1997 Sunbelt IndyCarnival
# 1997 Sunbelt IndyCarnival

The 1997 Sunbelt IndyCarnival was the second round of the 1997 CART World Series Season, held on 6 April 1997 on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. Scott Pruett won his 2nd and final victory of his career as a driver in CART.

## Qualifying results

| Pos | Name | Team | Chassis | Time |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Alex Zanardi | Chip Ganassi Racing | Reynard 97I Honda | 1:35.940 |
| 2 | Paul Tracy | Team Penske | Penske PC-26-97 Mercedes-Benz | 1:36.140 |
| 3 | Jimmy Vasser | Chip Ganassi Racing | Reynard 97I Honda | 1:36.441 |
| 4 | Greg Moore | Forsythe Racing | Reynard 96I Mercedes-Benz | 1:36.754 |
| 5 | Mark Blundell | PacWest | Reynard 97I Mercedes-Benz | 1:36.754 |
| 6 | Parker Johnstone | Team Green | Reynard 97I Honda | 1:36.772 |
| 7 | Scott Pruett | Patrick Racing | Reynard 97I Ford XD Cosworth | 1:36.831 |
| 8 | Maurício Gugelmin | PacWest | Reynard 97I Mercedes-Benz | 1:36.896 |
| 9 | Christian Fittipaldi | Newman-Haas Racing | Swift 007.i Ford XD Cosworth | 1:36.945 |
| 10 | Bobby Rahal | Team Rahal | Reynard 97I Ford XD Cosworth | 1:37.078 |
| 11 | Gil de Ferran | Walker Racing | Reynard 97I Honda | 1:37.324 |
| 12 | Michael Andretti | Newman-Haas Racing | Swift 007.i Ford XD Cosworth | 1:37.371 |
| 13 | Dario Franchitti | Hogan Racing | Reynard 97I Mercedes-Benz | 1:37.592 |
| 14 | André Ribeiro | Tasman Motorsports | Lola T97/00 Honda | 1:37.646 |
| 15 | Adrián Fernández | Tasman Motorsports | Lola T97/00 Honda | 1:37.819 |
| 16 | Bryan Herta | Team Rahal | Reynard 97I Ford XB Cosworth | 1:37.895 |
| 17 | Al Unser Jr. | Team Penske | Penske PC-26-97 Mercedes-Benz | 1:38.218 |
| 18 | Gualter Salles | Davis Racing | Reynard 97I Ford XD Cosworth | 1:38.325 |
| 19 | Raul Boesel | Patrick Racing | Reynard 97I Ford XD Cosworth | 1:38.521 |
| 20 | Richie Hearn | Della Penna Motorsports | Lola T97/00 Ford XD Cosworth | 1:38.990 |
| 21 | Patrick Carpentier | Bettenhausen Racing | Reynard 97I Mercedes-Benz | 1:39.595 |
| 22 | Max Papis | Arciero-Wells Racing | Reynard 97I Toyota | 1:39.927 |
| 23 | Juan Manuel Fangio II | All American Racing | Reynard 96I Toyota | 1:39.981 |
| 24 | Paul Jasper | Payton/Coyne Racing | Lola T97/00 Ford XD Cosworth | 1:40.138 |
| 25 | P. J. Jones | All American Racing | Reynard 96I Toyota | 1:40.505 |
| 26 | Michel Jourdain Jr. | Payton/Coyne Racing | Lola T97/00 Ford XD Cosworth | 1:41.871 |
| 27 | Arnd Meier | Project Indy | Lola T97/00 Ford XD Cosworth | 1:42.316 |
| 28 | Hiro Matsushita | Arciero-Wells Racing | Reynard 97I Toyota | 1:42.795 |

## Race

| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/retired | Grid | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 20 | Scott Pruett | Patrick Racing | 57 | 2:01:04.678 | 7 | 20 |
| 2 | 99 | Greg Moore | Forsythe Racing | 57 | +0.7 secs | 4 | 16 |
| 3 | 6 | Michael Andretti | Newman-Haas Racing | 57 | +11.3 secs | 12 | 14 |
| 4 | 4 | Alex Zanardi | Chip Ganassi Racing | 57 | +14.8 secs | 1 | 13 |
| 5 | 5 | Gil de Ferran | Walker Racing | 57 | +15.6 secs | 11 | 10 |
| 6 | 31 | André Ribeiro | Tasman Motorsports | 57 | +16.8 secs | 14 | 8 |
| 7 | 40 | Raul Boesel | Patrick Racing | 57 | +17.6 secs | 19 | 6 |
| 8 | 18 | Mark Blundell | PacWest Racing | 57 | +18.2 secs | 5 | 5 |
| 9 | 9 | Dario Franchitti | Hogan Racing | 57 | +23.6 secs | 13 | 4 |
| 10 | 7 | Bobby Rahal | Team Rahal | 57 | +25.9 secs | 11 | 3 |
| 11 | 32 | Adrián Fernández | Tasman Motorsports | 57 | +29.7 secs | 15 | 2 |
| 12 | 1 | Jimmy Vasser | Chip Ganassi Racing | 57 | +30.2 secs | 3 | 1 |
| 13 | 10 | Richie Hearn | Della Penna Motorsports | 57 | +38.2 secs | 20 | |
| 14 | 25 | Max Papis | Arciero-Wells Racing | 57 | +39.5 secs | 22 | |
| 15 | 16 | Patrick Carpentier | Bettenhausen Racing | 57 | +41.8 secs | 21 | |
| 16 | 64 | Arnd Meier | Project Indy | 57 | +58.1 secs | 27 | |
| 17 | 17 | Maurício Gugelmin | PacWest | 57 | +1:14.1 secs | 8 | |
| 18 | 19 | Michel Jourdain Jr. | Payton/Coyne Racing | 43 | Transmission | 26 | |
| 19 | 3 | Paul Tracy | Team Penske | 41 | Contact | 2 | 1 |
| 20 | 36 | Juan Manuel Fangio II | All American Racing | 37 | Fire | 23 | |
| 21 | 27 | Parker Johnstone | Team Green | 35 | Broken wheel | 6 | |
| 22 | 8 | Bryan Herta | Team Rahal | 29 | Contact | 16 | |
| 23 | 34 | Paul Jasper | Payton/Coyne Racing | 24 | Broken transmission | 24 | |
| 24 | 77 | Gualter Salles | Davis Racing | 17 | Contact | 18 | |
| 25 | 24 | Hiro Matsushita | Arciero-Wells Racing | 16 | Electrical | 28 | |
| 26 | 98 | P. J. Jones | All American Racing | 15 | Fire | 25 | |
| 27 | 2 | Al Unser Jr. | Team Penske | 10 | Lost wheel | 17 | |
| DNS | 11 | Christian Fittipaldi | Newman-Haas Racing | | | 9 | |

Christian Fittipaldi started the race but broke his leg in a massive crash on Lap 2. Because the race was restarted, the first start was considered void and thus Fittipaldi was not classified starting the race.

