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1996 PPG Indy Car World Series

Sports season

The PPG Indy Car World Series Drivers' Champion was Jimmy Vasser, whose Honda/Reynard won four of the first six races, including the inaugural US 500. Rookie of the Year was Alex Zanardi. The competition soon starting catching up to Vasser, who had to fend off two late challenges from veterans: Al Unser Jr.'s consistent performance saw him come close to tying Vasser late in the season, but his hopes evaporated after a last-lap crash at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and an engine failure while leading on the final turn at Road America. Michael Andretti's resulting victory there and in Vancouver put him in contention at the final race, but a disappointing result at Laguna Seca gave Vasser the championship. Rookie driver Jeff Krosnoff and a course worker died in an accident at the Toronto round, and one week later, Emerson Fittipaldi was in a serious accident at the start of the Marlboro 500 and subsequently retired from Indy Car altogether.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1996 Indy Car World Series season.

Team	Chassis	Engine	Tires	No	Drivers	Rounds	Primary Sponsor
Brahma Sports Team	Reynard 96I	Ford Cosworth XD		1	BRA Raul Boesel	All	Brahma
Marlboro Team Penske	Penske PC-25	Mercedes IC 108C		2	USA Al Unser Jr.	All	Marlboro
3	CAN Paul Tracy	1–12, 14–16
Denmark Jan Magnussen	13
Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Reynard 96I	Honda HRH		4	ITA Alex Zanardi	All	Target
12	USA Jimmy Vasser	All
Walker Racing	Reynard 96I	Ford Cosworth XD		5	USA Robby Gordon	All	Valvoline
Reynard 96I	Ford Cosworth XB		15	CAN Scott Goodyear	1–2, 11, 15–16	Valvoline DuraBlend
USA Mike Groff	5
SWE Fredrik Ekblom	6
Newman/Haas Racing	Lola T96/00	Ford Cosworth XD		6	USA Michael Andretti	All	Texaco-Havoline
11	BRA Christian Fittipaldi	All	Budweiser
Team Scandia	Lola T96/00	Ford Cosworth XB		7	BRA Marco Greco	1–2	Int. Sports/Perry Ellis
CHI Eliseo Salazar	7, 9, 12–13	Cerveza Cristal
22	MEX Carlos Guerrero	1–3	Herdez
MEX Michel Jourdain Jr.	4, 7–9, 15–16
Hall Racing	Reynard 96I	Honda HRH		8	BRA Gil de Ferran	All	Pennzoil
Hogan Penske Racing	Penske PC-25	Mercedes IC 108C		9	BRA Emerson Fittipaldi	1–12	Mobil 1
DEN Jan Magnussen	14–16
Galles Racing International	Lola T96/00	Mercedes IC 108C		10	USA Eddie Lawson	1–11	Delco Electronics
USA Davy Jones	12–16
Bettenhausen Motorsports	Reynard 96I	Mercedes IC 108C		16	SWE Stefan Johansson	All	Alumax
Penske PC-23	Mercedes IC 108C		26	USA Gary Bettenhausen	6	Alumax
PacWest Racing Group	Reynard 96I	Ford Cosworth XB		17	BRA Maurício Gugelmin	All	Hollywood Cigarettes
21	GBR Mark Blundell	1–2, 6–16	Visa
ITA Teo Fabi	4–5
Team Rahal	Reynard 96I	Mercedes IC 108C		18	USA Bobby Rahal	All	Miller
28	USA Bryan Herta	All	Shell
Payton/Coyne Racing	Lola T96/00	Ford Cosworth XB		19	JPN Hiro Matsushita	All	Panasonic
34	BRA Roberto Moreno	All	Data Control
Patrick Racing	Lola T96/00	Ford Cosworth XD		20	USA Scott Pruett	All	Firestone
Arciero-Wells Racing	Reynard 96I	Toyota RV8A		25	USA Jeff Krosnoff	1–11	Arciero-Wells Racing 6
MCI 8
ITA Max Papis	13–14, 16
Tasman Motorsports Group	Lola T96/00	Honda HRH		31	BRA André Ribeiro	All	LCI Communications
32	MEX Adrián Fernández	All	Tecate
All American Racers	Eagle MK-V	Toyota RV8A		36	ARG Juan Manuel Fangio II	All	Castrol
98	USA P. J. Jones	6–16
Della Penna Motorsports	Reynard 95I	Ford Cosworth XB		44	USA Richie Hearn	4, 11, 16	Ralphs
Brix Comptech Racing	Reynard 96I	Honda HRH		49	USA Parker Johnstone	All	Motorola
Project Indy	Reynard 95I	Ford Cosworth XB		64	USA Dennis Vitolo	4	SmithKline Beecham
Player's/Forsythe Racing	Reynard 96I	Mercedes IC 108C		99	CAN Greg Moore	All	Player's

Schedule

Icon	Legend
	Oval/Speedway
	Road course
	Street circuit

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Circuit
March 3	USA Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami	Homestead Motorsports Complex	Homestead, Florida
March 17	BRA IndyCar Rio 400	Autódromo de Jacarepaguá	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
March 31	AUS Bartercard Indycar Australia	Surfers Paradise Street Circuit	Surfers Paradise, Australia
April 14	USA Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	Streets of Long Beach	Long Beach, California
April 28	USA Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix	Nazareth Speedway	Nazareth, Pennsylvania
May 26	USA [U.S. 500](1996-u-s-500)	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan
June 2	USA Miller 200	Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin
June 9	USA ITT Automotive Detroit Grand Prix	The Raceway on Belle Isle Park	Detroit, Michigan
June 23	USA Budweiser/G. I. Joe's 200	Portland International Raceway	Portland, Oregon
June 30	USA Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland	Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport	Cleveland, Ohio
July 14*	Canada Molson Indy Toronto	Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario
July 28	USA Marlboro 500	Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan
August 11	USA Miller 200	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio
August 18	USA Texaco/Havoline 200	Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
September 1	Canada Molson Indy Vancouver	Concord Pacific Place	Vancouver, British Columbia
September 8	USA Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey	Laguna Seca Raceway	Monterey, California

Toronto was scheduled to run 170 miles, but was shortened due to the fatal accident of Jeff Krosnoff.

Results

Rnd	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Race Winner	Race time	Report	Driver	Team
USA Homestead	CAN Paul Tracy	CAN Greg Moore	USA Jimmy Vasser	Target Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:51:23	[Report](1996-grand-prix-of-miami)
BRA Rio	ITA Alex Zanardi	BRA Gil de Ferran	BRA André Ribeiro	Tasman Motorsports	Lola	Honda	2:06:08	[Report](1996-indycar-rio-400)
AUS Surfers Paradise	USA Jimmy Vasser	USA Jimmy Vasser	USA Jimmy Vasser	Target Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	2:00:46	[Report](1996-bartercard-indycar-australia)
USA Long Beach	BRA Gil de Ferran	CAN Paul Tracy	USA Jimmy Vasser	Target Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:44:02	[Report](1996-grand-prix-of-long-beach)
USA Nazareth	CAN Paul Tracy	BRA Emerson Fittipaldi	USA Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford	1:25:08	[Report](1996-bosch-spark-plug-grand-prix)
USA Michigan 1	USA Jimmy Vasser	ITA Alex Zanardi	USA Jimmy Vasser	Target Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	3:11:48	[Report](1996-u-s-500)
USA Milwaukee	CAN Paul Tracy	USA Michael Andretti	USA Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford	1:33:32	[Report](1996-miller-genuine-draft-200)
USA Belle Isle	USA Scott Pruett	BRA Christian Fittipaldi	USA Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford	2:00:44	[Report](1996-itt-automotive-grand-prix-of-detroit)
USA Portland	ITA Alex Zanardi	ITA Alex Zanardi	ITA Alex Zanardi	Target Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:50:25	[Report](1996-grand-prix-of-portland)
USA Cleveland	USA Jimmy Vasser	USA Jimmy Vasser	BRA Gil de Ferran	Jim Hall Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:35:39	[Report](1996-grand-prix-of-cleveland)
Canada Toronto	BRA André Ribeiro	ITA Alex Zanardi	MEX Adrián Fernández	Tasman Motorsports	Lola	Honda	1:41:59	[Report](1996-molson-indy-toronto)
USA Michigan 2	USA Jimmy Vasser	MEX Adrián Fernández	BRA André Ribeiro	Tasman Motorsports	Lola	Honda	3:16:33	[Report](1996-marlboro-500)
USA Mid-Ohio	ITA Alex Zanardi	ITA Alex Zanardi	ITA Alex Zanardi	Target Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:46:49	[Report](1996-miller-200)
USA Road America	ITA Alex Zanardi	CAN Paul Tracy	USA Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford	1:56:33	[Report](1996-champ-car-grand-prix-of-road-america)
Canada Vancouver	ITA Alex Zanardi	ITA Alex Zanardi	USA Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola	Ford	1:48:16	[Report](1996-molson-indy-vancouver)
USA Laguna Seca	ITA Alex Zanardi	ITA Alex Zanardi	ITA Alex Zanardi	Target Ganassi Racing	Reynard	Honda	1:48:32	[Report](1996-grand-prix-of-monterey)

Final driver standings

Pos	Driver	[HOM](1996-grand-prix-of-miami) USA	[RIO](1996-indycar-rio-400) BRA	[SUR](1996-bartercard-indycar-australia) AUS	[LBH](1996-grand-prix-of-long-beach) USA	[NAZ](1996-bosch-spark-plug-grand-prix) USA	[MIS1](1996-u-s-500) USA	[MIL](1996-miller-genuine-draft-200) USA	[BEL](1996-detroit-grand-prix) USA	POR USA	CLE USA	[TOR](1996-molson-indy-toronto) CAN	MIS2 USA	MOH USA	ROA USA	VAN CAN
USA Jimmy Vasser	1	8	*1**	1	7	1	10	12	13	10	8	9	2	6	7	4
USA Michael Andretti	9	22	19	7	1*	23	1	1	11	19	22	22	3	1	1*	9
ITA Alex Zanardi	24	4*	21	24	13	17*	13	11	*1**	2	2*	21	*1**	3	*26*	*1**
USA Al Unser Jr.	8	2	9	3	3	8	2*	22	4	4	13	4	13	10*	5	16
BRA Christian Fittipaldi	6	5	5	21	9	12	6	2*	3	7	7	10	7	16	3	10
BRA Gil de Ferran	2	10	11	5*	23	9	9	3	2	1*	18	19	17	25	4	25
USA Bobby Rahal	5	6	20	14	6	19	7	21	6	15	3	24	5	2	2	7
USA Bryan Herta	10	13	17	12	11	15	14	13	26	5	6	2	4	5	6	2
CAN Greg Moore	7	18	3	22	2	13	5	20	25	3	4	17	9	23	25	6
USA Scott Pruett	4	3	2	11	8	26	12	10	23	8	10	13	21	7	20	3
BRA André Ribeiro	16	1	8	27	12	4	8	24	7	20	21	1*	8	19	21	19
MEX Adrián Fernández	11	14	23	6	10	DNS	11	4	12	6	1	20	6	13	8	11
CAN Paul Tracy	23*	19	22	4	5	7	3	17	27	9	5	Wth		12	18	29
BRA Maurício Gugelmin	26	25	4	15	15	2	15	16	16	21	12	3	26	21	24	5
SWE Stefan Johansson	19	23	6	19	19	16	27	7	9	12	17	5	11	4	17	21
GBR Mark Blundell	17	27				5	22	5	8	11	11	6	10	20	12	24
USA Parker Johnstone	Wth	16	24	2	20	11	16	14	5	25	26	18	12	11	11	13
USA Robby Gordon	3	15	16	13	22	20	17	26	10	18	9	8	18	17	10	15
BRA Emerson Fittipaldi	13	11	25	20	4	10	4	25	20	22	14	25
USA Eddie Lawson	15	21	7	9	17	6	20	6	15	24	15
BRA Roberto Moreno	27	9	12	8	24	3	25	23	19	14	23	23	23	22	27	12
BRA Raul Boesel	14	7	13	16	21	24	26	8	28	26	24	7	22	14	23	20
ARG Juan Manuel Fangio II	21	17	15	25	25	22	19	18	14	13	28	14	20	8	19	28
DEN Jan Magnussen													14	26	22	8
CAN Scott Goodyear	12	Wth									19				9	18
USA P. J. Jones						DNP1	24	9	24	23	20	16	25	18	13	27
ITA Max Papis													24	9		22
JPN Hiro Matsushita	18	24	10	28	26	14	28	19	21	17	27	15	19	15	15	23
USA Richie Hearn				10							25					17
CHI Eliseo Salazar							21		18			11	15
USA Davy Jones												12	16	24	14	14
BRA Marco Greco	25	12
MEX Carlos Guerrero	20	20	14
USA Mike Groff					14
USA Jeff Krosnoff	22	26	18	26	18	18	18	15	17	16	162
ITA Teo Fabi				18	16	DNP1
				23			23	DNS	22						16	26
USA Dennis Vitolo				17
USA Gary Bettenhausen						21
SWE Fredrik Ekblom						25

Color	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	4th–6th place
Light Blue	7th–12th place
Dark Blue	Finished
(Outside Top 12)
Purple	Did not finish
Red	Did not qualify
(DNQ)
Brown	Withdrawn
(Wth)
Black	Disqualified
(DSQ)
White	Did not start
(DNS)
Blank	Did not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing

|- |

In-line notation
Bold
Italics
*

|} |}

Notes:

P. J. Jones and Teo Fabi are registered in the official results for the U.S. 500 as 'withdrawn', but their withdrawal before the start of practice meant that they did not compete in any of the official sessions.
Jeff Krosnoff died in an accident at the Molson Indy Toronto.

Nations' Cup

Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.

Pos	Country	Pts	1	282	2	206	3	120	4	111	5	71	6	43	7	41	8	5	9	5	10	3	11	2	Pos	Country	Pts
USA United States
Brazil Brazil
Italy Italy
Canada Canada
Mexico Mexico
Sweden Sweden
UK United Kingdom
ARG Argentina
Denmark Denmark
Japan Japan
Chile Chile

[[Chassis]] Constructors' Cup

Pos	Chassis	Pts	Wins	1	276	8	2	260	8	3	139	0	4	9	0	Pos	Chassis	Pts	Wins
GBR Reynard 96I
GBR Lola T9600
USA Penske PC-25/PC-23
USA Eagle MK V/96

[[Engine]] Manufacturers' Cup

Pos	Engine	Pts	Wins	1	271	11	2	234	5	3	218	0	4	9	0	Pos	Engine	Pts	Wins
Japan Honda
USA Ford XD/XB
GER Mercedes
Japan Toyota

Drivers breakdown

Pos ↓	Car	Driver ↓	Team ↓	Starts ↓	Wins ↓	Podiums ↓	Top 5s ↓	Top 10s ↓
12	USA Vasser	USA Target Ganassi Racing	16	4	5	6	14	4
6	USA Andretti	USA Newman Haas Racing	16	5	6	6	9
4	ITA Zanardi	USA Target Ganassi Racing	16	3	6	7	7	6
2	USA Unser Jr.	USA Marlboro Team Penske	16	0	4	8	12
11	BRA C. Fittipaldi	USA Newman Haas Racing	16	0	3	5	13
8	BRA de Ferran	USA Jim Hall Racing	16	1	4	6	9	1
18	USA Rahal	USA Team Rahal	16	0	3	5	10
28	USA Herta	USA Team Rahal	16	0	2	5	8
99	CAN Moore	CAN Forsythe Racing	16	0	3	5	8
20	USA Pruett	USA Patrick Racing	16	0	3	4	9	1
31	BRA Ribeiro	USA Tasman Motorsports	16	2	2	3	7	1
32	MEX Fernandez	USA Tasman Motorsports	15	1	1	2	7
3	CAN Tracy	USA Marlboro Team Penske	14	0	1	4	6	3
17	BRA Gugelmin	USA PacWest Racing	16	0	2	4	4
16	SWE Johansson	USA Bettenhausen Racing	16	0	0	2	5
21	GBR Blundell	USA PacWest Racing	13	0	0	2	5
49	USA Johnstone	USA Comptech Racing	15	0	1	2	2
5	USA Gordon	USA Walker Racing	16	0	1	1	5
9	BRA E. Fittipaldi	USA Hogan Penske	12	0	0	2	3
10	USA Lawson	USA Galles Racing	11	0	0	0	4
34	BRA Moreno	USA Payton/Coyne Racing	15	0	1	1	3
1	BRA Boesel	USA Brahma Sports Team	16	0	0	0	3
36	ARG Fangio	USA All American Racing	16	0	0	0	1
9	DEN Magnussen	USA Hogan Penske	4	0	0	0	1
15	CAN Goodyear	USA Walker Racing	4	0	0	0	1
98	USA P. J. Jones	USA All American Racing	10	0	0	0	1
25	ITA Papis	USA Arciero-Wells Racing	3	0	0	0	1
19	JPN Matsushita	USA Payton/Coyne Racing	16	0	0	0	1
44	USA Hearn	USA Della Penna Motorsports	3	0	0	0	1
7	CHI Salazar	USA Dick Simon Racing	4	0	0	0	0
10	USA D. Jones	USA Galles Racing	5	0	0	0	0
7	BRA Greco	USA Dick Simon Racing	2	0	0	0	0
25	USA Krosnoff	USA Arciero-Wells Racing	11	0	0	0	0
22	MEX Jourdain Jr.	USA Della Penna Motorsports	5	0	0	0	0
22	MEX Guerrero	USA Dick Simon Racing	3	0	0	0	0
21	ITA Fabi	USA PacWest Racing	2	0	0	0	0
15	SWE Ekblom	USA Walker Racing	1	0	0	0	0
15	USA Groff	USA Walker Racing	1	0	0	0	0
26	USA Bettenhausen	USA Bettenhausen Racing	1	0	0	0	0
64	USA Vitolo	USA Project Indy	1	0	0	0	0

References

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