
Driver Paul Tracy (Penske Racing)
Time 53.482 (on lap 99 of 105)
Podium
First Jimmy Vasser (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Second Parker Johnstone (Comptech Racing)
Third Al Unser, Jr. (Penske Racing)

The 1996 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was the 4th round of the 1996 IndyCar season. It happened on April 14, 1996, on the streets of Long Beach, California.

Race

Start

At the end of lap 1, de Ferran was leading the race, as he led most laps of the race.

Lap 4-Lap 39

At lap 4, Brazilian driver André Ribeiro crashed at turn 1. He retired. At lap 14, the top 6 was: Gil de Ferran, Alex Zanardi, Jimmy Vasser, Scott Pruett, Paul Tracy and Parker Johnstone. The 1st caution came out at lap 39, as Zanardi had hit Bobby Rahal at turn 1. Zanardi retired. At the same lap, Robby Gordon had a fire in his pit area. Despite this, Robby did not retired.

Lap 41-Lap 65

The top 6 at lap 41 was: de Ferran, Vasser, Tracy, Johnstone, Pruett and Greg Moore. At lap 49, the 2nd caution came out, as Moore collided with Christian Fittipaldi at the last turn before the hairpin. Both retired. Emerson Fittipaldi had hit some debris from that collision, thus, damaging the suspension of his car. He also retired. Al Unser, Jr. was now in sixth place. Then, at lap 54, Raul Boesel committed a mistake and missed the turn 1. He would do this again laps later. At lap 57, Robby Gordon had hit Bryan Herta at the hairpin. They did not retired. At lap 65, Teo Fabi, who was replacing Mark Blundell, after he suffered a broken foot at the Rio 400, suffered a puncture. The cause of the puncture, probably, was when he collided with Michael Andretti at the opening laps. Andretti had hit Fabi from behind and damaged his front wing.

Lap 70-Lap 95

The 3rd caution came out, as Robby Gordon had hit the wall. The top 10 was: de Ferran, Tracy, Vasser, Johnstone, Unser, Jr., Adrian Fernandez, Andretti, Roberto Moreno, Eddie Lawson and Richie Hearn. At the same lap, Paul Tracy was black flagged after overtaking Vasser during caution. He did a stop-and-go penalty one lap later. At lap 95, Dennis Vitolo retired due to mechanical problems

Closing Stages

With 4 laps to go, de Ferran suffered mechanical problems and lost the lead to Jimmy Vasser. Then, 1 lap later, Bobby Rahal and Bryan Herta collided at the hairpin. Jimmy Vasser won the race.

Final Results

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 12 United States Jimmy Vasser Chip Ganassi Racing 105 1:44:02.363 3 20
2 49 United States Parker Johnstone Comptech Racing 105 + 3.447 6 16
3 2 United States Al Unser, Jr. Penske Racing 105 + 4.409 9 14
4 3 Canada Paul Tracy Penske Racing 105 + 5.000 4 12
5 8 Brazil Gil de Ferran Jim Hall Racing 105 + 32.073 1 12
6 32 Mexico Adrián Fernández Tasman Motorsports 105 + 36.322 13 8
7 6 United States Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing 104 + 1 Lap 12 6
8 34 Brazil Roberto Moreno Payton/Coyne Racing 104 + 1 Lap 18 5
9 10 United States Eddie Lawson Galles Racing International 104 + 1 Lap 24 4
10 44 United States Richie Hearn Della Penna Motorsports 103 + 2 Laps 22 3
11 20 United States Scott Pruett Patrick Racing 103 + 2 Laps 5 2
12 28 United States Bryan Herta Team Rahal 100 + 5 Laps 17 1
13 5 United States Robby Gordon Walker Racing 98 + 7 Laps 7
14 18 United States Bobby Rahal Team Rahal 98 + 7 Laps 21
15 17 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin PacWest Racing 97 + 8 Laps 11
16 1 Brazil Raul Boesel Team Green 90 + 15 Laps 16
17 64 United States Dennis Vitolo Project Indy 87 Electrical 28
18 21 Italy Teo Fabi PacWest Racing 86 Clutch 19
19 16 Sweden Stefan Johansson Bettenhausen Racing 50 Engine 20
20 9 Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi Hogan-Penske Racing 48 Accident 14
21 11 Brazil Christian Fittipaldi Newman/Haas Racing 47 Accident 10
22 99 Canada Greg Moore Team Forsythe 47 Accident 8
23 22 Mexico Michel Jourdain, Jr. Team Scandia 46 Radiator 27
24 4 Italy Alex Zanardi Chip Ganassi Racing 39 Accident 2
25 36 Argentina Juan Fangio II All American Racers 29 Oil leak 26
26 25 United States Jeff Krosnoff Arciero/Wells Racing 23 Engine 23
27 31 Brazil André Ribeiro Tasman Motorsports 4 Accident 15
28 19 Japan Hiro Matsushita Payton/Coyne Racing 1 Electrical 25
[2][3]

References

  1. "1996 Grand Prix of Long Beach weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  2. "Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach". Ultimate Racing History. Archived from the original on 1 August 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  3. "1996 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach". Champ Car Stats. Archived from the original on 1 August 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
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