Who's Mad At Who?
Champ Car Race Operations is reviewing today’s physical confrontation between drivers Alex Tagliani and Paul Tracy during the running of Sunday’s Canary Foundation Grand Prix of San Jose Presented by Taylor Woodrow. Tagliani confronted Tracy on Pit Lane after an on-track accident on Lap 54, resulting in a physical altercation between the two racers. Champ Car Race Operations will review the incident upon conclusion of today’s event, and will determine what, if any, penalties for misconduct will be levied because of the incident. “We understand that this is a very competitive series and our athletes can get caught up in the heat of the moment but we do not condone this type of behavior,” said Champ Car President Steve Johnson. “We will review this incident thoroughly and determine what needs to be done to make sure things like this do not happen in the future.
Sebastien Bourdais Wins San Jose
SebastienBourdais led 69 of 97 laps Sunday to score his fifth win of the season, outlasting Cristiano da Matta and his RuSPORT teammate Justin Wilson to win the Canary Foundations Grand Prix of San Jose Presented by Taylor Woodrow in front of a weekend crowd totaling 155,934. The Newman/Haas Racing driver had things his own way over the first half of the race, although Paul Tracy actually held the lead for the first three laps before Champ Car Race Control ruled that Tracy had passed the polesitter prior to reaching the start/finish line at the start of the race. That determination came during the first of five caution periods on the day, this one coming on Lap 3 when Will Power initiated contact with Oriol Servia, leading to a spin that ended the day of luckless Bruno Junqueira. Da Matta ably held on to second while Wilson contented himself with a podium finish, having gained nine positions after starting 12th.
Philippe maintained the fourth spot, matching his career-best for a finish on the road or street course, and moved up two positions in the point standings. Mario Dominguez rounded out the top five, marking the third top-five of the year, interestingly enough, done by three different drivers. The finish for Dominguez boosted him into fourth in the point standings with five events to run. Power rebounded from his early contact to finish sixth, matching his career-best result set a week ago in Edmonton. The result also allowed him to widen his lead in the Roshfrans Rookie-of-the-Year standings, as he now holds a 25-point bulge over Clarke and has 27 markers over Legge. Allmendinger fought back to place seventh with Servia, Zwolsman and Rocketsports’ Nicky Pastorelli rounding out the top 10, the latter serving as Pastorelli’s second top-10 of the year. The Champ Car World Series will next be in action in two week’s time, heading to the Mile High City for the Grand Prix of Denver August 12-14.
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Castroneves Wins Michigan
A mechanical malfunction and a miscalculation - plus Helio Castroneves' fourth victory of the season - gave the Marlboro Team Penske driver the IndyCar® Series point lead. Castroneves, driving the No. 3 Marlboro Team Penske Honda-powered Dallara, defeated Vitor Meira by 1.6229 seconds to win the Firestone Indy 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Reigning IndyCar Series champion Dan Wheldon finished third, followed by Tony Kanaan and Tomas Scheckter. Castroneves has 376 points heading to Kentucky Speedway on Aug. 13. Teammate Sam Hornish Jr. fell to second with 368, while Wheldon has 359. Wheldon's Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Scott Dixon, is 14 points behind. Meira is fifth with 320.
Hornish's and Dixon's points totals were compromised early in the 200-lap race. Hornish's No. 6 Marlboro Team Penske allara/Honda/Firestone checked into the pits on Lap 49 after falling to 10th position. He rejoined the fray in 17th spot (one lap down) before returning to the pits on Lap 59. Hornish came in for the final time on Lap 73. Running second to Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dan Wheldon on Lap 43, Dixon's No. 9 Honda-powered Dallara slowed on the course and stopped in Turn 4 deprived of fuel on Lap 44. He fell to 18th after being towed to his pit stall, and could make up only one spot the remainder of the race.
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Castroneves Earns Second Straight Pole
Helio Castroneves claimed his second consecutive Marlboro Pole Award, claiming the top starting position for the July 30 Firestone Indy 400 at Michigan International Speedway Castroneves, who won the pole at Milwaukee last weekend, posted a lap of 33.2138 seconds, 216.777 mph, in the No. 3 Marlboro Team Penske Honda-powered Dallara. Castroneves' time was .0477 of a second faster than his teammate Sam Hornish Jr., who recorded a lap of 33.2615, 216.466 mph, in his No. 6 Marlboro Team Penske Honda-powered Dallara. Tony Kanaan was third-quickest at 33.5253, 214.763 mph in his No. 11 Team 7-Eleven Honda-powered Dallara while Ed Carpenter (214.540 mph) and Scott Dixon (214.273 mph) were fourth and fifth, respectively in their Honda-powered Dallaras. It was Carpenter's best qualifying performance in the IndyCar Series.
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Gelles To Champ Car Racing
The entry list for the 2007 Champ Car World Series season gets its first new name today as Champ Car Atlantic Championship race-winning team Gelles Racing announced its intentions to move up to Champ Car competition beginning next season. The announcement was made Friday night at the VIP launch party for the 2007 Panoz DP01 Champ Car, where the future of the open-wheel racing was unveiled to the public for the first time. The team, which scored its first Champ Car Atlantic victory earlier this year with Robbie Pecorari at the wheel, becomes the first Atlantic team to move up to Champ Car competition since RuSPORT made the climb after winning the 2003 Atlantic title.
The Virginia-based team has been involved in the open-wheel developmental system since 2002 when former SCCA National Driver of the Year Bob Gelles formed Gelles Racing. Starting in Fran-Am, the Gelles team competed in Formula Renault, Formula BMW and Champ Car Atlantic series in recent seasons running six cars in the FBMW series in 2006. The announcement coincided with the launch of the new 2007 Panoz DP01 Champ Car Friday night as the racing community saw the new chassis for the first time. The new chassis is lighter, quicker and is specially-designed to provide closer racing. The DP01 is also more affordable for the teams, which is part of the strategy to encourage Atlantic teams as well as teams from throughout motorsports to the Champ Car World Series. The 2007 Champ Car World Series season will begin April 8, kicking off with the newly-announced street event in Las Vegas. The race will be immediately followed by the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach April 15, with the second running of the Grand Prix of Houston coming April 22.
Sebastien Bourdais On San Jose Pole
Defending San Jose winner Sebastien Bourdais will start Sunday’s 97-lap race from the pole as he did a year ago, taking his fifth Bridgestone Pole Position of the season and the 23rd of his career, setting a new track record of 48.989 seconds (106.040 mph) around the 1.443-mile street circuit. Bourdais used his first set of Bridgestone Potenzas to full advantage, finding clear track that allowed him to lower his time gradually over a series of four laps, eventually logging the only 48-second lap of the weekend to claim the pole. He actually took the pole from Friday leader Paul Tracy (#3 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) on his fifth lap, and posted his best time on his seventh trip around the course.
Tracy ended up second by virtue of leading Friday’s session, even though he ran just the fourth-best lap of Saturday’s final round. The Canadian star ended up with an official time of 49.810 seconds (104.292 mph), that time going in the books when Tracy was penalized with the loss of his fastest lap after being found guilty of blocking. The Forsythe Championship Racing driver will start in the front row for the second time this season, gridding on the outside of the front row in tomorrow’s event. A.J. Allmendinger will start third followed by Cristiano da Matta, Oriol Servia and Will Power.
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