..........  and second with Lola

Canadian Paul Tracy, the 2003 Champ Car World Series reigning champion secured his fourth victory on the historic Milwaukee Mile on Saturday, leading 192 of 221 laps in the third round of this years series. The veteran used his Forsythe Lola to stalk polesitter Jimmy Vasser’s PKV Lola until the end of the first caution period, when he swept past the 1996 champion at the re-start to lead all the way to the flag, apart from during the pit stop sequences.

“I drove at the limit all day long and I couldn’t take it easy all race,” a delighted Tracy explained.  “My Lola was good in traffic and.”  He pulled out leads of more than half a lap at times and finally prevailed over last season’s rookie of the year, A.J. Allmendinger in his RuSPORT Lola by 3.370 seconds. 

Allmendinger secured his best ever Champ Car finish and he explained that his team’s car was perfect for the race, saying;  “Our Lola was very consistent throughout this race; this is a great result for us.  Paul is the man on restarts, so I wasn’t too worried.  We needed a good run and I’m glad I got one today.

Substituting for the injured Bruno Junqueira, Spaniard Oriol Servia brought the Newman Haas Lola to the chequered flag in third place and described his race as, “easy.  The team made this so easy.  It was a great car and we had great stops and I’m very happy I had this chance.  Bruno deserved a win but I tried.  We improved the car and I don’t think we were fastest but we kept moving forward and that was important.”

Dedicating the result to the injured Junqueira, Servia graciously said, “Bruno deserved a win but I tried. We improved the car for the race. I don't think we were the fastest but we kept moving forward and that was important. Maybe if there were 100 more laps I could have gone for the win but I am extremely happy. I really enjoyed every minute."

British racer, Justin Wilson finished fourth with the second of the RuSPORT Lola’s and confirmed his “Lola has been good all weekend and I was right there for pretty much the whole race.”  Vasser eventually finished fifth and “fought hard all race, but I struggled with a loose car in traffic.  We had a setup better suited to a little cooler weather” on a day basked in sunshine, warm temperatures and moderate breezes.

2004 Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais had his best Milwaukee Mile outing in the number 1 Newman Haas Lola, coming in sixth with a Lola that was “better than any I have had here before.”  Mario Dominguez took seventh in the Forsythe Championship Racing Lola, while Ronnie Bremer was the highest placed rookie, earning eighth in his HVM Lola.  Timo Glock, who crashed and injured himself here in the May test session held ninth at the end with the Rocketsports Lola and Alex Tagliani rounded out the top ten with the Team Australia Lola.

Retirements included Ryan Hunter Reay who crashed heavily on the sixth lap bringing out the yellow flags. Last years Milwaukee winner was taken to hospital but later released after checks, again showing the strength as well as the speed of the Lola chassis that now makes up the entire ChampCar grid.

Rookie Bjorn Wirdheim also hit the wall, but not as solidly as Reay. The Swede made it back to the pits but knew that his race was run, saying, “Unfortunately as I was lapping traffic I came into dirty air and I lost all grip. I let off and went wide and got into the marbles and brushed the wall. I bent the rear suspension so I had to come in and our day was done.”

Monterrey hero Andrew Ranger came back down to earth in Wisconsin when he also crashed on lap 126, after climbing as high as 8th place.

The next race on the schedule is on June 19th at Portland International Raceway.

RACE RESULTS

Pos  Driver              Team                                     Time

 1.  Paul Tracy          Forsythe Championship  1h45:01.259

 2.  A.J. Allmendinger   RuSPORT                    +     3.369

 3.  Oriol Servia        Newman Haas                  +     6.120

 4.  Justin Wilson       RuSPORT                       +     6.859

 5.  Jimmy Vasser        PKV                             +     8.331

 6.  Sebastien Bourdais  Newman Haas            +    1 Lap

 7.  Mario Dominguez     Forsythe Championship  +    1 Lap

 8.  Ronnie Bremer       HVM, Inc.                    +    1 Lap

 9.  Timo Glock          Rocketsports                  +    2 Laps

10.  Alex Tagliani       Team Australia                 +    3 Laps

11.  Cristiano da Matta  PKV                           +    4 Laps

12.  Nelson Philippe     Mi-Jack Conquest     +    5 Laps

13.  Marcus Marshall     Team Australia         +    5 Laps

14.  Ricardo Sperafico   Dale Coyne                  +   10 Laps

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

Driver              Team                                        On Lap

Bjorn Wirdheim      HVM, Inc.            175

Andrew Ranger       Mi-Jack Conquest             126

Ryan Hunter-Reay    Rocketsports                    6

Fastest Lap: Paul Tracy, 22.208s, on lap 221