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2006 CHAMP CARS         

ROUND 11: Aug. 27 Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve Montreal, QC, CANADA

WILSON REPORT - Rain delay at Montreal: racing continues on Monday

• The Grand Prix of Montreal was red-flagged after just 7 laps due to lack of visibility caused by heavy rain. The race started on a wet track with light rain, but the weather deteriorated to a heavy downpour soon after. With the spray hanging thickly in the air amongst the trees, the drivers were unable to see their braking points and Champ Car officials took the sensible decision to bring the cars into pit lane.
• It was hoped that the rain would abate and the race might continue later on Sunday afternoon, but the bad weather continued for several hours. Champ Car has now announced that the race will resume on Monday morning (10.00 Eastern Time/15.00 BST), following a brief, 15 minute warm-up from 09.30 to 09.45.
• The cars will line up in the order in which they were classified when the race was suspended. A.J. Allmendinger will start from the front. He grabbed the lead from Sebastien Bourdais when the Frenchman had a leery moment on the slippery kerbs at Turn 1. Justin will line up 4th after he ceded 3rd place to Paul Tracy at the start.

RACE RESULT

RACE REPORT - NEWMANN-HAAS   (TOP OF PAGE)

• McDONALD'S ® DRIVER BOURDAIS EARNED FIRST GRAND PRIX OF MONTREAL WIN AND STRETCHED POINTS LEAD FROM 32 TO 62 OVER SECOND; HOLE IN THE WALL CAMPS DRIVER JUNQUEIRA 12TH AFTER OFF-TRACK INCIDENT
• McDonald's ® driver Sebastien Bourdais stretched his slim pre-race point lead of 32 over second place in the Champ Car title hunt to 62 after he won the postponed Grand Prix de Montreal and earned the maximum points available while his closest rivals in the hunt, A.J. Allmendinger and Justin Wilson succumbed to mechanical failure or crashed, respectively. Bourdais has 310 points to Allmendinger and Wilson who both have 248. His win brought Newman/Haas Racing their third straight at this track in five races here after Junqueira drove to victory in 2004 and Oriol Servia won in 2005. Although Bourdais dominated the past two races here from pole and encountered problems in all three of his previous starts at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, he had yet to earn a podium finish. In his fourth, and likely final attempt at this course in the foreseeable future as it will not be on the schedule for 2007, Bourdais was able to add another race course to his win list. He earned one point for provisional pole on Friday and another on Saturday when he took his 25th career pole and the 100th for Newman/Haas Racing (NHR) but the race was liable to be a crap shoot due to the forecast of rain. He started from pole in rainy conditions on Sunday and lost the lead to A.J. Allmendinger on the first lap after sliding multiple times on the slippery track. The team had elected to not run a full rain setup on the car in the hopes that the rain would slow or a red flag would come out and Bourdais fought to keep his car on track. A red flag did come out after six of the regularly scheduled 72-laps on the 2.709-mile road course and the field waited for a decision on the race status. A few hours later the weather had yet to improve and the race was rescheduled for 10 a.m. on Monday following a 10 minute pre-race warm-up for the field to shake down their dry weather setups. Under cool and cloudy conditions, Bourdais restarted the event on the red alternate Bridgestone tires and held second to Allmendinger by a margin of one seconds until the first caution of the day for Andrew Ranger who spun and stalled. After the restart, the track still had only dried on the one racing line and a pass would have been potentially risky early in the race so Bourdais ran within one second of Allmendinger while conserving fuel. On Lap 15 Allmendinger slowed and subsequently retired due to a probable mechanical failure and Bourdais took over the lead with a two-second gap over Paul Tracy. Katherine Legge brought out a caution flag from Laps 19-21 when she spun and stalled. Bourdais was able to hold the lead on the restart and built another gap over Tracy to almost six seconds before the majority of the field pitted on Lap 31. After Bourdais got back on track a caution flag came out for Oriol Servia who crashed in Turn 15. Title contender Wilson entered the closed pits because he was running out of fuel and was later dropped back to the rear of the field for the action. After the pit cycle was complete Bourdais regained the lead on Lap 34 and held it through the restart on Lap 41 for Andrew Ranger who spun and stalled his car. He maintained the lead after the restart and again began to build a gap over Tracy. By Lap 49 his title hopes gained some stream as Wilson made contact with the wall after passing a car and retired due to the contact. During the caution the field made another pit stop and Bourdais took on fuel and another set of primary race tires. The race was restarted on Lap 53 and Bourdais ran second to Nelson Philippe who was on a different pit strategy but Bourdais was still able to set what would hold as the fastest lap of the race. He held second for the next 11 laps until Philippe pitted and increased his margin over third place Tracy from one second to 9.5 by the time he regained the lead. His comfortable lead over Tracy evaporated when the final caution of the race came out from Laps 64-66 for debris from contact between Tagliani and rookie Jan Heylen. The three lap caution ended when the green and white flag came out simultaneously and Bourdais was able to hold off Tracy and take the checkered flag 1.39 seconds ahead after having completed 67 of the regularly scheduled 72 laps during the one hour 45 minute time limit. Bourdais earned 31 points for the win, one for leading and one for setting the fastest lap of the race for a season total of 310 with three races left in the championship.
• Following are his post race comments: "I guess it was a hell of a day for the championship," said Bourdais. "This McDonald's team did a mistake-free run, great pit stops. Last year we lost it as a team, and this year we won it as a team. It was going to take exactly the opposite of what we did last year. These boys pulled a magnificent pit stop for the last one. It's all to their credit. Obviously, it can go either way from there when you come in pit lane with the field packed up. It's out of your control. I was really, really happy to see that we peeled off first. But then it wasn't going to be that easy because obviously there were quite a few cars in front of us, and there was quite a few laps left. I decided that the best defense was the offense and pass Katherine. When that's been done right off for the braking I was feeling a little more comfortable because I could see that Nelson was pretty fast. From there on, it was a clear-cut. I felt really bad yesterday, because my car was really good in the warm-up. But on the first lap in the heavy rain, I just couldn't drive it. So, I was disappointed to lose the lead after two corners like that, but today was a different day. We benefited from a mechanical from A.J. and a mistake from Justin, so we are in the best position for the championship. It was pretty much the same for the whole race today; the line widened a little bit lap after lap after lap, but the grip didn't really go very high and it was tough to race. The smallest mistake - you would put the Bridgestone tire in the wet and that was that. I really had a big moment once, and after that I said, 'let's keep focused because it's really easy to make a mistake today.' The tires were very, very consistent, and we just had almost a mistake-free race.
• (On the race pace:) "Yeah, I think it was really hard. At the beginning I think I was quicker than A.J., but obviously passing was not an option because you could just not go off the line. There was one dry line that I was at. At the stop, I was really tempted to go over A.J. You know, but no way around. After that, I kind of settled and tried to save more fuel. But the track was getting a little wider and wider than the line. Still, it was very easy to grab some water and lock a wheel in the braking, or start to have a big wiggle. It was really tricky out there for sure.
• (On 62-point lead with three races to go giving him room to breathe:) "It's about as good as it gets. After Denver, it was very important for us to bounce back, and now it's done. I can't say I'm really pleased at the way things went with A.J. because obviously I would have liked better to win it fair and square. You know, that's what racing is all about. We've had our share of bad days. You know, today, it was a good day. On the other hand, Justin made a mistake. That, I guess, is part of racing, too.
• Hole in the Wall Camps driver Bruno Junqueira ran as high as fourth place in the Grand Prix de Montreal, that was postponed until today because of limited visibility due to rainy conditions but was caught out by the timing of a caution period and off-track excursion and finished 12th. On Sunday the race began while rain fell and Junqueira moved from his sixth place start to fifth ahead of Oriol Servia. He held the position as the rain steadily increased the first caution flag came out from Laps 3 to 5 for Kathryn Legge who spun on the slick track. The race restarted on Lap 5 but Champ Car officials red flagged the event on the following lap due to lack of visibility for the competitors. The weather failed to improve so the series postponed it to Monday at 10 AM following a 10 minute warm-up session for the teams to revert back to a dry weather racecar set up. Junqueira took the green flag at approx. 10:15 a.m. EST on the red alternate Bridgestone tires and held the position through a caution from Laps 11-13 for Canadian Andrew Ranger who spun and stalled his car. He moved into fourth place when race leader A.J. Allmendinger slowed and subsequently retired with apparent mechanical failure. He held fourth until Lap 17 when Servia passed him with the help of Push to Pass. Another caution flag was brought out from Laps 19-21 for Kathryn Legge who spun and stalled. He held fifth thought the restart and continued to get good fuel mileage in an attempt to run longer than those ahead of him. He moved as high as second place as the frontrunners made their first pit stops and the lap prior to his first pit stop a caution came out for Servia who made contact. The pits were subsequently closed and he was forced to save as much fuel as possible to attempt to pit once they opened or get a penalty. The team was concerned about making it to the pits and as they were about to be forced to enter a closed pit, the pits opened. Since Junqueira had to pit under caution he lost valuable track position and returned to the track in 11th place. Due to the timing of the yellow he was instructed that in order to get a good result, he would have to pass as many cars as possible and not save fuel. He began his charge once the race resumed and passed two cars on Lap 37. On Lap 38 he passed Charles Zwolsman in the chicane but once he entered Turn 1 the car would not turn, possibly due to a loss of traction on a wet part of the course. The wing elements of the front nose were destroyed so he was called to the pits for a new nose. They also replaced his top front wishbone which was bent. Fortunately he only went one lap down despite the changes and he returned to the track in 13th place. He reported that the car was difficult to steer but held on through three more caution periods to finish 12th and collect 9 points and move from his pre-race rank of 9th place into eighth, only 26 back from fourth.
• Following are his post race comments:
  "I was making good fuel mileage in fifth place and I think we could have gone longer than the others and gained some positions but unfortunately Oriol crashed wile most of the field had pitted and the yellow came out right when we were going to stop," said Junqueira. "It's a shame it caught us out because we could have had a top five or top three finish. After that I passed a couple of cars and had also just passed Charles Zwolsman in the chicane and when I came to Turn 1 the car just went straight. I'm not sure why but maybe the tires got wet. The guys changed my front wing and some suspension quick and I only went one lap down but from then on we were just hanging on to get some points."

RACE REPORT - FORSYTHE   (TOP OF PAGE)

• Runner Up Finish For Tracy At Montreal
• Montreal, Quebec, Canada , Monday, August 28, 2006 , Paul Tracy finished second today at the Montreal Grand Prix which finally got underway after being postponed one day due to rain. Tracy got around Justin Wilson at the start of the race on Sunday and held the third position until the race was red flagged. Today he had a strong consistent run and challenged but never managed to get around Sebastien Bourdais. It was a fitting end to a weekend in which Tracy managed to turn a negative and unsupportive crowd into a new set of fans after wearing his "Captain Quebec" costume during the driver parade.
• A.J. Allmendinger passed Sebastien Bourdais on the start of Sunday's race and managed to hold on to the lead in the first rain race of his career. Today he re-started the race in first place and was leading comfortably until a broken half-shaft forced him to retire. This is Allmendinger's first DNF since the Season Opener at Long Beach.
• Paul Tracy "It was a good day for us. Obviously, this has not been a great track for me since we've come here. I've had my best weekend ever here. I had a good time this weekend with the crowd. The crowd had a lot of fun with me. We turned it into a good result. I'm happy to come away with a podium finish here in Montreal. It was a good day. I have to thank my guys because they did a great job this weekend, we really needed a good result, the rest of the races are at tracks where I've always been strong so I'm confident that we will very strong for the rest of the Season."
• A.J. Allmendinger "Well it's obviously a really disappointing result, I mean I was just cruising out there, I was only pushing 80% the whole time. I knew Sebastien was right in my gearbox but there was no way he was going to be able to even try to pass because there was only one dry line. So I was just controlling the pace of the race and taking it easy. When I came out of the hairpin I started shifting and something suddenly just broke in the rear, I knew right away that our day was done. It's a shame because the Forsythe Team gave me a great car and I was on my way to another win. I just have to say thanks to the fans that came out on a Monday morning to watch the race, I wish I could've given them a win but it just wasn't our day today."

RACE REPORT - RUSPORT   (TOP OF PAGE)

• Justin Wilson's Day Ends Early at Champ Car Grand Prix of Montreal
• Lap 47 crash results in 14th-place finish at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
• MONTREAL, Quebec, Canada, Aug. 28, 2006 , After a one-day delay because of torrential rains in Montreal yesterday, Justin Wilson (#9 CDW / RuSPORT Ford-Cosworth / Lola / Bridgestone) saw an up-and-down day end on a sour note. As he battled his way through the field from behind, because of a penalty for stopping in a closed pit lane on lap 32, Wilson made contact with the wall in turn 15 on lap 47. He officially finished in 14th place at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
• "Obviously, we didn't get the result we were hoping for," said Wilson. "The car was quick, we had the right strategy, and the CDW crew had done a great job all weekend. But luck wasn't on our side today. The penalty we received for entering a closed pit made things difficult for us, but we felt we could still make up some of the positions we lost. However, the car got away from me as I was going through the last turn, and I hit the wall. It's disappointing for me, because we were hoping to turn in a good result for the team's guests for CDW Canada, and for Cristiano da Matta and his family, but it wasn't meant to be. So, we'll just take what we can from this weekend and try for a better result at Road America, next month."
• "Needless to say, it has been a disappointing day for Justin and the entire CDW Car No. 9 crew," said RuSPORT president Jeremy Dale. "The first stint of the race went very well for us. We did well on fuel, we had good race pace, and we were in a great position to exit pit lane in the lead or close to it, after the first stop. Unfortunately, on our in lap, the yellow flag came out and the pits were closed. But we had to pit the car, or we would have run out of fuel, so we were moved to the back of the field. Justin, as usual, was driving his heart out and doing an excellent job in gaining positions, but he got a little too hot in the last chicane, and clipped the wall. It was a great effort, but not where we should have been. The entire CDW / RuSPORT team had hoped for a better result, particularly for Cristiano and his family, because they continue to be in our thoughts."

QUALIFYING

QUALIFYING REPORT - NEWMAN-HAAS RACING    (TOP OF PAGE)

• McDONALD'S DRIVER BOURDAIS GAINED ANOTHER VALUABLE POINT EN ROUTE TO 100TH POLE FOR TEAM AT THE CHAMP CAR GRAND PRIX DE MONTREAL; HOLE IN THE WALL CAMPS DRIVER JUNQUEIRA TO START SIXTH
• Sebastien Bourdais, No. 1 McDonald's Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone: "I went in the tires this morning pretty quick. I wasn't too impressed with that. We discovered that the right front wing broke in the back straight before the incident. I braked pretty much a few meters further than the previous lap. I wasn't going to make it. I just realized a little too late. Then I looked at the rumble strips there was at the left side of the track. I just hesitated and didn't shortcut, which I really should of. As a consequence, I hit the curb head on, jumped. By the time I made it back to the ground, I was in the tires. But the McDonald's car was really good this afternoon after the boys did an awesome job to fix it. There was quite a bit of damage. We went back out and it's like nothing happened. I was really pleased. I did a first run and was P1. Going back out, I was expecting a little bit more grip from the Bridgestone red tires. It seems like it's very similar between the blacks and the reds but we'll see what happens tomorrow. But anyways, whether it's wet or dry, we'll start from the pole, and that's the best spot you want to be. We'll manage.
• (On winning 25 of NHR's 100 poles:) "It's great. I guess I'm really part of the family now because, obviously, to be part of a quarter of all the poles that the team has achieved is quite something in only four years. It just shows how good this group has become over the years. I take my hat off to these boys because, you know, they made it happen. I'm not alone in the car. A good driver without a good car can't do anything. I rely a lot on these boys, so it's a great feeling.
• "Well, I guess we've had three really bad races here. Hopefully the bad series is behind us and we can hope for something different tomorrow. I just really hope that things are going to be kind of bright and sunny tomorrow, not just the weather, it doesn't really matter. I think the McDonald's car is really good. I'm pretty confident in both conditions. I just hope that we have an incident-free race and we have a fair shot at trying to win this thing. It would feel really good with this crowd that's really supportive of me. It would feel really sweet."
• Bruno Junqueira, No. 2 Hole in the Wall Camps Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone: "The car was good but not good enough to fight for pole again today. Maybe we could have had potential to be in the top-three but it was hard to get a clear lap. I had a clear shot on my first run and set my fastest lap time then. On the second run I couldn't get a clear lap because Tagliani came out on track right in front of me. I kept backing off to get more of a gap but would still come up on him on the next lap. There was a lot of traffic and everyone was trying to get a gap. It's going to be a long, hard race and we will be really patient. I'm confident we can move to the front."

QUALIFYING REPORT - FORSYTHE RACING    (TOP OF PAGE)

• Second and Fourth for Allmendinger and Tracy at Montreal
• Montreal, Quebec, Canada , Saturday, August 26, 2006 , The Forsythe duo of A.J. Allmendinger and Paul Tracy put in a strong qualifying effort for the Grand Prix of Montreal today by placing their Indeck/Forsythe Champ Cars in the second and fourth positions on the grid. Both drivers struggled with changing track conditions which made the balance of the car vary from the previous practice session, but the team made adjustments midway through the session that paid off. There is a high chance of rain for Sunday which should make for one of the most exciting races of the 2006 Season. The speed of Team Forsythe was on display not only in the Champ Car World Series, but also with its driver development team in the Champ Car Atlantic Championship as Canadian James Hinchcliffe captured his first career Pole Position.
• A.J. Allmendinger "I was really pleased after practice, but then in qualifying we struggled a little bit with the balance of the car. Yesterday we weren't able to qualify because of a mechanical problem so we had to make sure we got a good lap in today. Last time we qualified like this, I won the race so I'm very confident going into the race tomorrow. It's supposed to rain tomorrow and the truth is that I really enjoy the rain , ok, actually, I've never raced in it but I'm sure it will be lots of fun!"
• Paul Tracy "Well I'm pretty happy. It's the best I've ever qualified here in Montreal so it turned out to be a pretty good effort by the team, a top 4 qualifying position. It looks like the weather tomorrow is going to be a little iffy so I think the race is going to be pretty interesting. Overall it's been a pretty satisfying weekend so far."

QUALIFYING REPORT - JUSTIN WILSON    (TOP OF PAGE)

• Justin qualifies 3rd at Grand Prix of Montreal
• Justin's #9 CDW RuSPORT car will start from 3rd place on the grid for tomorrow's Grand Prix of Montreal after today's final qualifying session. His time of 1:20.587 saw him placed behind pole-sitter Sebastien Bourdais (Newman-Haas, 1:20.005) and former team-mate A.J. Allmendinger (Forsythe, 1:20.361). Paul Tracy (Forsythe, 1:20.669) will line up in 4th.
• Justin felt that the day had gone reasonably well, and said "We made improvements with the car. It is stronger and faster, and feels lot better. I'm just pleased to be in the top three, but we've got to find a bit more speed for tomorrow. The weather is the biggest question, as there's a chance of rain tomorrow and I think that makes everyone in pit lane nervous. We'll just try to stay out of trouble in the race and collect some more championship points."
• With the latest weather forecast indicating a 30-40% chance of rain, we could be in for an interesting race. The green flag drops at 6.30pm UK time on Sunday. (justinwilson.co.uk)

FRIDAY REPORT - NEWMAN-HAAS RACING    (TOP OF PAGE)

• McDONALD'S DRIVER BOURDAIS GAINED A VALUABLE POINT FOR PROVISIONAL POLE FOR THE CHAMP CAR GRAND PRIX DE MONTREAL; HOLE IN THE WALL CAMPS DRIVER JUNQUEIRA THIRD
• Sebastien Bourdais, No. 1 McDonald's Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone: "The McDonald's car was really good right off. This morning we were very happy with the way things went, just pretty much started where we left it (last year). It wasn't perfect, but it was a very solid baseline, so we didn't really bother, we just let the track come to us. Then this afternoon, it really felt like we made some improvements and were running strong. You know, we did two laps on the first run; the red flag came out. We just saved the tires and said, Okay, this will be a good set for the race. And then we left the pits again for the second run on the standard Bridgestone tires. I was in a good gap. I didn't have a big margin in front of Paul (Tracy). I went pretty quick on the first couple of laps. Just made a big mistake and hit the wall really hard in turn four. From there on, I was pretty sure that it was going to be a very average qualifying. When I came down to turn one, I locked wheels and got sideways, and probably the crossweight was all wrong (from hitting the wall previously). Still, the lap time came at the end, which I was very surprised to see the classification. I guess we should have a look at what the setup is right now. Not that the car feels great, but it's surely fast. It's just one of these days where you don't really understand what's happening. I'm just very happy that the result is what it is right now."
• Bruno Junqueira, No. 2 Hole in the Wall Camps Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone: "I'm very disappointed because I could fight for pole but I got traffic. On the first set of tires I was only 1/10th of a second behind Sebastien. On the second set of tires I got traffic but still was able to improve my time although possibly not as much as if I didn't have traffic. I made a small mistake in Turn 1 and had to go through the chicane and they took my lap away but it wasn't the lap I went through the chicane on, it was the previous one. They initially listed me in fourth place but then moved me into third when they took away the correct lap. It was good to be able to fight for the pole. We will work hard to keep improving the car and fight for it again tomorrow."

FRIDAY REPORT - FORSYTHE RACING    (TOP OF PAGE)

• PAUL TRACY FIFTH IN MONTREAL PROVISIONAL QUALIFYING
  A.J. Allmendinger Misses Session with Mechanical Problem
• Forsythe Championship Racing's dynamic duo of Paul Tracy and A.J. Allmendinger had mixed results in today's first round of Qualifying for Sunday's Champ Car Grand Prix of Montreal as Allmendinger missed the session entirely after a rare engine failure just as the pre-qualifying practice session got underway, while Tracy struggled with braking issues that left him fifth on the Provisional Grid.
• Paul Tracy: "It was kind of an average day. The car is pretty good but we still need to get a little more speed out of it. We are struggling in the braking zones. We need to be able to go a little deeper and carry more speed into the corner. This track always gets faster as it rubbers up so tomorrow the grip will be better. We'll keep working on the setup of the car during morning practice, and I think we'll have a good shot tomorrow. We didn't use any Reds today (the softer alternate Bridgestone tires) so we have two sets for tomorrow."
• A.J. Allmendinger: "I guess I can't say much because I didn't get to do any running. The Forsythe Team gave me a great car this morning and I'm very confident that we would've been right up there today. We had an engine problem coming out of the pits. Champ Car rules don't allow us to use our back up car in this situation and there was no way to fix the car in time so we had to call it a day. Just unfortunate; the engines are usually totally reliable and it gave no warning at all."

FRIDAY REPORT - JUSTIN WILSON    (TOP OF PAGE)

• Justin 4th quickest at Montreal 1st qualifying
• Justin set the 4th fastest time in today's qualifying session for the Grand Prix of Montreal, with the #9 CDW RuSPORT car producing a lap of 1:22.085. This was achieved on a set of the softer alternate tyres towards the end of the session. Provisional pole was taken by Sebastien Bourdais (Newman Haas) with 1:21.193, Oriel Servia (PKV) was next on 1:21.523, with Bruno Junqueira (Newman Haas) in third with 1:21.856.
• Justin was initially classified as 3rd after Junqueira was docked his fastest time for an infringement. It later turned out that the scorers had deleted the wrong lap and Justin dropped to 4th.
• Commenting on his day's work, Justin said "It's been not too bad. We had a few problems this morning, so we didn't do many laps. The car seemed pretty quick. It was the same again in qualifying, where we were pretty quick. We just need to find a bit more yet to get on that front row. Hopefully we can get there tomorrow. Obviously, every race from now until the end of the season is going to be important. We're trying to close the gap to Sebastien and give ourselves a chance at the championship. We're going to attack all weekend and do the best we can. If we can win and finish ahead of Sebastien, we're going to take it. If we can't, we're going to finish as close as we can and move on to the next race and hopefully get some luck there."
• The team are boosted by the news that Cristiano da Matta's health continues to improve, following his collision with a deer at Elkhart Lake three weeks ago. Cristiano has been transferred to a regular hospital room and is increasingly responding to verbal commands.

FRIDAY REPORT - TEAM AUSTRALIA    (TOP OF PAGE)

• NINTH FOR POWER AND TEAM AUSTRALIA ON OPENING DAY IN MONTREAL
• Team Australia driver Will Power has driven his Aussie Vineyards Lola to ninth fastest in provisional qualifying for this weekend's Champ Car Grand Prix de Montreal in Canada today.
• Power adjusted quickly to the Montreal circuit and impressed in the wide and fast surroundings of the road course, a style of circuit more to the Queenslander driver's liking.
• Power's encouraging ninth position was achieved without the use of Bridgestone's softer red 'option' tyre, giving Team Australia confidence heading into final qualifying tomorrow.
• The Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards star also qualified faster than Roshfrans Rookie of the Year rivals Dan Clarke and Katherine Legge, keeping him on track to maintain his lead in the rookie standings.
• Power's Team Australia team-mate and local favourite Alex Tagliani was 12th fastest today in provisional qualifying and will be aiming for a better showing tomorrow.
• Tagliani struggled for grip, but as more rubber will be on the circuit for tomorrow's final qualifying, the Aussie Vineyards driver will work hard with the Team Australia engineers overnight to have a strong set-up for tomorrow.
• Will Power , #5 Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards Lola: "We are back to my kind of circuit," said Power. "I really enjoyed it out there. It was a lot of fun. It's a road circuit so it was a lot smoother. It was a great session for us with it being the first day having ever been to the circuit.
• "We only used one set of tyres in qualifying so we will have more new rubber to run when the track is more gripped up and we will have two red sets to run in qualifying tomorrow, which will help more.
• "I think there is a little more time out of me and the goal for tomorrow is to get a little bit more out of the tyres for qualifying."
• Alex Tagliani , #15 Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards Lola: "The track is quite slippery right now," said Tagliani. "In fact I was surprised in how slippery it really was. There is something we can try to gain a little more grip overall. We need to just think overnight and I know that we can get the car more competitive and better on the grid for tomorrow."
• Derrick Walker , Team Australia Co-Owner: "It was a mixed bag for us today," said Walker.
• "For his first time at this track, Will did really run well and ran very smart in both sessions. He really kept on target and really focused and got the most out of the car. There is more we can do overnight and I think he can be right there for tomorrow.
• "Big problem with Alex, he has a completely different driving style and we don't have the car for him here. He knows the circuit really well so we know we've got to get the car better for him before he can put it up on the grid, but we still have time left.
• "We will go back and get the crystal ball out and see what we can find for tomorrow."
• Craig Gore , Team Australia Co-Owner: "I think Will has done a solid job considering it is his first time at the circuit," said Gore. "The fact that he is in the top without using the red option tyres is pretty impressive. "Will's focus seems to become more intense with every race meeting, which can only be a great thing as he charges towards the Lexmark Indy 300, where he will get to fly the Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards flag in front of his home crowd.
• "Alex struggled a little bit today, but the team will go back to the drawing board overnight and work hard on tomorrow's plan. I'm sure Alex will want a solid result in front of the French-Canadian crowd, who really love him."

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