MOTOR RACING ROUNDUP : When Paul Tracy, Michael Andretti Clash, Rahal Makes the Most of It

Bobby Rahal chose the right time to move past the leaders and wound up winning Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix.

Rahal waited until the 56th lap of the 77-lap race before passing Paul Tracy and Michael Andretti as they were locked in a wheel-banging battle for the lead. The two-time series champion and current leader, Rahal said experience and a bit of cunning helped him to victory.

“I’m 39, Michael is 29 and Paul is, what, 23?” said Rahal, who drove a Chevrolet-Lola. “I guess you could say age was the winner today.

“Both Michael and I had caught up to Paul. He was really struggling for grip, you could see that. When Michael went to the inside to take him, Paul wouldn’t let him by. All he did was take himself and Michael out.”

Tracy, filling in for injured Rick Mears, was something of a surprise as he used a quick pit stop to take second place from Rahal, then passed Andretti, the defending series champion, for the lead on Lap 38 and pulled off to leads of up to 11 seconds.

But the Canadian’s margin disappeared when one of five full-course caution flags came out on Lap 48 after Scott Pruett blew his engine and his car came to a stop in a tire wall.

The green flag came back out on Lap 56, with Tracy’s car just ahead of Andretti, who was just in front of the third-place Rahal.

One lap later, when Andretti tried to slip past Tracy on the inside as they headed into a series of “ess” turns, the two began bumping wheels and Andretti’s right rear tire bounced off a concrete barrier.

That’s when Rahal took advantage of the duel in front of him and slid by untouched. He led the rest of the way to pick up his second victory of the season and 22nd of his career, averaging 81.988 m.p.h.

“It was very difficult to pass on this track,” Rahal said. “You had to wait for somebody to make a mistake, and that stuff with Michael and Paul was a mistake. After that, my car was really hooked up and I could pull away.

“Of course I had to do it three times because of the yellows.”

Andretti was able to get past Tracy one turn later, but the next time around touched wheels with the lapped car of Indy 500 winner Al Unser Jr. and skidded against a steel catch-fence as he drove on.

Tracy’s run on the 2.1-mile, 14-turn road course ended on lap 70 with a broken gearbox, and Andretti spun on Lap 76 with a broken suspension. He was fourth and Tracy was 16th.

“When Tracy put me in the wall . . . it was my fault,” Andretti said. “He had the line and I was coming up beside him. I was trying my heart out when I made a mistake. I guess I was lucky the suspension lasted as long as it did.”

Rahal went on to beat Raul Boesel of Brazil to the finish line by 8.56 seconds.

Adrian Fernandez of Mexico led wire-to-wire in the Detroit round of the Indy Lights racing series, earning his second victory in three starts.

Fernandez, the pole-winner on the new 2.1-mile, 14-turn Belle Isle circuit, beat Robbie Buhl to the finish line in the 29-lap race by 1.15 seconds, averaging 75.750 m.p.h.

Mark Smith was third, followed by Tommy Byrne of Ireland, Franck Freon of France and Marco Greco of Brazil.

Chip Hanauer raced to the season’s first victory, winning the Miami Hydroplane Regatta in the Miss Budweiser at Miami Marine Stadium with an average speed of 120.463 m.p.h.

The Tide, driven by George Woods, was second and the D.O.C.-Cooper’s Express, driven by Mitch Evans, was third.

The Winston Eagle and Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger, driven by Mark Tate and Mike Hanson, respectively, did not finish the final heat.

Hanauer, who returned to Unlimited hydroplane racing after spending 1991 driving race cars, signed with the Miss Bud team during the off-season. He gave owner Bernie Little plenty to celebrate with the season-opening victory.

In the three preliminary heats, however, Hanauer won only once. In the second and third heats, Tate pulled away quickly and won.

In the final, Hanauer got the early jump and coasted to victory when Tate broke down midway during the second lap of the five-lap final.