2008 Nikon Indy 300
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The 2008 Nikon Indy 300 was a non-championship Indycar exhibition race that was held 19th and final race of the 2008 IndyCar Series season. It was held on 26 October 2008 at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Queensland, Australia.
Race details | |
---|---|
Non-championship round of the 2008 IndyCar Series season | |
Date | 26 October, 2008 |
Official name | Nikon Indy 300 |
Location | Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Queensland, Australia |
Course | Temporary Street Circuit 2.795 mi / 4.498 km |
Distance | 60 laps 167.700 mi / 269.880 km |
Weather | Fine with temperatures reaching up to 27.9 °C (82.2 °F)[1] |
Pole position | |
Driver | Will Power (KV Racing Technology) |
Time | 1:34.9451 |
Fastest lap | |
Driver | Dario Franchitti (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) |
Time | 1:35.1552 (on lap 54 of 60) |
Podium | |
First | Ryan Briscoe (Team Penske) |
Second | Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) |
Third | Ryan Hunter-Reay (Rahal Letterman Racing) |
It was the first time the race was held for the Indy Racing League after 17 years as a Champ Car race. The race did not count towards the 2008 IndyCar season points as the race date was held after the Chicagoland Speedway 300, which was preset as the season finale prior to the merger of Champ Car and IRL. The previous non-points race had been the 1992 Marlboro Challenge, a CART all-star race.
The race was won by an Australian driver for the first time in the 18-year history of the event with Ryan Briscoe winning for Team Penske after leading much of the race, while pushed hard by the near-local, New Zealander Scott Dixon. Ryan Hunter-Reay emerged from an entertaining dice to complete the podium in third position.