The 2003 Lexmark Indy 300 was the eighteenth last race of the 2003 CART World Series season, held on 26 October 2003 on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, Queensland, Australia. A hail storm 20 minutes into the race caused an hour long red flag period and shortened the race to 47 laps from the scheduled 65.

Australia 2003 Surfers Paradise
Race details
Race 18 of 19 in the 2003 CART season
Track map of the Surfers Paradise street circuit at Surfers Paradise, Australia.
Date26 October, 2003
Official nameLexmark Indy 300
LocationSurfers Paradise Street Circuit
Queensland, Australia
CourseTemporary Street Circuit
2.795 mi / 4.498 km
Distance47 laps
131.365 mi / 211.406 km
WeatherThunderstorms with temperatures reaching up to 27.4 °C (81.3 °F)[1]
Pole position
DriverSébastien Bourdais (Newman/Haas Racing)
Time1:31.718
Fastest lap
DriverRoberto Moreno (Herdez Competition)
Time1:35.561 (on lap 10 of 47)
Podium
FirstRyan Hunter-Reay (American Spirit Team Johansson)
SecondDarren Manning (Walker Racing)
ThirdJimmy Vasser (American Spirit Team Johansson)

Ryan Hunter-Reay won the race, his first victory in top-level American open wheel racing, and Reynard's final win in CART competition (sweeping the podium positions). Neither of the two drivers who could still win the season championship, leader Paul Tracy and second-place Bruno Junqueira, finished in the Top 12 points-paying positions (though Junqueira received two bonus points on the weekend: one for having the fastest lap in Friday qualifying, and the other for leading the most laps in the race), meaning Tracy had a big enough lead to clinch the championship with one race to go.[2]

Final CART event

edit

The event was to have been the penultimate race of the 2003 season, but it later became the final round after the 2003 King Taco 500 was canceled because of a wildfire near to the California Speedway venue. In December 2003 the CART World Series declared bankruptcy and as a result went out of business. Therefore, this race became the final completed CART sanctioned event, although the series would be reborn under new ownership as the Champ Car World Series in 2004.

Qualifying results

edit
Pos Nat Driver Team Car Qual 1 Qual 2 Best
1   Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Lola B2/00 Ford-Cosworth 1:33.321 1:31.718 1:31.718
2   Bruno Junqueira Newman-Haas Racing Lola B2/00 Ford-Cosworth 1:32.708 1:31.994 1:31.994
3   Paul Tracy Team Player's Lola B2/00 Ford-Cosworth 1:34.161 1:32.000 1:32.000
4   Alex Tagliani Rocketsports Racing Lola B2/00 Ford-Cosworth - 1:32.135 1:32.135
5   Adrian Fernández Fernández Racing Lola B2/00 Ford-Cosworth 1:33.668 1:32.436 1:32.436
6   Oriol Servià Patrick Racing Lola B2/00 Ford-Cosworth 1:34.317 1:32.731 1:32.731
7   Roberto Moreno Herdez Competition Lola B2/00 Ford-Cosworth 1:34.313 1:32.732 1:32.732
8   Mario Domínguez Herdez Competition Lola B2/00 Ford-Cosworth 1:35.017 1:32.908 1:32.908
9   Michel Jourdain Jr. Team Rahal Lola B2/00 Ford-Cosworth 1:34.447 1:33.112 1:33.112
10   Mika Salo PK Racing Lola B2/00 Ford-Cosworth 1:35.506 1:33.187 1:33.187
11   Patrick Carpentier Team Player's Lola B2/00 Ford-Cosworth 1:34.808 1:33.437 1:33.437
12   Ryan Hunter-Reay American Spirit Team Johansson Reynard 02i Ford-Cosworth 1:36.398 1:33.542 1:33.542
13   Tiago Monteiro Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing Reynard 02i Ford-Cosworth 1:35.379 1:33.857 1:33.857
14   Darren Manning Walker Racing Reynard 02i Ford-Cosworth 1:35.425 1:33.922 1:33.922
15   Jimmy Vasser American Spirit Team Johansson Reynard 02i Ford-Cosworth 1:34.266 1:35.425 1:34.266
16   Mario Haberfeld Mi-Jack Conquest Racing Reynard 02i Ford-Cosworth 1:35.821 1:34.299 1:34.299
17   Gualter Salles Dale Coyne Racing Lola B2/00 Ford-Cosworth 1:36.495 1:34.646 1:34.646
18   Rodolfo Lavín Walker Racing Reynard 02i Ford-Cosworth - 1:36.075 1:36.075
19   Geoff Boss Dale Coyne Racing Lola B2/00 Ford-Cosworth - 1:37.247 1:37.247

Race

edit
Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/retired Grid Points
1 31   Ryan Hunter-Reay American Spirit Team Johansson 47 1:49:02.803 12 20
2 15   Darren Manning Walker Racing 47 +1.546 secs 14 16
3 12   Jimmy Vasser American Spirit Team Johansson 47 +3.792 secs 15 14
4 9   Michel Jourdain Jr. Team Rahal 47 +5.315 secs 9 12
5 32   Patrick Carpentier Team Player's 47 +5.837 secs 11 10
6 19   Gualter Salles Dale Coyne Racing 47 +8.180 secs 17 8
7 33   Alex Tagliani Rocketsports Racing 47 +10.131 secs 4 6
8 5   Rodolfo Lavín Walker Racing 47 +11.673 secs 18 5
9 11   Geoff Boss Dale Coyne Racing 47 +50.728 secs 19 4
10 55   Mario Domínguez Herdez Competition 46 + 1 Lap 8 3
11 27   Mika Salo PK Racing 46 + 1 Lap 10 2
12 51   Adrian Fernández Fernández Racing 46 + 1 Lap 5 1
13 3   Paul Tracy Team Player's 45 + 2 Laps 3 0
14 34   Mario Haberfeld Mi-Jack Conquest Racing 43 + 4 Laps 16 0
15 1   Bruno Junqueira Newman/Haas Racing 36 Contact 2 2
16 4   Roberto Moreno Herdez Competition 23 Contact 7 0
17 2   Sébastien Bourdais Newman-Haas Racing 11 Contact 1 1
18 7   Tiago Monteiro Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing 3 Mechanical 13 0
19 20   Oriol Servià Patrick Racing 1 Contact 6 0

Caution flags

edit
Laps Cause
1 Yellow start
2 Servià (20) contact
11-13 Bourdais (2) contact
14-15 Restart after red flag (rain)
16-17 Salo (27) spun/stalled
19-20 Tracy (3), Tagliani (33), Manning (15), Salles (19) & Moreno (4) contact
31-34 Tagliani (33) & Haberfeld (34) spun/stalled; Domínguez (55) loose wheel
37-39 Junqueira (1) & Haberfeld (34) contact; Haberfeld (34) stopped on course
41-42 Fernández (51) spun/stalled

Notes

edit
Laps Leader
1-29 Bruno Junqueira
30-32 Michel Jourdain Jr.
33-47 Ryan Hunter-Reay
 
Driver Laps led
Bruno Junqueira 29
Ryan Hunter-Reay 15
Michel Jourdain Jr. 2

References

edit
  1. ^ Weather information for the 2003 Lexmark Indy 300 at the Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology Website
  2. ^ CBC.ca: Paul Tracy clinches CART championship
edit


Previous race:
2003 Gran Premio Telmex-Gigante
CART Indycar World Series
2003 season
Next race:
2003 King Taco 500
Previous race:
2002 Honda Indy 300
2003 Lexmark Indy 300 Next race:
2004 Lexmark Indy 300

27°59′17.9″S 153°25′42.1″E / 27.988306°S 153.428361°E / -27.988306; 153.428361