Paul Tracy took the honours in California last night in the first round of the 2004 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car Series Powered by Ford. Driving his Forsythe Lola the Canadian took his 2nd Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach victory in successive years and his 27th in total to stake his claim on retaining his drivers crown. He headed home Newman Haas Lola team mates Bruno Junqueira and Sebastien Bourdais in a nail biting finish that saw all three covered by just 6 seconds after 81 laps of racing.
In front of a capacity crowd the new era of Champ Car racing began with a spectacular start as pole winner Junqueira was beaten in to the first corner by a charging Tracy who pulled out an extraordinary move to claim the inside line. Getting well out of shape under braking Tracy only just squeezed through to claim the lead that he would only lose during the two mandatory green flag pit stops which are part of the new for 2004 regulations.
“When the green flag waved, I used the Push to Pass Button at the start/finish line to pick up more speed,” said a delighted Tracy after the race. “I then took advantage of Bruno’s draft and charged to the inside. I waited for Bruno to brake so that I could make my move to get around him, however, he ended up braking earlier than I anticipated and my car started to slide. I managed to take over the lead and just pushed as hard as I could to pull away from the field. We had excellent pit stops and the car was just running great throughout the whole day.”
Newman Haas started the season strongly with their drivers blocking out the front row of the grid. A competitive race saw Junqueira hound Tracy throughout but earlier pit stops left him with just a little too much to do in the closing stages. “We didn't run the wrong strategy, it was just a conservative one due to the way the race turned out with no yellows,” said the Brazilian. “We had to take a conservative strategy the way the new rules are.”
Sebastien Bourdais got close to his team mates rear wing in the closing stages despite a re-fuelling problem at his last stop. However, he was unable to pressure him in to a mistake but believes that it was still a great start to his title aspirations. “Consistency is the key to winning the championship this season and to finish in P3 (position three) is a pretty good start to the season. I started on pole in the opener in St. Pete last year and hardly left with any points. This is a much better start to the season."
Patrick Carpentier took a well-judged 4th place using all his experience to use his optional (soft) tyres to maximum effect. “They didn’t go away they stayed really good the whole time and I really enjoyed them. The crew did great pit stops and we couldn’t ask for better for the first race.”
Herdez also had a promising start to 2004 with Mario Dominguez and Ryan Hunter Reay finishing 5th and 7th respectively. In between them in 6th place came the leading rookie, Justin Wilson who impressed with a mature performance despite limited testing in the Conquest Lola after securing a late deal to race in the Eric Bachelrat managed team. This was despite being delayed at the first corner when several cars touched and Jimmy Vasser (PKV Lola) was put out of the race.
“I went around on the outside and that was fine until three into one didn’t go,” said Wilson who also had to contend with boiling brakes. “I was in the middle so I got hit. I bounced across and knocked Jimmy into the wall, so it was unfortunate for him, but it just got too tight.”
A very disappointed Alex Tagliani came home 8th despite running just behind Junqueira in 3rd for much of the early running. A stuck right rear wheel on his 2nd stop saw him fall down the field but the Rocketsports Lola driver still took something away from the weekend. “Our Lola was fast, a definite podium car but stuff happens and we can’t predict the outcome. We had a good race, but some bad luck, but this is only the start and we’ll be in the hunt for podium finishes and great results all season.”
Other strong showings during the race came from Frenchman Nelson Phillipe who finished his first ever Champ Car race in 13th position. At 17 years of age Phillipe became the youngest ever starter and enjoyed his race in the 2nd of the Rocketsports Lola’s. “"I feel amazing. It was a long race and it does feel good to finish, but I was right there and had a great race. I did everything right, focused on the track and my drive.”
Rodolfo Lavin started his Forsythe career off with a solid 10th place finish ahead of Rusports Michel Jourdain and impressive rookie AJ Allmendinger who was delayed during the first corner contretemps. Dale Coyne’s other car driven by Oriol Servia retired with an apparent engine problem while Roberto Gonzalez (PKV Lola) stopped with just 5 laps remaining.
With perfect race day weather, a huge crowd and celebrities such as Tom Cruise and Paul McCartney enjoying the action, the weekend was an overwhelming success and a perfect way for a new era of Champ Car racing to begin. The next round of the series is at Monterrey in Mexico on May 23rd.QUOTES FROM THE TOP THREE FINISHERS
PAUL TRACY: You know, our strategy, we just said, well, we were just going to take our chances and flip the coin and try as long as we have fuel to go; and the track was green, we were going to stay out there and not pit at set times.
BRUNO JUNQUEIRA: I think it's going to be a great year. I think there's going to be a big fight between me, Tracy and Sebastien. I believe that there's going to be other drivers that are going to be fast, as well. But for sure, you will have to be consistent to win the championship With Tracy and Sebastien, and some of the other guys, you have to concentrate all the time if you are going to do well.
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: After the way we started last year when we won the pole in St. Pete but didn’t score any points, this is very important for us and it is nice to come out of here with some points.
2004 Grand Prix of Long Beach FP SP # Driver Engine/Chassis/Tire LC Time Mph km/h Lag Status 1 3 1 P. Tracy Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone 81 1:44:12.348 91.785 147.713 In Pit 2 1 6 B. Junqueira Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone 81 1:44:18.029 91.701 147.579 5.681 In Pit 3 2 2 S. Bourdais Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone 81 1:44:18.723 91.691 147.562 6.375 In Pit 4 7 7 P. Carpentier Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone 81 1:44:29.149 91.539 147.317 16.801 In Pit 5 5 55 M. Dominguez Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone 81 1:44:29.875 91.528 147.300 17.527 In Pit 6 11 34 J. Wilson Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone 81 1:44:48.993 91.250 146.852 36.645 Active 7 6 4 R. Hunter-Reay Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone 81 1:44:51.274 91.217 146.799 38.926 Active 8 4 8 A. Tagliani Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone 81 1:45:12.926 90.904 146.295 1:00.578 Active 9 14 5 M. Haberfeld Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone 80 1:44:28.016 90.425 145.525 1 Lap In Pit 10 9 3 R. Lavin Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone 80 1:44:28.509 90.418 145.513 1 Lap In Pit 11 13 9 M. Jourdain Jr. Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone 80 1:46:08.220 89.002 143.235 1 Lap In Pit 12 8 10 A. Allmendinger Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone 79 1:45:06.139 88.755 142.837 2 Laps Active 13 16 17 N. Philippe Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone 78 1:44:27.719 88.168 141.893 3 Laps In Pit 14 17 21 R. Gonzalez Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone 76 1:41:58.461 88.003 141.628 3 Laps Mechanical 15 12 11 O. Servia Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone 14 28:02.194 58.963 94.892 4 Laps Mechanical 16 10 12 J. Vasser Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone 1 1:57.003 60.552 97.449 1.233 Contact 17 15 14 A. Sperafico Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone 1 1:59.699 59.188 95.255 3.929 Contact 18 0 19 T. Marques Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone 1 2:01.789 58.173 93.620 6.019 Contact FP finish position SP starting position # car number LC laps completed
