Miami Race Taking Shape
The natural anticipation that accompanies the opening of another PPG Indy Car World Series season will be further heightened by the unveiling of several major changes at the Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami presented by Toyota on March 3.The most noticeable is the venue of the season opener, which departs from the streets of Miami and moves 30 miles south to the stunning Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex. The 1.51-mile oval is the centerpiece of the $55 million facility that is considered one of the finest in the world. This will be the first IndyCar event at Homestead, but marks the second consecutive season that the series has kicked off its schedule in South Florida.
The track will not be alone in making a debut as Toyota becomes the latest manufacturer to join the IndyCar racing picture. Toyota becomes the series' fourth engine builder and its primary team, All American Racers, will be the fourth chassis manufacturer.
Juan Manuel Fangio II will pilot the Eagle MK-V as a member of Dan Gurney's All American Racers. Gurney is expected to field a second team by midseason with PJ Jones in the cockpit. Toyota also will be represented by Arciero/Wells Racing.
Driver and equipment changes were commonplace among the teams during a busy off-season, with notables such as Jacques Villeneuve, Paul Tracy, Raul Boesel, Emerson Fittipaldi, Bryan Herta, Adrian Fernandez and Christian Fittipaldi departing for new teams.
Villeneuve, the defending PPG Cup champion and Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami winner, left Team Green for the Formula One circuit and was replaced by veteran Raul Boesel. After a year with Rahal-Hogan, Boesel will be shooting for his first career IndyCar victory in the Brahma Sports Team Reynard Ford.
Tracy will be reunited with Marlboro Team Penske after spending last season with Newman/Haas Racing. He began his career with the team in 1991 and captured eight of his 10 career victories during his four-year tenure with Penske. He once again will be teamed with Al Unser Jr., who tied for the series lead last season with four victories and finished runner-up for the PPG Cup. Both will drive Marlboro Penske Mercedes-Benzs.
Emerson Fittipaldi left Marlboro Team Penske, but not entirely. He re-located with the newly formed Hogan Penske Racing with Carl Hogan, who split with Bobby Rahal after four seasons, serving as majority partner. The team will campaign a Mercedes-Benz-powered Penske chassis with major backing from the Marlboro Latin America Team.
Herta didn't have long to wait before another opportunity came his way after losing his ride with Target/Chip Ganassi Racing after last season. Herta, the 1993 PPG-Firestone Indy Lights champion, has the seat in the Shell Reynard Mercedes-Benz for the new Team Rahal. Rahal will join Herta with a brand new colorful paint scheme on his Miller Reynard Mercedes-Benz as he begins the quest for his unprecedented fourth PPG Cup.
Fernandez and Christian Fittipaldi also have new addresses. Fernandez, who had nine top-10 finishes for Galles last year, moves to Tasman Motorsports to drive the Tecate/Quaker State Lola Honda. Fittipaldi, rookie-of-the-year runner-up in 1995, departed from Walker Racing to join Newman/Haas. He will drive the Kmart/Budweiser Lola Ford and team with veteran Michael Andretti. Andretti, a favorite to claim this season's PPG Cup in his Kmart Texaco/Havoline Lola Ford, had a victory and three poles en route to finishing fourth in the points standings last season.
Five new faces will dot the IndyCar lineup with Greg Moore leading the rookie contingent. Moore, the 1995 PPG-Firestone Indy Lights champion, will be in the Player's/Indeck Reynard Mercedes-Benz for Forsythe Racing. Moore, a 20-year-old Canadian, will be the second-youngest driver in IndyCar history when he starts at Homestead.
Alex Zanardi, Mark Blundell and Jeff Krosnoff arrive from overseas to join the series. Zanardi competed in the GT2 class of the British Racing Production championship last year. He joins Target/Chip Ganassi Racing this season in the Target Indy Car Reynard Honda. Blundell raced for McLaren in Formula One last season and had five top-six finishes in 17 events. He will be driving a Reynard Ford Cosworth for the PacWest Racing Group. Krosnoff spent the past six seasons racing in Japan, including last year in the Formula 3000 series. His new ride will be a Reynard Toyota for Arciero-Wells Racing.
Also in the rookie crop is former four-time motorcycle world champion Eddie Lawson. Lawson made his auto racing debut in 1994 in the Indy Lights and had a victory and six other podium finishes. After a one-year layoff because of a lack of sponsorship, he moves to Delco Electronics High Tech Team Galles and will drive a Lola Mercedes-Benz.
On the equipment side, several teams have altered their engine or chassis preference. Target/Chip Ganassi has switched from the Ford Cosworth engine to Honda. Zanardi and Jimmy Vasser (Target Indy Car Reynard), the 1995 STP Most Improved Driver, will look to the new engine to boost them to their first career IndyCar victories. Pennzoil/Jim Hall Racing will be moving from Mercedes-Benz to the Honda. The Honda-powered Pennzoil Special Reynard features Gil de Ferran, who registered his first victory and a runner-up finish in the final two races of last season to capture the Rookie of the Year award.
Tasman Motorsports remains with the Honda engine, but will switch its chassis from Reynard to Lola. Andre Ribeiro (LCI International Lola Honda) returns for his second season with the team, holding the distinction on winning Honda's first race in the series. After campaigning the Penske chassis the past five years, team owner Tony Bettenhausen has opted for Reynard. Stefan Johansson is back behind the wheel of the Alumax Aluminum Reynard Mercedes-Benz after earning seven top-10 finishes last season.
Another promising change involves Parker Johnstone. With the merger of the Brix IMSA operation and Comptech's IndyCar organization, Johnstone will run a full schedule in the Motorola Cellular Reynard Honda after two partial seasons.
The remainder of the Ford contingent will be paced by the Walker Racing tandem of Robby Gordon and Scott Goodyear. Gordon, in the Valvoline/Cummins/Craftsman Special Reynard Ford, captured the first two victories of his IndyCar career last season and is expected to be a PPG Cup contender. Goodyear, who ran three events for Tasman last season, will step up to a full schedule with Walker this year in a Reynard Ford.
Scott Pruett returns to the same Firestone Patrick Racing Lola Ford that earned him the Marlboro 500 title a year ago, his first career IndyCar victory. Mauricio Gugelmin, a Fort Lauderdale resident who finished runner-up at Miami last season, will be in the Hollywood Reynard Ford for PacWest Racing. Payton-Coyne Racing, which used '94 models last year, will power its drivers Hiro Matshushita (Panasonic) and Roberto Moreno (Data Control/MI-JACK) will utilize 1996 Lola Fords this season. Rounding out the Ford group is Scandia-Simon Racing's Carlos Guerrero and Marco Greco. Guerrero will drive the Herdez Lola Ford and Greco will pilot the International Sports Ltd./Samyang/CEC Lola Ford.
The Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami presented by Toyota, to be aired live on ABC at 1:30 p.m., is the opening of the PPG Indy Car World Series 16-event schedule that features two inaugural events. The series will travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the Rio 400 on March 17 and also to Brooklyn, Mich. for the U.S. 500 on May 26.
Source: IndyCar Web SiteUsed by permission