1988 Brazilian Grand Prix

The 1988 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Jacarepaguá on 3rd April 1988. It was the first race in both the 1988 Drivers' Championship and the 1988 Constructors' Championship.
== Qualifying ==
Larrousse's Alexsandro Pinho set the pace in the first qualifying session of the new season and put his car on pole, much to the surprise of the rest of the grid. Home favourite Eduardo Ventura qualified on the front row alongside Pinho, with Chuck Dingley in third.
== Race Summary ==
Pinho pulled away at the race start due to starting on the soft tyres and gradually built a gap to Ventura, Dingley, and Margheriti until he pitted on lap 10. Struggling to warm up his new medium tyres, Pinho went off, giving up vital time to the other front runners and falling into the clutches of Stefan Wolff. 
After the first stops, Margheriti led but was on the slower medium tyres compared to Ventura and Dingley, who were both on softs. At the end of Ventura's outlap his front suspension suddenly failed. Dingley was following closely behind and collided with Ventura's stricken McLaren but was able to continue into the race. Ventura's retirement was a massive disappointment for the fans and many left the circuit early. 
Wolff was continuing to pressure Pinho in a battle for third until the latter missed a gear-shift and span on the exit of turn one into Wolff's path. The German driver was unable to avoid Pinho and slammed into him, resulting in both retiring. Wolff broke his legs in the high-speed crash, ending his season early, whilst Pinho escaped the crash with just a concussion.
Despite picking up some damage from Ventura's retirement, Dingley managed to close the gap to Margheriti and passed him at the start of lap 22. Margheriti was unable to fight Dingley and the gap quickly grew, eventually ending with Dingley taking his 30th career victory. Williams' William O'Connor, who was filling in for Bruce Kerrigan, took his first career podium, whilst Skylar West finished 4th on his return to the sport.
== Classification ==
== Championship Standings ==
Pos	Driver 	Points
1 	Chuck Dingley 	15
2 	Fabiano Margheriti	12
3 	William O'Conner 	10
4 	Skylar West 	8
5 	Danilo Koren 	6
Pos	Constructor	Points
1 	Ferrari 	15
2 	McLaren 	12
3 	Williams 	11
4 	Benetton 	10
5 	Ligier 	8
== Lap Leaders ==
Alexsandro Pinho (Laps 1-10)
Eduardo Ventura (Laps 11-17)
Fabiano Margheriti (Laps 18-21)
Chuck Dingley (Laps 22-27)
Category:Races