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 The Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet (Nelson Piquet International Racetrack), also known as Jacarepaguá after Jacarepaguá, the neighbourhood in which it was located, and also as the Autódromo Riocentro, was a motorsport circuit in Rio d ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Qualifying

The

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

driver

Dario Franchitti George Dario Marino Franchitti (born 19 May 1973) is a British motorsport commentator and retired motor racing driver from Scotland. Franchitti won the IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011; the Indianapolis 500 in ...

, from Team Green set the pole.

Race

At the start, the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

driver

Alex Zanardi Alessandro "Alex" Zanardi (; born 23 October 1966) is an Italian professional racing driver and paracyclist. He won the CART championship in 1997 and 1998, and took 15 wins in the series. He also raced in Formula One from 1991 to 1994 and again ...

, from

Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization competing in the NTT IndyCar Series. They have formerly competed in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, Global Rally ...

took the lead. At lap 19, fellow Italian driver

Max Papis Massimiliano "Max" Papis (born 3 October 1969) is an Italian professional motorsport driver who has competed in several top-level motorsports events such as Le Mans 24 Hours, Formula One and Champ Car. He has three Champ Car victories. He is the ...

, from Arciero-Wells Racing retired due to a broken engine. After 21 laps, the top six was:

Gil de Ferran Gil de Ferran (11 November 1967 – 29 December 2023) was a Brazilian professional racing driver and team owner. De Ferran was the 2000 and 2001 Champ Car champion driving for Team Penske and the winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500. He also ...

Tony Kanaan Antoine Rizkallah "Tony" Kanaan Filho (born 31 December 1974), nicknamed "TK", is a Brazilian racing driver who is the team principal of Arrow McLaren. He is best known for racing in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) from 1998 to 2002, an ...

Christian Fittipaldi Christian Fittipaldi (born 18 January 1971) is a Brazilian former racing driver who has competed in various forms of motorsport including Formula One, Champ Car, and NASCAR. He was a highly rated young racing driver in the early 1990s, and parti ...

and

Michael Andretti Michael Mario Andretti (born October 5, 1962) is an American former racing driver, and current team owner. Statistically one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, Andretti won the 1991 CART champions ...

. At lap 30, Kanaan, from

Tasman Motorsports Tasman Motorsports Group is a former racing team that was owned by Steve Horne, a long-time motorsport figure who spent most of his career in the United States. Previously the team was an American-based open-wheel racing team that competed in th ...

, retired due to an engine fire, bringing out the first caution of the race. The lead lap cars went to pit stop at the same lap.

Newman-Haas Racing Newman/Haas Racing was an auto racing team that competed in CART, Champ Car, and the IndyCar Series from 1983 to 2011. The team operations were based in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Newman/Haas Racing was formed as a partnership between actor, automot ...

driver

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 Paul Anthony Tracy (born December 17, 1968) is a Canadian professional auto racing driver who participated in Champ Car World Series, the IndyCar Series, and the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). He started kart racing at age five and quick ...

was hit by

, from

Walker Racing Walker Racing was a racing team founded by Derrick Walker in 1991 racing originally in the CART Championship Car series. It last competed in the United SportsCar Championship under the name of Team Falken Tire until Falken Tire pulled out of n ...

. 2nd caution. The restart was out at lap 47. Lap 54, the

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

driver

Michel Jourdain Jr. Michel Jourdain Lascurain, better known as Michel Jourdain Jr. (born September 2, 1976), is a Mexican racecar driver, best known for winning two Champ Car races in 2003. He is the 2020 Super Copa GTM Champion. Formula racing Jourdain started ra ...

, from Payton/Coyne Racing hit the wall, bringing out the third caution. The restart came out at lap 60.

did an overtaking show. He was one lap down in 24th. After some laps, he was in sixth. With 65 laps to go, Zanardi,

Bryan Herta Bryan John Herta (born May 23, 1970) is an American race strategist and former race car driver. He currently runs his own team, Bryan Herta Autosport in the NTT IndyCar Series and is the strategist for the #27 Andretti Autosport in the same se ...

Adrian Fernández Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the main ...

and Greg Moore did their pit stops during green flag. At that time, Fittipaldi, André Ribeiro and

Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves (; born Hélio Alves de Castro Neves; 10 May 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He competes part-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 06 Dallara-Honda for Meyer Shank Racing. He is one of four drivers to have w ...

were out of the race. Only two

ian drivers were in the race at that moment:

Maurício Gugelmin Maurício Gugelmin (born 20 April 1963) is a Brazilian former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from to , and CART from 1993 to 2001. Born and raised in Joinville, Gugelmin began competitive kart racing aged seven, win ...

and

Gualter Salles Gualter Salles (born September 28, 1970, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), is an open wheel race car driver. He raced in the 1997-2000 and 2003 CART seasons, as well as one Indy Racing League event, totalling 49 IndyCar starts overall. He also competed in ...

. At lap 91, Salles retired due to a crash at turn one, bringing out the fourth caution. At the same lap, polesitter Dario Franchitti retired due an engine issue. The restart happened at lap 98. After this lap,

Scott Pruett Scott Donald Pruett (born March 24, 1960) is an American former racing driver who has competed in numerous disciplines of the sport. In the 1980s, Pruett established himself as a top sports car racer, winning two IMSA GTO, and three Trans-Am ...

, from

Patrick Racing Patrick Racing was an auto racing team in United States Auto Club, USAC, Championship Auto Racing Teams, CART, Champ Car World Series, Champ Car and the Indy Racing League. Patrick Racing was started by Pat Patrick (auto racing), U.E. "Pat" Patri ...

, retired. Player's

Forsythe Racing Forsythe Championship Racing was an American racing team that competed in the Champ Car, Champ Car World Series owned by Gerald Forsythe. The Champ Car effort ceased operations after the 2008 unification of North American open wheel racing. The ...

driver

Patrick Carpentier Patrick Carpentier (born August 13, 1971) is a Canadian former professional auto racing driver. In the Champ Car World Series and the IndyCar Series, he achieved five wins and 24 podiums, as well as two third place championship finishes in 2002 C ...

, suffered a tire problem at lap 102, and retired. At lap 108, the top 10 was: Zanardi, Moore, Fernandez,

Richie Hearn Richard Edward Hearn (born January 4, 1971) is an American former racing driver. Hearn was born in Glendale, California. He ran in the Toyota Atlantic championship for two seasons, winning the title in 1995. In 1996, he began driving for John D ...

, Herta,

Jimmy Vasser James "Jimmy" Vasser Jr. (born November 20, 1965) is an American former racing driver who competed primarily in the Championship Auto Racing Teams, CART series and Champ Car World Series, Champ Car. Vasser won ten CART series races and won the ...

, Al Unser Jr., Andretti,

Bobby Rahal Robert Woodward Rahal ( ; born January 10, 1953) is an American racing driver and motorsports executive. As a driver, he won three championships and 24 races in the CART open-wheel series, including the 1986 Indianapolis 500. As co-owner of R ...

and

Mark Blundell Mark Blundell (born 8 April 1966) is a British former racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to , and Championship Auto Racing Teams, IndyCar from 1996 PPG Indy Car World Series, 1996 to 2000 CAR ...

. From lap 116-onwards, the battle for the win was between the

and the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

Greg Moore. At lap 120, Moore almost lost the control of his car, after he went sideways at turn four. With five laps to go, Moore did an amazing overtake manoeuvre on Zanardi, and took the lead. The

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

driver

Arnd Meier Arnd Meier (born March 1, 1973, in Hannover, Germany) is a former race car driver. After finishing second in the 1996 German Formula Three Championship behind Jarno Trulli, but ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld, Meier participated in the 1997 and 1998 ...

, was in front of both. Moore won the race, his first win of the season, the third win of his

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., a Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing T ...

career.

Classification

Race

Caution flags

Lap Leaders

Point standings after race

References

{{American Championship Car race report footer , Series = CART , Series_long = CART FedEx Championship Series , Name_of_race = Rio 400 , Year_of_race = 1998 , Previous_race_in_season = 1998 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix , Next_race_in_season = 1998 Motorola 300 , Previous_year's_race =

1997 Hollywood Rio 400k Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy S-300 missile system, Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot S-300 cr ...

, Next_year's_race =

1999 Grand Prix Telemar Rio 200 1999 in CART, Grand Prix Telemar Rio 200 1999 in Brazilian motorsport, Grand Prix Telemar Rio 200 Rio 200 ...

Rio 400 Rio 400 Rio 200