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- R9 of
16, Aug. 14, 2005, Denver
RACE
RESULT:
AUG
14, 2005
- 1 Sebastien
Bourdais, Newman/Haas Racing, 97 laps
"When
I saw PT (Paul Tracy) in the wall, I was very surprised because PT
makes very few mistakes and that's not the kind of mistake he makes
when he's up front like that. I am just glad we won for the second
year in a row. It was very important for my McDonald's team, Centrix,
and PacifiCare, for everybody. At the start I took my chance. I said
I was going to go for it and PT went for it too, but the truth is
I should have tried to keep my second place because by braking late
on the outside I was on the perfect line on the braking that PT was
going to shoot long, trying to match my braking distance and that's
exactly what happened and then he pushed me in the dirt and then that
was the end of the story for me at the start."
- 2 Mario
Dominguez, Forsythe Racing +15.2
"I
almost lost the podium because I made a mistake and I pressed the
water button instead of the radio. All the water splashed in the helmet.
So it got all dirty, then it just started to fog up. In fact, during
the yellow I had to take off my glove completely, tried to wipe it
from the inside and put it back on again. That was a mess. It was
so bad I lost concentration, missed the braking point. Then I said
to myself if I don't make the podium they are going to kill me. So
I did."
- 3 A.J.
Allmendinger +17.2
"We
seemed to have a pretty good car in the first like 10 laps of a run
and then we kind of just -- were all weekend kind of missing the setup
on from 10 laps on, so you know, I just came in with the attitude
this weekend that -- the last three weeks were quite disappointing.
I have been putting a lot of pressure on myself."
- 4 Oriol
Servia
"Not
the best race for the PacifiCare team but we managed to gain a position
in the standings and move into third. There was contact at the start
of the race and I didn't know it but I had a big hole in my sidepod
that the team figures lost us 200-300 pounds of downforce which is
huge here because of the altitude. That would explain why the race
was a real struggle for us. I just couldn't follow the fast guys.
When I tried I would push too hard and make a small mistake so I just
hung in there and passed cars when I could. Overall we had a mistake
free race and I passed cars when I could so it's good to finish fourth
and try to be more competitive in Montreal."
- 5 Rodolfo
Lavin
- 6 Ryan
Hunter-Reay
- 7 *Ronnie
Bremer
- 8 Ricardo
Sperafico
- 9 Nelson Philippe
- 10 *Andrew Ranger
- 11 *Bjorn Wirdheim
- 12 *Marcus Marshall
- DNF: Tracy, Wilson,
da Matta , Tagliani, Vasser
- *rookie
QUALIFYING:
GRID,
AUG 13, 2005
- 1 Paul
Tracy, Forsythe Racing 59.432s
"I
did a good lap on the sixth lap and came in, everything was looking
good, so that allowed us to sit and wait. Sebastien decided to go
out straight again. I guess he thought that he could get a better
time, decided not to wait. So that allowed us to sit and wait and
watch his run. The time didn't come. Then it was, decide whether to
go out or not. Mario was making a big play. Obviously, he was close
in the time. We sat there and talked about it for a minute or two.
I just said to the crew, "You know what, I'd be kicking myself
if I sat here and lost the pole." So we went out and gave it
another lap. We did a good lap, but then the red came out on my final
lap. It all played out for us."
- 2 Sebastien
Bourdais, Newman/Haas Racing 59.541
"The
whole day went pretty well. We made a big, big change comparing to
yesterday. There was absolutely no damage to the car, and we couldn't
understand why we went so much slower with the new tires yesterday.
So we worked really hard yesterday night with the McDonald's crew,
got a big chunk of the offset between PT and myself out of the way.
You know, we thought we had it right, and then the more the track
picks up rubber, the bigger the problem is. We came to understeer
a bit too much, can't get the best out of the Bridgestone tires, so
it's a real shame. There's no grip out there, we can't use it. We
end up going faster with a significant amount of laps on the tires.
So I guess there's some good in it and some bad. The bad was today;
the good should be tomorrow."
- 3 Mario
Dominguez, Forsythe Racing
"It
went well. We definitely pushed hard out there all the time. It's
not easy to be fast in this track. You really have to be on the edge.
The track is very slippery. It's fun, fun to drive on the edge like
this. At the very end, I thought I had enough to get Sebastien off
the second place. I really wanted the 1-2 for Forsythe, but I lost
it on the last corner - the last two corners actually. But I'm quite
happy with third, as well. I think it's a very good starting position.
It puts me in a good place for tomorrow's race."
- 4 A.J.
Allmendinger
- 5 Justin
Wilson
- 6 Jimmy
Vasser
"We
made a lot of gains and worked hard to find the magic that is the
setup. The car was much better in final qualifying and I am very happy
with the PKV Racing engineering staff. We also got some help with
the setup from Cristiano (da Matta)"
- 7 Alex
Tagliani
"I
am very happy because this is my best ever starting position here
in Denver. The team did a brilliant job in the past 24 hours because
we were really struggling yesterday. We definitely improved the car
quite a bit today -- especially under brakes. Starting in the top
ten will make a big difference for our plan to move up in the championship.
I am only two points from being in the top five, so that is certainly
our target."
- 8 Oriol
Servia
- 9 Cristiano da
Matta
- 10 *Timo Glock
- 11 *Ranger 12
Sperafico 13 Lavin 14 *Wirdheim 15 Philippe 16 *Bremer 17 Hunter-Reay
18 *Marshall
FRI
QUAL, AUG 12, 2005
- 1 Paul
Tracy, Forsythe Racing 59.759s
- 2 Mario
Dominguez, Forsythe Racing +0.45
- 3 Sebastien
Bourdais, Newman/Haas Racing +0.58
"Well,
it was very good to restart the weekend the way we finished it last
year (P1 in morning practice). Obviously, things didn't go the same
way for the qualifying session. The McDonald's car was really good
this morning. We did I think 60.3 with 25 laps on the Bridgestone
tires but we just couldn't even match it with the two new sets we
put on (in qualifying). The second set during the qualifying was ruined
by traffic. We just couldn't put a lap together; the first run was
just all I got. I was just really surprised. The team was kind of
disappointed. We definitely can see that the grip is not there any
more. We'll just investigate if the dampers broke or something and
try and do better tomorrow, if the weather is letting us do it. If
a bad day is P3, I'll take it."
- 4 A.J.
Allmendinger
- 5 Justin
Wilson
- 6 *Timo
Glock
- 7 *Bjorn
Wirdheim
- 8 Rodolfo
Lavin
- 9 Oriol Servia
- 10 Cristiano
da Matta
- 11 Tagliani 12
Hunter-Reay 13 Vasser 14 Philippe 15 *Bremer 16 Sperafico 17 *Ranger
18 *Marshall
- *rookie
RACE
PREVIEW:
-
BOURDAIS:
"For
me it was obviously a great race in Denver last year for the McDonald's
team. It was a huge performance, the best drive I think I have ever
done. We had a small incident at the race in the beginning and we
had to restart from the very tail of the pack and passed pretty much
everybody on the track, not in the pits. I just had to make it happen
on the race track, not in the pits. Ten cars, one-by-one on the race
track to come and win the race. Push to Pass was everything last year
for me here. I never could have overcome that big of an incident at
the start without Push to Pass. Everybody said that it was impossible
to pass in Denver and we made it happen. Hopefully we won't have to
use it this year.
-
"Historically
Newman/Haas Racing has been doing very well in Denver especially the
past two seasons. Both the PacifiCare car and the McDonald's car have
been plenty fast and last year we pretty much dominated the event.
The challenges are pretty easy to understand, it's a concrete track
and there are a lot of bumps although the organization did a good
job to smooth the track over the years. The altitude also makes it
more demanding but it's actually harder for the car because it is
more difficult to cool the engine and the brakes; it's a tough course.
-
"Realistically
the Denver Grand Prix these days is one of the most successful in
the series. The ticket sales last year were very good and it's going
to continue to be a huge success; probably the biggest Champ Car race
in the US. CENTRIX Financial is obviously a sponsor of the team as
well as the organizer and sponsor of the race. PacifiCare is also
a sponsor of the event and my sponsor McDonald's is also involved
directly with the race. So it's a huge deal for us. We have to do
well and we know it and we're really pumped up.
-
"I
think everybody is going to try so hard that we might see more mistakes
than we usually see. The course is tough, the competition is tough.
It's a very competitive field this year. You can see five, six, seven
guys going for it this year at every race and their not always the
same guys but it's a tough field, very dense. I think we can expect
a very tough race; everybody is going to go for it. It's a course
where mistakes come very easily so we're definitely going to have
to stay clean and make it through the race without any incidents because
that's been the key lately to doing well. PT (Paul Tracy) is strong
and consistent. I've been getting more consistent lately too. We overcame
some tough situations when we were in trouble so hopefully we can
keep doing it. We've had our share of frustrating moments and hopefully
we can continue to win races from here on out."
- VASSER:
"The last couple of races, particularly San Jose, have been tough.
In San Jose, the track was hard on the cars and it was, basically, a
home race for both the team and me. That meant we had a lot of things
that we needed to do away from the track," he explained. While
I really enjoyed racing in San Jose, and very much appreciated the support
of all the fans, I am looking forward to going to Denver and focusing
on having a good result"
- WILSON:
"Justin looks forward to "home" race in Denver.
Justin and RuSPORT are eager to get on track and demonstrate their pace
at the team's "home" race in Denver this weekend. With RuSPORT
based in nearby Loveland, it's an opportunity to make last minute preparations
without the long-distance travel required for other events. While the
on-track activity follows the normal routine, inevitably home races
make for busy events off-track with additional media work for Justin
and A.J., especially on the back of their strong form this season.This
will be Justin's second race around the streets of Denver. The track
layout has been refined since the first Grand Prix of Denver three years
ago and, as last year demonstrated, it offers some good passing opportunities.
In 2004 Justin overcame handling problems to finish 7th with Conquest
after starting 10th. With an extra year's Champ Car experience under
his and the team's belt, he's aiming to run at the front this time."
TOP
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2005
SEASON
2005
TEAMS
2005
RULES
2005
STANDING:
after race
1. Bourdais 248
2. Tracy 196
3. Servia 183
4. Wilson 180
5. Dominguez 152
6. Allmendinger 151
7. Vasser 131
7. Tagliani 131
9. Glock 117
10. Bremer 115
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2004
Sebastien
Bourdais
2003 Paul Tracy
2002 C Da Matta
2001 Gil De Ferran
2000 Gil De Ferran
1999 Juan Montoya
1998 Alex Zanardi
1997 Alex Zanardi
1996 Jimmy Vasser
1995 Jacque Villeneuve
1994 Al Unser Jr.
1993 Nigel Mansell
1992 Bobby Rahal
1991 Michael Andretti
1990 Al Unser Jr.
TOYOTA
ATLANTIC CHAMPIONS:
2004 Jon Fogarty
2003 Allmendinger
2002 Jon Fogarty
2001 Hoover Orsi
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