Auto Racing Roundup : Barilla Wins Miami Grand Prix as Mishap Sends Bell to the Pit

Defending champion Derek Bell was forced into an extended pit stop after an accident, and Paolo Barilla went on to win Sunday’s $250,000 Miami Grand Prix in front of 80,000 along the 1.87-mile course at Miami.

Barilla, of Italy, driving a Porsche 962 in a team with Bob Wollek of France, finished well in front of second-place Danny Sullivan. Hans Stuck finished third and Hurley Haywood was fourth. Barilla and Wollek earned $55,000, and Sullivan and partner A.J. Foyt collected $27,000.

Bell had opened a 12-second lead over second-place Wollek, but lost the race when he collided with Gianpiero Moretti with a little less than an hour left in the three-hour race.

The accident broke the rear suspension in Bell’s car, forcing a prolonged stop. After the accident, Wollek let Barilla take over and Barilla built a 48-second lead over Stuck with 20 minutes left.

Terry Labonte of Trinity, N.C. started from the pole and won the Goodwrench 500 NASCAR stock car race Sunday at Rockingham, N.C..

In his last nine starts here, Labonte has two victories, two second-place finishes, two thirds and one fourth.

Labonte fought off challenges from Harry Gant, Daytona 500 winner Geoff Bodine, Dale Earnhardt and seven-time Winston Cup champion Richard Petty.

Jack Baldwin drove past the wrecked cars of Scott Pruett and Willy T. Ribbs on the next-to-last turn to win a Camel GTO race in a Miami Grand Prix preliminary race.

Pruett had taken the lead from Ribbs on the last lap of the 45-minute sprint race, then Ribbs smashed his Ford Thunderbird into the back of Pruett’s Ford Mustang on turn 11, causing Pruett to spin 180 degrees and smash head-on into a tire wall. Pruett, who finished 15th, was not injured.

Juan Manuel Fangio II of Argentina posted his second straight victory in the Mazda InterAmerican Challenge when he passed Tom Sneva more than halfway through the race and kept the lead in a preliminary event to the Miami Grand Prix.