Motor Racing: Tracy wins following Mansell's retirement

NIGEL MANSELL'S last IndyCar race before he returns briefly to England to try this season Williams-Renault for size, ended early after a series of problems on Belle Isle.

As rumours on both sides of the Atlantic began to gel into acceptance that Mansell will drive in those Formula One events that do not clash with IndyCar races, the Briton had to sit and watch Paul Tracy win the race. Al Unser Jnr did not finish but hung on to his lead in the PPG Cup standings.

Although Tracy won, he may have some explaining to do to his team boss Roger Penske. Tracy's mission was to stay out of trouble and finish the race. Instead he won by taking out his team-mate and race leader, Unser Jr. Emerson Fittipaldi, in another Penske, struggled throughout but he gained in the points by finishing second.

The first of Mansell's troubles in the race came when his crew waved him out of the pits early and he was forced to stop in order to avoid hitting Jacques Villeneuve. The bobble enabled Fittipaldi to pass him.

'Nigel was all over my mirrors,' Fittipaldi said of the moment when a backmarkert in front of him slowed suddenly. That cause a chain reaction that left Mansell in the tyre barriers. Once he was underway again his safety harness had worked loose and he was called into the pits to fix them properly. Finally the engine faltered, the throttle stuck wide open and Mansell called it a day.