Gold Coast Indy 300
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The Gold Coast Indy 300 was an annual open-wheel motor race event that took place at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia from 1991 to 2008. The challenging 4.47-kilometre (2.78 mi) track, alongside a strip of beaches, had several fast sections and four chicanes. The event had various names during its history for sponsorship reasons; in its final year, it was known as the Nikon Indy 300.[1]
The race debuted in
In 2009 as part of the
History
Early years
The event arrived in Australia on the back of lobbying from a consortium of businessmen from the state of
From 1991 to 1997, the Gold Coast Grand Prix was typically held in March, and several times served as the CART season opener. In 1996, the
The
Decline
The event lost some of its lustre from
In the first sixteen years of the event, there were sixteen different winners. In 2007 Sébastien Bourdais became the first driver to win the race twice, adding to his 2005 victory.
Merger
On 5 March 2008, it was announced that the IndyCar Series would travel to Australia for the first time, but due to contractual issues the race would not count towards the
Demise and A1GP
On 11 November 2008, after extensive negotiations with the IndyCar Series broke down, the Queensland Government reached a new five-year deal with
However, on 17 October 2009, A1GP Chairman Tony Teixeira announced that the United Kingdom operating arm of the series went into liquidation in June, with access to the A1GP cars and their ability to pay its suppliers having been impeded. That prevented the cars from leaving Europe in time to be on track in Surfers Paradise on 22 October. Therefore, A1GP withdrew from participation in the 2009 Nikon SuperGP, with V8 Supercars instead running additional races. A1GP refunded Gold Coast Motor Events Co. the sanction fee paid, and donated A$50,000 to a charity designated by the board.[9]
Following A1GP's withdrawal, V8 Supercars became the permanent and sole lead category of the event, which became known as the
Future
In June 2016 the Gold Coast Bulletin reported that "secret government talks" were underway to bring back the IndyCar race for 2017 or 2018, and that an area consortium had been given rights to negotiate with IndyCar for an Australian race with a preference for the Gold Coast.[11] IndyCar management would not comment other than to say they were investigating potential overseas venues.[12] With Supercars later signing an extension of their exclusive deal for the event from 2017 to 2019, combined with the prohibitive shorter track layout, and costs of bringing the series to Australia, there are several barriers preventing the revival of the event.[4]
Past winners
Events which were not championship rounds are indicated by a pink background.
Season | Date | Driver | Team | Chassis | Engine | Race Distance | Race Time | Average Speed (mph) |
Report | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Laps | Miles (km) | ||||||||||
CART history | |||||||||||
1991 | 17 March | John Andretti | Hall/VDS Racing
|
Lola
|
Chevrolet | 65 | 181.545 (292.168) | 2:12:54 | 81.953 | Report | [13] |
1992 | 22 March | Emerson Fittipaldi | Penske Racing
|
Penske
|
Chevrolet | 65 | 181.675 (292.377) | 2:20:33 | 77.561 | Report | [14] |
1993 | 21 March | Nigel Mansell | Newman/Haas Racing | Lola
|
Ford | 65 | 181.675 (292.377) | 1:52:02 | 97.284 | Report | [15] |
1994 | 20 March | Michael Andretti | Chip Ganassi Racing | Reynard | Ford | 551 | 153.725 (247.396) | 1:44:58 | 80.994 | Report | [16] |
1995 | 19 March | Paul Tracy | Newman/Haas Racing | Lola
|
Ford | 65 | 182.26 (293.319) | 1:58:26 | 92.335 | Report | [17] |
1996 | 31 March | Jimmy Vasser | Chip Ganassi Racing | Reynard | Honda | 65 | 181.61 (292.272) | 2:00:46 | 90.218 | Report | [18] |
1997 | 6 April | Scott Pruett | Patrick Racing | Reynard | Ford | 572 | 159.315 (256.392) | 2:01:04 | 78.948 | Report | [19] |
1998 | 18 October | Alex Zanardi | Chip Ganassi Racing | Reynard | Honda | 622 | 173.29 (278.883) | 2:01:51 | 85.328 | Report | [20] |
1999 | 17 October | Dario Franchitti | Team Green
|
Reynard | Honda | 65 | 181.675 (292.377) | 1:58:40 | 91.849 | Report | [21] |
2000 | 15 October | Adrian Fernandez
|
Patrick Racing | Reynard | Ford | 592 | 164.905 (265.388) | 2:01:14 | 81.607 | Report | [22] |
2001 | 28 October | Cristiano da Matta | Newman/Haas Racing | Lola
|
Toyota | 65 | 181.675 (292.377) | 1:51:47 | 97.511 | Report | [23] |
2002 | 27 October | Mario Dominguez
|
Herdez Competition
|
Lola
|
Ford | 403 | 111.8 (179.924) | 2:00:06 | 55.849 | Report | [24] |
2003 | 26 October | Ryan Hunter-Reay | American Spirit Team Johansson | Reynard | Ford | 474 | 131.365 (211.411) | 1:49:02 | 72.28 | Report | [25] |
2004 | 24 October | Bruno Junqueira | Newman/Haas Racing | Lola
|
Ford | 57 | 159.315 (256.392) | 1:46:45 | 89.532 | Report | [26] |
2005 | 23 October | Sébastien Bourdais | Newman/Haas Racing | Lola
|
Ford | 57 | 159.315 (256.392) | 1:39:26 | 96.123 | Report | [27] |
2006 | 22 October | Nelson Philippe | CTE-HVM Racing
|
Lola
|
Ford | 59 | 164.905 (265.388) | 1:50:50 | 89.259 | Report | [28] |
2007 | 21 October | Sébastien Bourdais | Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
|
Panoz DP01 | Cosworth | 61 | 170.495 (274.385) | 1:45:49 | 96.669 | Report | [29] |
IndyCar Series history | |||||||||||
2008 | 26 October | Ryan Briscoe | Penske Racing
|
Dallara | Honda | 60 | 167.7 (269.886) | 1:45:50 | 95.068 | Report | [30] |
Notes:
^1 – 1994: Race shortened due to darkness.
^2 – 1997, 1998 and 2000: Race shortened due to time limit.
^3 – 2002: Race shortened due to rain.
^4 – 2003: Race shortened from 65 laps.
Support races
Indy 300 F3 Challenge
The Nikon Indy 300 F3 Challenge was a
Class structure
Drivers competed in three classes:
- Championship Class – restricted to cars constructed in accordance with the FIA Formula 3 regulations that applied between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2007
- National Class – restricted to cars constructed in accordance with the FIA Formula 3 regulations that applied between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2004
- Trophy Class – restricted to cars constructed in accordance with the FIA Formula 3 regulations that applied between 1 January 1995 and 31 December 2001[31]
Event names
- 1991: Gold Coast IndyCar GP
- 1992: Daikyo IndyCar GP
- 1993–94: Australian FAI IndyCar GP
- 1995: IndyCar Australia
- 1996: Bartercard IndyCar Australia
- 1997: Sunbelt IndyCarnival
- 1998–2002: Honda Indy 300
- 2003–07: Lexmark Indy 300
- 2008: Nikon Indy 300
See also
- 1954 Australian Grand Prix
- V8 Supercar Challenge
- Gold Coast 600
References
- ^ "Nikon announced as naming rights sponsor for Indy". Queensland Government. 5 August 2008. Archived from the original on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
- ^ "'09 expansion". Official Website of the Indycar Series. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
- ^ Bligh, Anna (10 June 2009). "PREMIER UNVEILS QUEENSLAND'S 150 ICONS". Queensland Government. Archived from the original on 24 May 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Lomas, Gordon (23 October 2016). "GC600 marks silver anniversary of street race". Speedcafe. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
- ^ "Indy car race secured by Gold Coast until 2013". couriermail.com.au. 5 March 2008. Retrieved 6 March 2008.
- ^ "A1GP to race in Surfers Paradise". a1gp.com. 11 November 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
- ^ Stolz, Greg (11 November 2008). "Race over for Gold Coast Indy". couriermail.com.au. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
- ^ "Gold Coast race gets new name". a1gp.com. 25 February 2009. Retrieved 1 March 2010.
- ^ "A1GP statement". a1gp.com. 17 October 2009. Archived from the original on 19 October 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2009.
- ^ Mival, Al (17 October 2009). "V8 Supercars to replace scrapped event as A1GP cars fail to show". couriermail.com.au. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
- ^ Weston, Paul (29 June 2016) IndyCars tipped to return as V8 Supercars lock in deal to secure Gold Coast race until 2019 Gold Coast Bulletin.
- ^ INDYCAR: Gold Coast group tries for return Racer Staff, Racer.com. 29 June 2016.
- ^ "1991 Gold Coast IndyCar Grand Prix". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "1992 Daikyo IndyCar Grand Prix". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "1993 Australian FAI Indy Car Grand Prix". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "1994 Australian FAI Indy Car Grand Prix". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "1995 Australian Indy Car Grand Prix". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "1996 Australian Indy Car Grand Prix". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "1997 Sunbelt Indy Carnival Australia". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "1998 Honda Indy Carnival Australia". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "1999 Honda Indy 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "2000 Honda Indy 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "2001 Honda Indy 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "2002 Honda Indy 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "2003 Lexmark Indy 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "2004 Lexmark Indy 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "2005 Lexmark Indy 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "2006 Lexmark Indy 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "2007 Lexmark Indy 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ "2008 Nikon Indy 300". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
- ^ 2008 Australian Formula 3 Championship Sporting Regs Retrieved from webarchive.org on 9 May 2011