Moore and Mercedes are Zanardi's 'Nightmare' in Rio; Hakkinen F-1 Win and CART Triumph Make for Double Mercedes Weekend

10 May 1998
Moore and Mercedes are Zanardi's 'Nightmare' in Rio; Hakkinen F-1 Win and CART Triumph Make for Double Mercedes Weekend

    RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, May 10 -- "I said at the start of the
season that (Greg Moore) would be the biggest nightmare of my nights,"
commented Alex Zanardi in the interview following the Rio 400.  Only moments
before, Moore passed Zanardi five laps from the end of the race to score his
and Mercedes-Benz's first Champ Car victory of the season.
    It was Mercedes' second win of the weekend as Mika Hakkinen and David
Coulthard scored the third one-two victory of the 1998 Formula One season for
West-McLaren-Mercedes in Barcelona, Spain.  With Mercedes at the head of the
field for the entire race, Hakkinen extended his lead in the World Driving
Championship.
    Back in Rio, Moore also widened the spread in the championship points.
The Player's/Forsythe pilot leads second-place finisher Zanardi by four.
Mercedes-Benz, meanwhile, closed the gap in the CART Manufacturer's battle, as
the all-new IC108E V8 engine notched its maiden victory.  A clean-sheet-of-
paper design, the IC108E has powered one win, two pole positions, two seconds
and a third in its first five FedEx Championship Series outings.
    Moore credited the fuel economy and reliability of the new engine as he
and Zanardi stretched their final fuel loads to the limit.  But in the end it
was a daring move to the outside of Zanardi through turn one that brought
victory.
    Joining Moore in the top 10 at Rio were the Mercedes-powered cars of
Mauricio Gugelmin (Hollywood Reynard/Mercedes) and JJ Lehto (Hogan Racing
Reynard/Mercedes).  Gugelmin improved 12 positions to claim ninth spot, while
rookie Lehto posted the best finish of his CART career, earning the first
three points of the season for Hogan Racing and the new Magneti Marelli
electronics system.
    Mark Blundell ran solidly in the Motorola Reynard/Mercedes, improving
eight positions to finish 11th, despite running out of fuel on the last lap.
Marlboro Team Penske's Al Unser Jr. ran as high as second place, but his day
was cut short by a mechanical failure.  Unser's teammate Andre Ribeiro
finished 22nd, leaving the race early with gearbox trouble.
    Patrick Carpentier put in a good drive, running in the top six until a
broken front wing on the second Player's/Forsythe car dropped him from
contention.  He finished 17th.  Rookie Helio Castro-Neves had his birthday
celebration spoiled by a failed throttle position sensor.  Ironically, the
Team Alumax rookie, who turned 23 today, finished 23rd.

SOURCE  Mercedes-Benz of North America, Inc.