The last oddball at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Part 8: Results
Author
- Henri Greuter
Date
- December 18, 2008; revised on February 8, 2023
Related articles
- March-Porsche 90P - The last oddball at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, by Henri Greuter
- Introduction
- Part 1: About oddballs
- Part 2: The road towards the 90P
- Part 3: The design
- Part 4: Performance evaluation (1)
- Part 5: Performance evaluation (2)
- Part 6: Final reflections
- Part 7: Specifications
- Part 9: Insights about the 90P from one of its designers
- March-Alfa Romeo 90CA - Fiasco Italo-Brittanico, by Henri Greuter
- Porsche - Weissach's single Grand Prix win, by Mattijs Diepraam/Felix Muelas
Who?Teo Fabi What?March-Porsche 90P Where?Indianapolis When?1990 Indianapolis 500 |
Why?
These are the official results of the March 90P at the 1990 Indianapolis 500-miles race and in the 1990 CART PPG Indycar Series.
I: Indianapolis 1990
The official entry list as appearing in the 1990 Indianapolis 500-miles race Official Program and the Carl Hungness 1990 Yearbook lists five entries for the Foster's Quaker State Porsche team. The cars numbered 4, 4T, 41 and 41T are listed as 1990 March-Porsches, car number 58 is a 1989 March Porsche.
During the month of May I have seen cars carrying the following numbers:
- 4: 90P
- 41: 90P
- 41T: 89P, this car carried registration number 54 on the roll-hoop
- 58: 90P
Pictures of all of these cars appear in the 1990 Hungness yearbook: 'The field' and 'Missed the show'. All four listed cars appeared on track for practice. The #4 and #41 were qualified and raced.
Finally, I have seen a picture of an 89P with its nose panel (carrying the number) taken off but carrying a T on the main part of the tub. Given the lack of a number on the nose and the small width of the removed nose panel itself, as well as a very difficult to read 4T on the side of the car, it seems as if there was a 89P numbered 4T on the Speedway grounds as well. Close inspection of the number on the roll-hoop leads to the conclusion that this car was likely registered as #74.
The 1990 Day-By-Day Trackside Report For the Media as available on Race Day Morning did not list any change in entry numbers for the Porsche team.
The same Trackside Report contains a data sheet called 'Performance History (by month's speed), valid at 5/22'. This lists all driver and car combinations that were out on the track during practice and qualifying during the Month of May. Using this sheet as reference, the achievements for the various March-Porsches are as follows:
Rank | Car # | Driver | Chassis | Total laps | Top speed | Date of top speed |
12 | 4 | Fabi | 90P | 138 | 221.784 | 11/5 |
14 | 41 | Andretti | 90P | 144 | 221.473 | 13/5 |
44 | 58 | Andretti | 90P | 7 | 215.131* | 19/5 |
45 | 58 | Fabi | 90P | 24 | 215.146* | 18/5 |
46 | 41T | Fabi | 89P | 10 | 214.889 | 13/5 |
49 | 41T | Andretti | 89P | 83 | 214.531 | 7/5 |
* The list is compiled using the original stat in the Trackside Report. This includes the obvious error that Fabi had been faster in the 58 than Andretti appears to have been: nevertheless, Andretti in the 58 is listed as the 44th fastest combination of the month. Regrettably, the bound Trackside Report as available doesn't include the daily speed overviews which were available during practice days in the media center.
A total of 90 different car-and-driver combinations appeared at the Speedway that year. The list did not mention that a 89P numbered 4T had been out as well.
As for an indication of Fabi and Andretti's competitiveness during the 500 mile race itself, here's a listing of their positions in the official 10-lap standings. Between brackets is the number of laps completed by the Porsche drivers, with the leader on the listed lap.
Lap | Position | |
Leader | Fabi | Andretti |
10 | 17 | 10 |
20 | 14 (19) | 12 (19) |
30 | 18 (29) | 11 (29) |
40 | 15 (39) | 11 (39) |
50 | 15 (48) | 11 (49) |
60 | 15 (58) | 10 (59) |
70 | 15 (68) | 9 (69) |
80 | 14 (78) | 8 (79) |
90 | 13 (88) | 8 (88) |
100 | 11 (97) | 7 (97) |
110 | 11 (106) | 8 (107) |
120 | 11 (116) | 8 (117) |
130 | 7 (127) | 9 (126) |
140 | 10 (135) | 9 (135) |
150 | 8 (145) | 19 (136) |
160 | 8 (155) | 20 (136) |
170 | 12 (161) | 20 (136) |
180 | 18 (162) | 21 (136) |
190 | 18 (162) | 21 (136) |
200 | 18 (162) | 21 (136) |
The fastest laps driven by the two drivers were listed as:
- Fabi, lap 127: 41.897 sec = 214.813 mph (8th fastest driver in the field)
- Andretti, lap 43: 42.476 sec = 211.884 mph (15th fastest driver in the field)
II: The 1990 CART PPG Indycar World Series
The following is an overview of the results achieved with the March-Porsche 90P during the 1990 CART season, including the 500-miles race at Indianapolis. The second race of the season, Long Beach, is not listed since no 90P was entered there.
The table below was updated in February 2023, thanks to data provided by The Brumos Collection in Jacksonville, Fl.
The following abbreviations were used:
date: Date of event held, written in European style (day/month)
C#: Chassis number
S: Starting position on the grid
R: Ranking according to qualifying speed (due to qualifying system at Indianapolis)
speed: Qualifying speed
F: Finish result
laps: Number of laps driven in the race
status: Reason of retirement, running at the finish or average race speed when full distance was covered
pts: Point tally in the 1990 CART PPG Championship
date | track | driver | C# | S | R1 | speed | F | laps | status | pts |
8/4 | Phoenix | Fabi/Andretti | 90P-001 | Practice only | ||||||
27/5 | Indianapolis | Fabi | 90P-002 | 23 | 10 | 220.022 | 18 | 162 | Transmission | |
Andretti | 90P-001 | 10 | 11 | 219.484 | 21 | 136 | Spin | |||
3/6 | Milwaukee | Fabi | 8 | 151.184 | 12 | 188 | Running | 1 | ||
Andretti | 11 | 148.650 | 7 | 195 | Running | 6 | ||||
17/6 | Detroit | Fabi | 9 | 86.121 | 24 | 16 | Electrical | |||
Andretti | 13 | 84.734 | 22 | 22 | Gearbox | |||||
24/6 | Portland | Fabi | 9 | 119.606 | 7 | 102 | Running | 6 | ||
Andretti | 15 | 116.971 | 21 | 65 | Clutch | |||||
8/7 | Cleveland | Fabi | 9 | 136.726 | 13 | 77 | Electrical | |||
Andretti | 12 | 135.761 | 5 | 85 | 110.700 | 10 | ||||
15/7 | Meadowlands | Fabi | 6 | 113.341 | 3 | 149 | Running | 14 | ||
Andretti | 12 | 111.336 | 7 | 141 | Contact T8 | 6 | ||||
22/7 | Toronto | Fabi | 5 | 105.861 | 15 | 89 | Running | |||
Andretti | 10 | 103.783 | 13 | 91 | Running | |||||
5/8 | Michigan | Fabi | 7 | 220.615 | 24 | 58 | Handling | |||
Andretti | 90P-005 | 8 | 220.379 | 7 | 234 | Running | 6 | |||
26/8 | Denver | Fabi | 1 | 78.964 | 27 | 7 | Contact | 12 | ||
Andretti | 90P-005 | 8 | 77.277 | 6 | 79 | Running | 8 | |||
2/9 | Vancouver | Fabi | 11 | 95.777 | 16 | 91 | Running | |||
Andretti | 90P-005 | 13 | 95.269 | 5 | 97 | 76.755 | 10 | |||
16/9 | Mid-Ohio | Fabi | 7 | 113.734 | 19 | 73 | Electrical | |||
Andretti | 90P-005 | 10 | 111.797 | 13 | 86 | Running | ||||
23/9 | Road America | Fabi | 8 | 126.826 | 25 | 2 | Suspension | |||
Andretti | 90P-005 | 10 | 126.398 | 22 | 12 | Engine | ||||
7/10 | Nazareth | Fabi | 22 | 163.994 | 11 | 191 | Running | 2 | ||
Andretti | 90P-005 | 10 | 165.601 | 19 | 56 | Fuel pressure | ||||
21/10 | Laguna Seca | Fabi | 8 | 107.855 | 7 | 83 | Running | 6 | ||
Andretti | 90P-005 | 9 | 107.192 | 8 | 83 | Running | 5 |
R1: At Indianapolis rules specified that qualifying happens on four days, the grid being lined up in the sequence of first-day qualifiers, second-day qualifiers and so on. In 1990, due to weather interference, Pole Day (Saturday 12/5) was rained out and all cars that had been nominated to make an official qualifying attempt were given their one chance for the pole as soon as circumstances permitted. This meant that eventually 15 cars qualified on Sunday 13/5 and another seven cars on Saturday 19/5. From then on, all following cars that qualified on Saturday 19/5 were designated as third-day qualifiers. Teo Fabi lost his opportunity to qualify on Sunday 13/5 due to a blown engine and as a result he could only become fastest third-day qualifier and line up behind all the cars that had qualified according the sequence determined for Pole Day. Nevertheless, his qualified speed made him 10th fastest overall. The R column gives the ranking the drivers should have had if the grid had been lined up according qualifying speeds, regardless of the moment the drivers qualified.
2 The CART PPG championship awards a championship point for pole position. Teo's point score at Denver is a result of winning the pole despite finishing outside the top 12.
Extract taken from 1990 CART/PPG Indycar World Series, final standings:
1 | Al Unser Jr | Galles-Kraco/Valvoline | Lola-Chevrolet T90/00 | 210 points |
... | ||||
10 | John Andretti | Foster's/Quaker State | March-Porsche 90P | 51 points |
... | ||||
14 | Teo Fabi | Foster's/Quaker State | March-Porsche 89P & 90P | 33 points3 |
3 Fabi scored 30 points with the 90P. In the second race of the season at Long Beach, while racing a 89P, he finished 10th, scoring three more points.