# 1996 Grand Prix of Miami

The 1996 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Presented by Toyota was a CART race at the Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex, held on March 3, 1996. It was the first round of the 1996 IndyCar season, and first CART race since the open-wheel split in 1996. It was preceded in the 1996 racing season by the inaugural Indy Racing League race in Orlando, which was not contested by any of the CART drivers that appeared at Homestead. Jimmy Vasser scored the first win of his CART career. It was also the second major racing event at the recently completed 1.527-mile oval, which had previously hosted a NASCAR Busch Grand National event in November 1995.

## Report
### Qualifying

Due to rain on Saturday afternoon, the qualifying session occurred on Sunday morning. Canadian driver Paul Tracy, on his return to Marlboro Team Penske after spending a year at Newman/Haas Racing, set the pole with a lap of 198.590 mph (27.681s) in a Penske PC25-Mercedes car. All of the qualified cars were newly built for the 1996 season, with CART having adopted new technical rules that altered the underbody tunnels and sidepods, and were expected to reduce downforce and increase the focus on mechanical grip.

### Race

On the start, Mark Blundell spun and Roberto Moreno had an unrelated contact with the wall. Then, the start was aborted for the second time, as Tracy was deemed to have jumped the start. At the end of lap 1, another caution came out as Michael Andretti hit Maurício Gugelmin and lost his front wing. After the restart, Tracy continued to lead for 8 laps of racing, until rain began to fall. The cars circulated under caution period conditions until the decision was made to red flag the race with Tracy in the lead.
The race restarted after a half-hour delay, with Tracy continuing to lead the race comfortably while second-place was contested between Gil de Ferran, Vasser, and Scott Pruett. Meanwhile, Al Unser Jr. hit Carlos Guerrero, and fell a lap down to repair his front wing. Andre Ribeiro and Robby Gordon made contact on Lap 82 while fighting for position, bringing out a caution period. During the ensuing pit stops, Tracy retired from the lead due to a transmission failure. On the same lap, rookie Alex Zanardi crashed under caution as his wheel separated following his pit stop.
Light rain again delayed the restart until Lap 102. De Ferran led at the restart, but slower traffic in front of the leaders enabled Vasser to overtake and hold onto the lead until the finish.
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Chassis | Engine | Tyre | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Laps Led | Points |
| 1 | 12 | Jimmy Vasser | Target/Chip Ganassi Racing | Reynard 96I | Honda | F | 133 | 1:51:23.100 | 3 | 32 | 20 |
| 2 | 8 | Gil de Ferran | Hall Racing | Reynard 96I | Honda | G | 133 | + 3.156 | 2 | 18 | 16 |
| 3 | 5 | Robby Gordon | Walker Racing | Reynard 96I | Ford XD | G | 133 | + 3.740 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| 4 | 20 | Scott Pruett | Patrick Racing | Lola T95/00 | Ford XD | F | 133 | + 3.744 | 4 | 0 | 12 |
| 5 | 18 | Bobby Rahal | Team Rahal | Reynard 96I | Mercedes | G | 133 | + 4.368 | 5 | 0 | 10 |
| 6 | 11 | Christian Fittipaldi | Newman/Haas Racing | Lola T96/00 | Ford XD | G | 133 | + 16.664 | 15 | 0 | 8 |
| 7 | 99 | Greg Moore R | Forsythe Racing | Reynard 96I | Mercedes | F | 133 | + 20.660 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 8 | 2 | Al Unser Jr. | Marlboro Team Penske | Penske PC25 | Mercedes | G | 132 | + 1 lap | 13 | 0 | 5 |
| 9 | 6 | Michael Andretti | Newman/Haas Racing | Lola T96/00 | Ford XD | G | 132 | + 1 lap | 10 | 0 | 4 |
| 10 | 28 | Bryan Herta | Team Rahal | Reynard 96I | Mercedes | G | 131 | + 2 laps | 11 | 0 | 3 |
| 11 | 32 | Adrian Fernandez | Tasman Motorsports | Lola T96/00 | Honda | F | 131 | + 2 laps | 16 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | 15 | Scott Goodyear | Walker Racing | Reynard 96I | Ford XB | G | 131 | + 2 laps | 22 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | 9 | Emerson Fittipaldi | Hogan Penske Racing | Penske PC25 | Mercedes | G | 131 | + 2 laps | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | 1 | Raul Boesel | Brahma Sports Team | Reynard 96I | Ford XD | G | 131 | + 2 laps | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | 10 | Eddie Lawson R | Galles Racing | Lola T96/00 | Mercedes | G | 131 | + 2 laps | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | 31 | Andre Ribeiro | Tasman Motorsports | Lola T96/00 | Honda | F | 130 | + 3 laps | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | 21 | Mark Blundell R | PacWest Racing Group | Reynard 96I | Ford XB | G | 129 | + 4 laps | 19 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | 19 | Hiro Matsushita | Payton/Coyne Racing | Lola T96/00 | Ford XB | F | 124 | + 9 laps | 23 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | 16 | Stefan Johansson | Bettenhausen Motorsports | Reynard 96I | Mercedes | G | 115 | Transmission | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | 22 | Carlos Guerrero | Scandia/Simon Racing | Lola T96/00 | Ford XB | G | 112 | + 21 laps | 21 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | 36 | Juan Manuel Fangio II | All American Racers | Eagle Mk. V | Toyota | G | 108 | Fuel | 26 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | 25 | Jeff Krosnoff R | Arciero-Wells Racing | Reynard 96I | Toyota | F | 102 | Engine | 25 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | 3 | Paul Tracy | Marlboro Team Penske | Penske PC25 | Mercedes | G | 84 | Transmission | 1 | 83 | 2 |
| 24 | 4 | Alex Zanardi R | Target/Chip Ganassi Racing | Reynard 96I | Honda | F | 83 | Accident | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | 7 | Marco Greco | Scandia/Simon Racing | Lola T96/00 | Ford XB | G | 64 | Electrical | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | 17 | Mauricio Gugelmin | PacWest Racing Group | Reynard 96I | Ford XB | G | 53 | Accident | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| | 34 | Roberto Moreno | Payton/Coyne Racing | Lola T96/00 | Ford XB | F | 0 | Accident | 27 | - | - |
| | 49 | Parker Johnstone | Brix Comptech Racing | Reynard 96I | Honda | F | - | Accident in practice | - | - | - |