Season wrap-up

Andre Ribeiro, of Sao Paulo, Brazil, topped off a successful race weekend and season with a flag-to-flag victory from the pole Sunday at Laguna Seca Raceway in the 12th and final race of the 1994 PPG-Firestone Indy Lights Championship, powered by Buick. On a weekend when the Steve Horne-led Tasman Motorsports Group annouunced the formation of the Tasman Motorsports Indy Car Program for 1995 with Ribeiro as it lead driver, the Turbo-Mac Rookie of the Year drove to his fourth win of the 1994 season. Following his first series victory at Portland in June, Ribeiro also claimed triumphs at Mid-Ohio and Vancouver. He completed the 34-lap race in 31-minutes 39.520-seconds, earning $22,000. the win marked an impressive 19th victory in 24 career races for the Tasman team since it commenced competition in 1993. Pedro Chaves, of Porto, Portugal, finished 4.984-seconds behind Ribeiro. Tasman Motorsports driver Eddie Lawson, of Lake Havasu, Ariz., piloted his car to a third place finish. Ribeiro set the stage for his season-ending victory on Saturday when he won his fourth pole position of the year with a record breaking qualifying lap of 101.790 mph. The previous record was set by Bryan Herta in 1993 at 101.209 mph. Ribeiro also started from the pole at Milwaukee, Portland and Mid-Ohio. The race start and the first lap were run without incident with Ribeiro holding a lead over outside pole sitter Steve Robertson, chaves, Lawson, Alex Padilla and Jeff Wrad who jumped form eighth on the grid to sixth in one lap. entering the tight 180-degree turn-two on lap two, jack Miller, of Indianapolis, Ind., was the race's first victim as he went wheel-to-wheel with Bob Reid and spun off course. Reid continued on to an eventual 16th-plac e showing, while Miller was forced to retire due to contact damage. Series champion Robertson, of Chigwell, Essex, England, suffered from gear box problems throughout the race and dropped from second to fifth-plsace by lap 20. He was also involved in a lap-22 incident with Padilla's car which spun in turn-five as Robertson was attempting an inside pass for fourth place. Both cars continued but not before Robertson dropped back to eighth and Padilla had fallen to 13th, their eventual finishing positions, respectively. A pair of Indy Lights newcomers impressed series veterans with top-10 showings. Niclas Jonsson, of Jonkoping, Sweden, drove to a ninth place debut while fellow first-time Indy Lights driver Juam Carbonell, of Santiago, Chile, rounded out the top-10.

Robertson finshed on top of the final series point standings with 179 points followed by Ribeiro with 170. Moore claimed third-place honors with 154 points while Lawson outlasted Chaves for fourth place by seven points, 139-132. The Laguna Seca race can be seen on ESPN2, Saturday, Nov. 19 at 4:00 - 4:30 p.m. EST. Round one of the 12-race 1995 PPG-Firestone Indy Lights Championship, powered by Buick, will debut on the downtown street circuit of the Grand Prix of Miami on sunday, March 5, 1995.

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Final 1994 Driver Performance Chart -- Indy Lights

# Driver A B C D E F G 1 Steve Robertson 179 12 12 5 181 597 889.053 2 Andre Ribeiro 170 12 10 5 143 475 739.913 3 Greg Moore 154 12 12 5 186 596 887.273 4 Eddie Lawson 139 12 11 3 37 571 848.777 5 Pedro Chaves 132 12 11 1 25 550 810.795 6 Nick Firestone 72 12 10 0 0 570 853.566 7 Alex Padilla 63 12 9 1 6 528 797.933 8 Doug Boyer 47 11 7 0 0 374 570.368 9 Dave DeSilva 46 11 10 0 0 537 767.955 10 Buzz Calkins 41 12 10 0 0 473 722.250 11 Scott Schubot 26 12 11 0 0 560 832.540 12 Rob Wilson 22 6 5 0 0 292 368.290 13 David Pook 18 6 4 0 0 246 417.986 14 Bob Dorricott Jr. 18 12 8 1 19 474 691.737 15 Jeff Ward 16 2 2 0 0 109 150.276 16 Jack Miller 14 12 10 0 0 521 741.681 17 Bob Reid 12 12 10 0 0 542 803.787 18 Markus Liesner 10 1 1 0 0 73 73.000 19 Chris Smith 9 8 4 0 0 241 419.424 20 Rick Hill 8 4 2 0 0 90 164.857 21 Patrick Carpenter 8 2 1 0 0 36 79.110 22 Roberto Quintanilla 8 8 4 0 0 248 362.409 23 Trevor Seibert 5 2 2 0 0 108 130.202 24 Enrique Contreras 4 2 2 0 0 73 148.199 25 Frederic Gosparini 4 2 2 0 0 65 148.715 26 Niclas Jonsson 4 1 1 0 0 34 75.276 27 Juan Carbonell 3 1 1 0 0 34 75.216 28 Sohrab Amirsardari 2 4 1 0 0 107 172.551 29 Cesar Jimenez 1 2 1 0 0 57 126.436 30 Richard Nauert 1 1 1 0 0 46 73.140 31 Ray Richter 0 5 2 0 0 136 266.140 32 Harry Puterbaugh 0 4 2 0 0 146 160.042 33 Tom Stefani 0 1 0 0 0 3 5.800

Key: A= Final Season Points E= Laps Led B= Starts F= Laps completed (597 total) C= Running at Finish G= Miles Completed (889.053) D= # Times Led Race

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The sixth annual PPG-Firestone Indy Lights Championship year-end banquet was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Monterey Hyatt, Sunday, Oct. 9, to honor and recognize drivers, mechanics, teams, officials and sponsors of the 1994 season. Following an invocation delivered by Motorsports Ministries' Hunter Floyd, Master of Ceremonies Chris McClure introduced Roger Bailey, President and Chief Operating Officer of Indy Lights, who delivered an overview of the series successful ninth year of operation. McClure then introduced Andrew Craig, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IndyCar, who reaffirmed his undivided support for the future of the PPG-Firestone Indy Lights Championship and touted it as racing's top preparatory series for talented drivers headed to the PPG Indy Car World Series. Steve Robertson, of Chigwell, Essex, England, was officially crowned 1994 PPG-Firestone Indy Lights Champion. The 29-year-old Englishman received a $20,000 championship bonus award from the series and a new 1995 Buick Riviera from the Buick Motor Division, presented by Buick Motorsports Marketing Manager Jim Markwalder. Additionally, Robertson was presented with the Lola Indy Car Award which provides for his use of a new Lola T95/00 for the 1995 Indy Car season. Robertson also became the first Indy Lights driver to be eligible for the $100,000 Firestone Indy Car bonus, an award designed to assist the series champion's move up into Indy Car competition. The aim of the Lola Indy Car Award and the $100,000 Firestone Indy Car bonus is to make each year's Indy Lights titlist even more attractive to Indy Car teams seeking a new driver. One of the eligibility requirements for the champion Firestone Indy Car bonus winner will be the exclusive use of Firestone Indy Car tires which will be available for competition in 1995. Driving the Guess Men's Classics/Tasman Motorsports Indy Lights, Robertson clinched the title with a fourth-place showing in round 11 at Nazareth, recorded two pole positions, seven podium visits and four victories at Long Beach, Milwaukee, Detroit and Toronto. The Championship Chief Mechanic Trophy was bestowed upon Guess/Tasman Motorsports chief mechanic Steve Ragan. Team owner Steve Horne also took to the stage to accept the Championship Owner Trophy for Tasman. The $10,000 Turbo-Mac Rookie-of-the-Year Award was presented to Tasman driver Andre Ribeiro, of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Ribeiro won four pole positions and claimed four victories including the season finale at Laguna Seca. PPG Industries Manager of Marketing Services Mike Sack presented the $10,000 PPG Deltron Spectacular Finish Award to Dick Simon Racing for the team's Water Pik-Aquafresh #61 Indy Light car driven by Dr. Jack Miller, of Indianapolis. The award is presented to the team whose car displays the best use of color and design throughout the year using the latest in the PPG Deltron product line of exclusive paint colors. The Fred Rhue Meritorious Service Award was presented to Ned Baker of the GM Motorsports Technology Group. The PPG-Firestone Indy Lights Championship, powered by Buick, will begin its 10th consecutive year of operation at the Grand Prix of Miami, Sunday, March 5, 1995.