2003 Lexmark Indy 300

The 2003 Lexmark Indy 300 was the eighteenth round 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.

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.
Date	26 October, 2003
Official name	Lexmark Indy 300
Location	Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Queensland, Australia
Course	Temporary Street Circuit 2.795 mi / 4.498 km
Distance	47 laps 131.365 mi / 211.406 km
Weather	Thunderstorms with temperatures reaching up to 27.4 °C (81.3 °F)[1]
Pole position
Driver	Sébastien Bourdais (Newman/Haas Racing)
Time	1:31.718
Fastest lap
Driver	Roberto Moreno (Herdez Competition)
Time	1:35.561 (on lap 10 of 47)
Podium
First	Ryan Hunter-Reay (American Spirit Team Johansson)
Second	Darren Manning (Walker Racing)
Third	Jimmy 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

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

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

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

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

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

• New Race Record Ryan Hunter-Reay 1:49:02.803
• Average Speed 72.280 mph

References

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

External links

• Full Weekend Times & Results