Paul Tracy took the 30th victory of his Champ Car career at Cleveland last night, leading 46 of the 91 laps in his Forsythe Lola-Cosworth.
The Canadian dominated the weekend, taking pole position , fastest lap and now the lead in the overall points standings. He also secured seventh place on the all-time victory list, surpassing former Penske driver Rick Mears. “We didn’t have the fastest car all day but our Lola was consistent,” said Tracy after the race. “Our Lola has been so fast in every practice session, on old or new Bridgestone tires. My strategy really was to get to the first corner first and just as fast as I could go.”
Tracy’s protégé, Californian A.J. Allmendinger overcame a heavy qualifying accident and a ninth place start on the grid to take second place for his fourth career podium. The year old was just 3.113 seconds behind his mentor in the RuSPORT Lola at the end of the race. Allmendinger, was cleared to race after visiting the circuits medical centre after his shunt and was doubly satisfied with his performance after his team rebuilt the car which once again stood up perfectly to the immense force of the accident. “My Lola was really good to the end of the race,” said Allmendinger. “I really had to keep pushing hard at the end because I wanted to close the gap to Paul and Oriol (Servia) was coming quick behind me. After the weekend we’ve had, this 2nd –place feels really, really good.” as he pushed Tracy to the limit, wishing for just another lap. He’s now third in the title chase, 26 points behind Tracy.
Scoring his second podium in only three races with Newman/Haas Racing, Oriol Servia brought his Lola home third in a race that saw four safety car periods, three for incidents and once to pick up debris. Setting the fastest lap of the contest (on the penultimate tour) the Spaniard thanked the NHR’s squad, champions in 2002 and 2004: “They are such a great team; they really make a difference. It’s such a pleasure to do what you’re doing and to get a podium, that’s what we want.”
Alex Tagliani nearly stole the victory with his Team Australia Lola but methanol conservation relegated him to a fourth placed finish. “The chemistry in this team is really starting to come together,” Tag confided. “I can’t wait for the next race.”
Sebastien Bourdais finished fifth in the Newman Haas Lola, thwarted from taking a third straight win in Cleveland. “It seems this year things aren’t going our way as much and we are fighting very hard. It’s going to turn around, but I just don’t know when,” said the reigning champion.
Cristiano Da Matta had led the race from lap 26 and had started to build a lead over eventual winner Tracy, but the Brazilian came unstuck on lap 51 when he hit Marcus Marshalls Team Australia Lola as he was about to lap the unfortunate Australian.
“The car just pushed a little too hard and I hit one of them,” confessed Da Matta “It was just one of those stupid racing incidents. It can happen to anyone, unfortunately, it happened to me today.”
Da Matta’s team mate Jimmy Vasser scored another top six finish as he opted for an off-sequence pit strategy, which ultimately paid off. ““We decided to go off sequence early and the strategy started to play into us. We had an opportunity at the end after the last stop, but we didn’t run the lap times we needed to run, so we fell back a bit. But, at least we picked up some decent points in the championship race,”
Justin Wilson drove another tenacious race after qualifying problems left him back in place on the starting grid. “Everyone’s effort paid off and we brought home our fourth top-ten finish and earned another championship point for most cars passed,” he said afterwards. “All of that keeps us right there in the overall standings, so I’m pleased we finished the weekend on a better note.”
The 6th race in the 14-event campaign takes place in two weeks time when the Champ Cars take on the Molson Indy Toronto.
