MONTEREY, Calif., Sept. 10 -- Gil de Ferran finally broke through for his first IndyCar victory and Jacques Villeneuve can finally celebrate the 1995 PPG Indy Car World Series title after Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey. De Ferran dominated the 84-lap race at the 11-turn, 2.24-mile Laguna Seca Raceway to cap off a fine rookie season with the victory. Villeneuve, who had major handling problems forcing him to make four stops throughout the race, finished 11th, but it was enough to clinch the PPG Cup. The only driver who had a mathematical chance at passing Villeneuve for the title, pending the results of an appeal, was Al Unser, Jr., who finished sixth. 'It is great to have the championship now and whatever happens with the appeal, it won't matter,' said Villeneuve, who is leaving IndyCar to compete in Formula One next season for team owner Frank Williams. 'The championship is the result of a lot of work over the whole season. It is my last race with all the guys and it would have been great if we had finished the race on the podium, but this is still a great way to win a championship.' De Ferran finished 7.96-seconds ahead of the second-place car of Paul Tracy, who was attempting to win his third straight IndyCar race at Monterey. Mauricio Gugelmin was third followed by Michael Andretti and Scott Pruett. 'It was a great emotion,' de Ferran said. 'The crew did such a fantastic job after coming close all year.
I tried my best and the team did such a great job this year. It is the reward for a whole season of work.' By winning the race, de Ferran was also able to wrest the Rookie of the Year award away from Christian Fittipaldi. The victory was the first for team owner Jim Hall since John Andretti won the season opener at Australia in 1991. De Ferran averaged 98.493 miles an hour and won the race in front of a crowd estimated at 60,000 fans. Villeneuve started on the pole and led the early portions of the race before his first pit stop caused a problem with the performance of his car. On the first lap of the race, as the field headed through the twisting hairpin turn in turn one, Robby Gordon's car was slammed into by Adrian Fernandez, sending Gordon into a spin. The caution flag came out, giving Gordon a chance to stay on the lead lap. When the race was restarted on the third lap, de Ferran was able to pass Bryan Herta for second place in the 11th turn. The second full course caution came on the ninth lap when Alessandro Zampedri spun out in the 11th turn. The race was restarted on the 12th lap with Villeneuve leading de Ferran. By lap 25, both de Ferran and Teo Fabi were able to close onto the back of de Ferran's Reynard. When Villeneuve pitted on the 29th lap, that gave the lead to de Ferran. By the time de Ferran pitted a few laps later, his car was able to get him out fast enough that he retained his lead. At lap 35, Villeneuve showed the first signs of trouble when he pitted after he thought something broke on the suspension of his car. But when his crew looked it over, they couldn't find a problem so he was sent back out after the crew changed tires. That dropped the title hopeful back to 11th place. On the 39th lap, Tracy passed Fabi for second in the fourth turn. Fabi had driven off course briefly and got an orange traffic cone stuck on his front wing. He was able to stay in the race despite the cone, which was removed on his next pit stop. On the 54th lap, de Ferran and Tracy both pitted, giving the lead to Gugelmin. But when Gugelmin pitted three laps later, de Ferran was back in the lead, where he stayed until the checkered flag flew at the end of the 84th lap. De Ferran's closest call came on the 65th lap, when Andre Ribeiro hooked wheels with Jimmy Vasser, sending the car flying into the third turn wall. That collision happened immediately in front of de Ferran, who was able to drive through without any damage. The race was restarted on the 70th lap and de Ferran was able to set the pace for the next 14 laps.
