After heavy rains doused the classic road circuit on Sunday, the penultimate round of 2006 Atlantic competition was postponed until Monday after the 24-car field ran two laps under caution Sunday in the downpour. Under cloudy skies and cool conditions, Canada’s James Hinchcliffe led the field to a single-file green flag restart on the still-drying track just before 8:30 a.m. ET Monday morning.

Hinchcliffe, the native of Toronto who won his first Atlantic pole on Saturday, paced the first five laps but with a dry-racing set-up on a damp track, he struggled to keep both Pagenaud, who started second, and Rahal, the third-place starter, behind him. On Lap 6 of the 26-lap event, all three drivers converged making an interesting battle for the lead. Hinchcliffe and Pagenaud wound up going for the same racing line as the two cars made light contact with each other. Pagenaud was able to get by Hinchcliffe briefly, but the contact also opened the door for Rahal, who also made it by Hinchcliffe. The 17-year-old son of three-time Champ Car champion and former Atlantic racer Bobby Rahal seized command of the race coming out of the tight hairpin turn as he edged by Pagenaud.

With a number of series racers battling for position on a slick track, there was lots of action and contact among the competitors on the race circuit. Despite the fierce action, there were no caution flags or major incidents after the race restart following the rain delay.

The battle for the lead began to heat up again in the closing laps of the event. Pagenaud, who enjoyed a 17-point lead over Rahal in the race for series crown entering the race, began to reel in his chief rival for the crown. Pagenaud was right on Rahal’s tail for the final two laps of the event. He made two attempts to pass for the lead on the final orbit of the Villeneuve circuit as a lapped car added to the drama in the battle on the last lap. As the drivers approached the finish line, Pagenaud dove inside for one last-gasp effort and he nearly pulled it off. In the end, however, Rahal edged his foe to the stripe by just .073 of-a-second for the closest finish in years in the Atlantic series.

Rahal claimed his series-leading fifth win in his unbelievable rookie season with today’s effort and he also tightened the screws in the championship chase in the process. He now trails Pagenaud by just 12 points, 253-241, heading into the season finale at the Grand Prix of Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, September 22-24. Pagenaud demonstrated great competitiveness and fire in his sixth podium finish of the year and the Team Australia French rookie also secured his series-leading ninth top-five effort in 11 races. With Sunday’s result, only Pagenaud and Rahal can now claim the series title in the 33rd season of Atlantic racing.

Hinchcliffe completed a banner weekend with a third-place finish for Forsythe Racing. The series top Canadian racer scored his third podium of the year and elevated himself to eighth in the championship standings. Mexico’s David Martinez (#4 Sub-Hub) also excelled at Montreal. For the second consecutive season, the US RaceTronics driver finished among the top five. After winning his first series pole and claiming third in 2005 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Martinez guided his machine to a fourth-place result on Monday. Forsythe Racing rookie Leonardo Maia (#7 Layer 7/INDECK) produced the best weekend of his Atlantic career. He completed the top five with a fifth-place finish after scoring his best qualifying result of fourth on Saturday.

IRL

First Win Special For Marco Andretti
Michael Andretti knew his son Marco had inherited the family's gift for driving at a very early age. "He was very good at driving golf carts," said Michael Andretti of one of his son's first driving experiences. "He had to stand and push the throttle and steer. He couldn't sit on a chair, on the seat. On his first day of school, we were waiting at the end of our driveway. We had a golf cart there. The school bus comes there, pulls up. He turns around, and he's gone with the golf cart, crying, saying he's not going to school. I'm running after him, trying to catch him. He's driving it so fast. I knew at that point. He was probably five." Fourteen years and several powerful racing vehicles later, Marco Andretti joined his famous father and grandfather as a winner of a major open-wheel race.

At 19 years, five months and 14 days, Andretti became the youngest driver to win a major open-wheel race, and he accomplished the feat at a pace far quicker than his father or grandfather - Michael Andretti was 23 years, 6 months and 7 days old when won at Long Beach in 1986, while Mario Andretti was 25 years old when he won the Hoosier Grand Prix in 1965. "I couldn't be happier because we fulfilled all the goals that we set at the beginning of the year," said Marco Andretti, who clinched the season-long Bombardier Rookie of the Year Award with the win. "Rookie-of-the-Year at Indy, the series. We got our win, you know. So definitely it's the best feeling all year for sure. That the win came at Infineon Raceway was even more special for the third-generation driver. Marco won the Indy Pro Series event at the track in 2005 and posted other top finishes in other developmental series. "I just have a lot of laps here, which definitely helps," he said. "I said even before this race that the majority of my success was here. This place has a big lead now."

Bourdais Earns Montreal Victory
Despite the overnight remnants of the rains that postponed Sunday’s race until Monday afternoon, the 17-car field left the wet-weather tires in Pit Lane and started the race on the slick Bridgestone Potenza tires. The track surface had dried enough to allow the competitors to do battle. If and when Sebastien Bourdais earns the Vanderbilt Cup a third straight time for winning the Champ Car World Series title, he can look back to a cloudy Montreal Monday as the day when the path to the crown was cleared. Bourdais romped to the victory on Monday, leading 40 laps around Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on his way to his sixth victory of the season and the 22nd of his career, but his win may not have played as big a part in the title chase as did the misfortunes of those chasing him. Bourdais now leads the championship by a cavernous 62 points with three races to go, giving him a cushion of nearly two full race’s worth of points under the Champ Car scoring system.

The Newman/Haas Racing driver’s victory, coupled with a 17th-place finish from A.J. Allmendinger and a 14th-place performance by Justin Wilson, put Bourdais in a comfortable position with three races remaining. Both title hopefuls had strong runs working before Fates conspired against them, Allmendinger held the lead over the first seven laps of the restarted race, after pacing the six that were run on Sunday, but saw his title hopes erased on Lap 14 when a broken halfshaft sent him down Pit Lane and out of the battle, while Wilson was fighting back from a penalty when he hit the Turn 15 wall while trying to pass Jan Heylen for fifth.

Bourdais held off nemesis Paul Tracy to score the victory, fighting off America’s winningest active open-wheel driver on a last-lap restart. Tracy matched a season-high with a second-place finish while third-year driver Nelson Philippe rounded out the podium with a third-place finish. Philippe led 11 laps on the day and came from 10th on the starting grid to snare the third spot – matching a career high.

• Sebastien Bourdais’ victory today was the 22nd of his Champ Car career, tying him for 13th on the all-time list with Emerson Fittipaldi and Tony Bettenhausen.
• The victory for Bourdais was his 14th from pole, tying him with Rick Mears for fourth on the all-time list.
• The three-day attendance total for the Champ Car Grand Prix of Montreal was 110,030, an increase of more than 16,000 fans from 2005. That figure does not include an estimated 20,000 fans that returned for today’s conclusion to the race.

IRL

Marco Andretti Gets First Win
Marco Andretti battled teammate Dario Franchitti and a near empty fuel tank to win his first Indy Car race at Infineon Raceway on Sunday. Andretti was battling flu symptons on Saturday but gave it all he had on Sunday, winning the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma and setting a new record for youngest driver to ever win a race in the series at 19 years, 5 months, 14 days. He also becaome a third generation winner, his father and team owner Michael Andretti and his grandfather Mario Andretti also were winners in Indy Car racing. Andretti became the first rookie to win an IndyCar Series event since 2002. This is Andretti Green Racing's second win this season and its 23rd win in the IndyCar Series. It is the team's second consecutive win at Infineon Raceway.

"We got it. I was trying all year for it," said Andretti. "We knew this is one track we could have a shot at, but we knew how tough it was going to be. I've got to give it to the team, though. My NYSE boys did an awesome job all weekend, all year long. Track position was huge. I love a track that you have to qualify well at and have to drive the thing."

Andretti led the final 29 of the 80 laps. His father Michael was on the radio nearly the whole last half of the race reminding him that he need to conserve on fuel. Enough caution laps and a light foot gave Andretti the fuel need to finish. "I knew he (Franchitti) was coming," Andretti said. "It was the toughest thing I had to do - go fast and try to save fuel."

Franchitti finished second followed by Vitor Meira, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Dan Wheldon, Jeff Simmons, Danica Patrick, Sam Hornish Jr. and Bryan Herta to fill out the top ten. With one race to go at Chicago, the points race is still up in the air. Helio Castroneves (441) takes a one-point lead over Marlboro Team Penske teammate Sam Hornish Jr. heading to the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway on Sept. 10. Reigning IndyCar Series champion Dan Wheldon has 422 points, while his Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Scott Dixon, is fourth at 420.
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Champ Cars

Champ Car Race Postponed Until Monday
Due to the day-long rains that plagued the Montreal area on Sunday, today’s Champ Car Grand Prix of Montreal, Round 11 of the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford, was postponed until Monday. The rains caused the 72-lap Champ Car Grand Prix of Montreal to be red-flagged after just six laps, while the Yokohama Presents The Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda race was halted by a downpour after just one lap. The weather prevented either race from restarting and the Champ Car World Series, along with management from the Grand Prix of Montreal, announced that it would postpone the event and pick up the race again on Monday.

“The safety of our competitors and our fans was the major concern today,” said Champ Car President Steve Johnson. “There was a lot of water on the track and it would not have been safe to put our cars on track during the weather problems. We have two very tight championships on the line and we want to make sure they can be contested in a manner befitting a world-class racing series. We are looking forward to tomorrow.”

Both races will resume at the point where they were halted on Sunday, with A.J. Allmendinger leading ahead of polesitter Sebastien Bourdais (#1 McDonald’s Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) after six laps. Polesitter James Hinchcliffe will lead the Atlantic championship event when it resumes on Lap 3. The Atlantic event will resume at 8:20 a.m. with the Champ Car race resuming at 10 a.m. Fans that held tickets to today’s race at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve will be admitted to the grounds while ticket offices will also be open in the morning.

“We are pleased that we are able to resume the races Monday and are grateful that we are able to put together a great event for our fans,” said President of the Grand Prix of Montreal Alan Labrosse. “We hope that the fans that had to work Sunday will be able to come out Monday because they will see a great show.”

This is the first time that a Champ Car race has been postponed by rain since the 2000 season, when the event at California Speedway was rained out on Sunday and resumed on Monday. The continuation of both races will be available with timing and scoring and a limited video feed via the Race Director feature on (www.champcar.ws). The service for both races will be free to all fans.

IRL

Dixon On Sonoma Pole
Scott Dixon claimed his first pole of season, winning the Marlboro Pole Award for the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma. Dixon recorded a time of 1 minute, 17.0344 seconds, 107.484 mph. It was the sixth IndyCar Series pole position of Dixon's career and his first on a non-oval race course. Dixon will be joined on the front row by IndyCar Series rookie Marco Andretti, who topped the single-lap qualifying (106.831; 1:17.5054). It is the highest starting position for Andretti, who moved to second during the Firestone Fast Six with a lap of 107.417 mph (1:17.0830) late in the session. Helio Castroneves, seven points shy of Hornish in the standings, will start third (107.236; 1:17.2127) in the No. 3 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone. He was second quick in single-lap qualifying. Tony Kanaan, who won the inaugural race last year, will start fourth (107.209; 1:17.2320) in the No. 11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone. Andretti Green Racing teammate Dario Franchitti (107.130; 1:17.2893) will start fifth in the No. 27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club car. Point leader Sam Hornish Jr. qualified 10th in the No. 6 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone.
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Champ Cars

Bourdais On Montreal Pole
Two-time defending Champ Car World Series champion Sebastien Bourdais earned the team its 100th Champ Car pole, besting a 17-car field to win the Bridgestone Pole Position for tomorrow’s Champ Car Grand Prix of Montreal. Bourdais scored his third consecutive Grand Prix of Montreal pole as well as his seventh of the season by getting around the 2.709-mile Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in a time of 1:20.005 (121.897 mph). Bourdais’ Bridgestone Pole Position was the 25th of his career, tying him with Paul Tracy for seventh on the series’ all-time pole list.

The pole also earns Bourdais another championship point, widening his margin over second place to 34 points with four races to run. The three championship contenders will all start within arm’s reach of each other as A.J. Allmendinger grids on the outside of the front row, scoring his fifth front-row grid spot of the year, while Justin Wilson takes the green flag from the third spot. Pail Tracy and Oriol Servia round out the top five.
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