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1998 Indy Lights season
PPG/Dayton Indy Lights Championship
Season
Races	14
Start date	March 15
End date	October 31
Awards
Drivers' champion	Cristiano da Matta
← 1997 1999 →

The 1998 CART PPG/Dayton Indy Lights Championship consisted of 14 races. Future 2002 CART champion and Formula One driver Cristiano da Matta captured four wins on his way to the championship.

Team and driver chart

The following drivers and teams competed in the series:

Team	No.	Drivers	Round(s)
Brian Stewart Racing	4	Sérgio Paese	14
	3	Sérgio Paese	1–11
	3	Wim Eyckmans	12–14
	5	Mattias Andersson	1–3
	5	Luiz Garcia Jr.	4–14
Conquest Racing	11	Andy Boss	All
Conquest Racing	21	Felipe Giaffone	All
Dorricott Racing	30	Bud Kaeding	4–5, 10, 14
	31	Philipp Peter	All
	32	Oriol Servià	All
Genoa Racing	61	Eric Jensen	2
Genoa Racing	61	Cory Witherill	7, 12–14
Indy Regency Racing	16	Shigeaki Hattori	All
Indy Regency Racing	28	Rodolfo Lavín	1–7, 9–10, 12–13
Irish Motorsports / Bordin Racing	56	Tim Moser	2
Johansson Motorsports	6	Guy Smith	All
Johansson Motorsports	7	Luiz Garcia Jr.	1–2
Lucas Place Motorsports	14	Geoff Boss	All
Lucas Place Motorsports	15	Brian Cunningham	All
Mattco Raceworks	77	Tony Renna	1–11, 13–14
	77	Mark Hotchkis	12
	78	Mark Hotchkis	3–6
	78	Chris Simmons	1–2, 7–14
	79	Mark Hotchkis	14
Mears Racing Team	8	Clint Mears	1, 3–6, 8, 10, 13–14
Mears Racing Team	9	Casey Mears	1–6, 8, 10, 13–14
PacWest Lights	17	Paul Morris	1–12
	17	Paul Jasper	14
	18	Didier André	All
Quaker State Team Go Herdez Competition Team	87	Jorge Goeters	1–11, 14
	87	Mario Domínguez	12–13
	88	Derek Higgins	All
Tasman Motorsports	1	Airton Daré	All
Tasman Motorsports	2	Cristiano da Matta	All
Team KOOL Green	26	Mark Hotchkis	11
Team KOOL Green	27	Naoki Hattori	All
Team Rahal	41	Mike Borkowski	All

Schedule

Rd.	Date	Track	Location
1	March 15	O Homestead-Miami Speedway	Homestead, Florida
2	April 5	R Long Beach Street Circuit	Long Beach, California
3	April 27	O Nazareth Speedway	Nazareth, Pennsylvania
4	May 23	O Gateway International Raceway	Madison, Illinois
5	May 31	O Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin
6	June 7	R The Raceway at Belle Isle Park	Detroit, Michigan
7	June 21	R Portland International Raceway	Portland, Oregon
8	July 12	R Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport	Cleveland, Ohio
9	July 19	R Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario
10	July 25	O Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan
11	August 2	R Circuit Trois-Rivières	Trois-Rivières, Quebec
12	September 6	R Streets of Vancouver	Vancouver, British Columbia
13	September 13	R Laguna Seca Raceway	Monterey, California
14	October 31	O California Speedway	Fontana, California

Race results

Round	Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Most laps led	Race Winner
Round	Circuit	Pole position	Fastest lap	Most laps led	Driver	Team
1	Homestead-Miami Speedway	Sérgio Paese	Shigeaki Hattori	Shigeaki Hattori	Shigeaki Hattori	Indy Regency Racing
2	Long Beach Street Circuit	Didier André	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Tasman Motorsports
3	Nazareth Speedway	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Tasman Motorsports
4	Gateway International Raceway	Jorge Goeters^[a]	Shigeaki Hattori	Shigeaki Hattori	Shigeaki Hattori	Indy Regency Racing
5	Milwaukee Mile	Sérgio Paese	Derek Higgins	Derek Higgins	Derek Higgins	Herdez Competition Team
6	The Raceway at Belle Isle Park	Airton Daré	Airton Daré	Airton Daré	Airton Daré	Tasman Motorsports
7	Portland International Raceway	Guy Smith	Didier André	Guy Smith	Guy Smith	Johansson Motorsports
8	Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport	Luiz Garcia Jr.	Sérgio Paese	Luiz Garcia Jr.	Luiz Garcia Jr.	Brian Stewart Racing
9	Exhibition Place	Guy Smith	Luiz Garcia Jr.	Guy Smith	Guy Smith	Johansson Motorsports
10	Michigan International Speedway	Tony Renna	Sérgio Paese	Tony Renna	Tony Renna	Mattco Raceworks
11	Circuit Trois-Rivières	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Tasman Motorsports
12	Streets of Vancouver	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Cristiano da Matta	Tasman Motorsports
13	Laguna Seca Raceway	Didier André	Chris Simmons	Didier André	Didier André	PacWest Lights
14	California Speedway	Tony Renna	Airton Daré	Tony Renna	Mark Hotchkis	Mattco Raceworks

Race summaries

Homestead race

March 15, 1998
Homestead-Miami Speedway, Miami, Florida
Pole position: Sérgio Paese, 0:30.098, 179.653 mph (289.123 km/h)

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	2	16	Shigeaki Hattori	Indy Regency Racing	67	52:35.077	64	21
2	4	2	Cristiano da Matta	Tasman Motorsports	67	+0.468	0	16
3	7	6	Guy Smith	Johansson Motorsports	67	+1.420	0	14
4	6	32	Oriol Servià	Dorricott Racing	67	+5.534	0	12
5	9	78	Chris Simmons	Mattco Raceworks	67	+6.853	0	10
Race average speed: 114.825 mph (184.793 km/h)
Lead changes: 1 between 2 drivers
Cautions: 3 for 21 laps

Long Beach race

April 5, 1998
Long Beach Grand Prix, Long Beach, California
Pole position: Didier André, 0:57.108, 99.223 mph (159.684 km/h)

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	2	2	Cristiano da Matta	Tasman Motorsports	47	49:20.748	47	21
2	4	14	Geoff Boss	Lucas Place Motorsports	47	+0.459	0	16
3	6	27	Naoki Hattori	Team KOOL Green	47	+1.083	0	14
4	5	31	Philipp Peter	Dorricott Racing	47	+3.378	0	12
5	1	18	Didier André	PacWest Lights	47	+7.317	0	11
Race average speed: 89.951 mph (144.762 km/h)
Lead changes: none
Cautions: 2 for 6 laps

Nazareth race

April 27, 1998
Nazareth Speedway, Nazareth, Pennsylvania
Pole position: Cristiano da Matta, 0:22.408, 151.981 mph (244.590 km/h)

Top Five Finishers
Fin. Pos	St. Pos	Car No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Laps Led	Points
1	1	2	Cristiano da Matta	Tasman Motorsports	100	55:56.268	100	22
2	9	18	Didier André	PacWest Lights	100	+14.174	0	16
3	8	9	Casey Mears	Mears Racing Team	100	+14.745	0	14
4	5	15	Brian Cunningham	Lucas Place Motorsports	100	+17.914	0	12
5	11	1	Airton Daré	Tasman Motorsports	100	+18.725	0	10
Race average speed: 101.470 mph (163.300 km/h)
Lead changes: none
Cautions: 2 for 30 laps

Gateway race

Held May 23 at Gateway International Raceway. Jorge Goeters won the pole. No qualifying held due to rain. The line up was based on combined practice times.

Top Five Results

Milwaukee race

Held May 31 at The Milwaukee Mile. Sérgio Paese won the pole.

Top Five Results

Detroit race

Held June 7 at Belle Isle Raceway. Airton Daré won the pole.

Top Five Results

Portland race

Held June 21 at Portland International Raceway. Guy Smith won the pole.

Top Five Results

Cleveland race

Held July 12 at Burke Lakefront Airport. Luiz Garcia Jr. won the pole.

Top Five Results

Toronto race

Held July 19 at Exhibition Place. Guy Smith won the pole.

Top Five Results

Michigan race

Held July 25 at Michigan International Speedway. Tony Renna won the pole.

Top Five Results

Trois-Rivières race

Held August 2 at the Trois-Rivières, Quebec Street Circuit. Cristiano da Matta won the pole.

Top Five Results

Vancouver race

Held September 6 at Pacific Place. Cristiano da Matta won the pole.

Top Five Results

Laguna Seca race

Held September 13 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Didier André won the pole.

Top Five Results

Fontana race

Held October 31 at The California Speedway. Tony Renna won the pole.

Top Five Results

Championship standings

Drivers' championship

Scoring system

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th
Points	20	16	14	12	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

The driver who qualifies on pole is awarded one additional point.
An additional point is awarded to the driver who leads the most laps in a race.

Pos	Driver	HMS	LBH	NAZ	GAT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIC	TRO	VAN	LAG	FON	Points
1	Cristiano da Matta	2	1*	1*	3	10	2	20	22	15	2	1*	1*	22	11	154
2	Didier André	14	5	2	12	15	5	8	3	5	7	5	6	1*	5	123
3	Guy Smith	3	8	21	11	22	8	1*	4	1*	6	4	8	15	10	110
4	Felipe Giaffone	19	24	8	4	2	9	2	8	6	9	6	5	18	2	104
5	Derek Higgins	7	21	15	6	1*	12	10	2	17	13	10	2	3	7	94
6	Airton Daré	17	9	5	9	8	1*	4	13	8	19	21	3	11	15	78
7	Oriol Servià	4	19	13	16	14	6	21	6	10	5	2	19	2	25	73
8	Tony Renna	DNS	12	10	22	5	15	12	5	21	1*	20		8	3*	68
9	Geoff Boss	9	2	12	15	4	3	11	20	19	14	19	7	4	18	67
10	Naoki Hattori	18	3	7	8	12	23	16	17	2	16	3	17	5	17	66
11	Philipp Peter	11	4	19	2	9	10	22	7	4	23	11	9	16	12	62
12	Luiz Garcia Jr.	22	10		20	11	21	3	1*	11	15	12	16	6	6	60
13	Sérgio Paese	21	6	20	10	3	22	6	18	9	3	13			26	53
14	Shigeaki Hattori	1*	11	14	1*	21	20	18	21	16	20	16	13	9	9	52
15	Mark Hotchkis			9	21	7	4					7	11		1	50
16	Jorge Goeters	16	15	11	5¹	6	16	9	9	7	21	15			20	34
17	Casey Mears	10	13	3	7	16	19		10		11			21	8	33
18	Brian Cunningham	12	22	4	23	20	7	5	12	14	22	18	10	20	24	33
19	Chris Simmons	5	23					14	15	3	10	8	18	13	14	32
20	Andy Boss	13	16	6	13	17	14	19	11	13	4	14	22	14	13	22
21	Paul Morris	6	20	22	18	24	13	7	19	20	Wth	9	20			18
22	Mike Borkowski	20	25	16	19	18	11	15	14	12	18	17	4	17	23	15
23	Cory Witherill							13					15	12	4	13
24	Clint Mears	DNS		18	17	19	17		16		8			10	22	8
25	Mattias Andersson	15	7	17												6
26	Mario Domínguez												14	7		6
27	Rodolfo Lavín	8	18	DNS	24	13	18	17		18	17		21	23		5
28	Bud Kaeding				14	23					12				16	1
29	Wim Eyckmans												12	19	19	1
30	Tim Moser		14													0
31	Eric Jensen		17													0
32	Paul Jasper														21	0
Pos	Driver	HMS	LBH	NAZ	GAT	MIL	DET	POR	CLE	TOR	MIC	TRO	VAN	LAG	FON	Points

Color	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	4th & 5th place
Light Blue	6th–10th place
Dark Blue	Finished (Outside Top 10)
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)
Blank	Not competing

In-line notation
Bold	Pole position (1 point)
Italics	Ran fastest race lap
*	Led most race laps (2 points)
¹	Qualifying cancelled no bonus point awarded

Ties in points broken by number of wins, or best finishes.

Footnotes

^ Qualifying was cancelled due to rain. The grid was set by practice times, and no bonus point was awarded.

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