| Race details | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race 5 of 19 in the 1998 CART season | ||
| Date | May 10, 1998 | |
| Official name | Rio 400 | |
| Location | Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | |
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.864 mi / 3.000 km |
|
| Distance | 133 laps, 247.912 mi / 398.976 km | |
| Weather | ||
| Pole | ||
| Driver | Dario Franchitti | Team Green |
| Time | 39.005[1] | |
| Podium | ||
| First | Greg Moore | Forsythe Racing |
| Second | Alex Zanardi | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| Third | Adrian Fernández | Patrick Racing |
The 1998 Rio 400 was the fifth round of the 1998 CART World Series Season, held on May 10, 1998 on the Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Scottish driver Dario Franchitti, from Team Green set the pole.
At the start, the Italian driver Alex Zanardi, from Chip Ganassi Racing took the lead. At lap 19, fellow Italian driver Max Papis, from Arciero-Wells Racing retired due a broken engine. After 21 laps, the top 6 was: Alex Zanardi, Gil de Ferran, Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan, Christian Fittipaldi and Michael Andretti. At lap 30, Kanaan, from Tasman Motorsports, retired due an engine fire. 1st caution was out. The lead lap cars went to pit stop at the same lap. Newman-Haas Racing driver Michael Andretti hit a tire in the pits, then he suffered a penalty. The restart came out at lap 37. A few laps later, Team Green driver Paul Tracy was hit by Gil de Ferran, from Walker Racing. 2nd caution. The restart was out at lap 47. Lap 54, the Mexican driver Michel Jourdain, Jr., from Payton/Coyne Racing hit the wall. 3rd caution was out. The restart came out at lap 60. Michael Andretti did an overtaking show. He was 1 lap down in 24th. After some laps, he was in 6th. With 65 laps to go, Zanardi, Bryan Herta, Adrian Fernández and Greg Moore did their pit stops during green flag. At that time, Fittipaldi, André Ribeiro and Helio Castroneves were out of the race. Only two Brazilian drivers were in the race at that moment: Mauricio Gugelmin and Gualter Salles. At lap 91, Salles retired due a crash at turn 1. 4th caution was out. At the same lap, polesitter Dario Franchitti retired due an engine issue. The restart happened at lap 98. After this lap, Scott Pruett, from Patrick Racing, retired. Player's Forsythe Racing driver Patrick Carpentier, suffered a tire problem at lap 102, and retired. At lap 108, the top 10 was: Zanardi, Moore, Fernandez, Richie Hearn, Herta, Jimmy Vasser, Al Unser, Jr., Andretti, Bobby Rahal and Mark Blundell. From lap 116-onwards, the battle for the win was between the Italian Alex Zanardi and the Canadian Greg Moore. At lap 120, Moore almost lost the control of his car, after he went sideways at turn 4. With 5 laps to go, Moore did an amazing overtake manoeuvre on Zanardi, and took the lead. The German driver Arnd Meier, was in front of both. Moore won the race, his first win in the season, third win on his Champ Car career.