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2006 CHAMP CARS         

ROUND 7: TORONTO, CANADA, JULY 9, 2006

• WILSON, POLE: "The car felt great. It's been working well all weekend. I'm just really pleased to have finally put that one lap together and make it count. I've just got to thank my team, and the whole crew "
• Allmendinger quickest Friday: "Toronto is a difficult track and we still have a lot of work to do on the car, I think as a team we still have a lot of to improve on. The Bridgestone blacks we're not as good as the red ones today. But I knew we were fairly close to the pole."

RACE RESULT

FORSYTHE RACE REPORT (ALLMENDINGER 1ST, TRACY 2ND)    (TOP OF PAGE)

• Forsythe Team Dominates at Toronto, Allmendinger Scores Third Win in a Row
• Toronto, Ontario, Canada - July 9th 2006 , A.J. Allmendinger became the first American driver to win three consecutive Champ Car races in 12 years today after taking the victory for the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto. Paul Tracy sealed the Forsythe Team's dominance in his home town by finishing in second only 1.851 seconds behind his teammate. Both Forsythe drivers had to save fuel for almost the entire distance of the race but managed to squeeze more speed out of their cars than their competitors and make definitive passes. Once they climbed to the front of the field they never looked back. Allmendinger moves to second in the championship and will continue his hunt for the Vanderbilt Cup July 23 at Edmonton where he captured his first career Bridgestone Pole Position and led the most laps in 2005.
• A.J. Allmendinger #7 INDECK Ford-Cosworth/Bridgestone/Lola, Race Winner, Second in Points
• "The whole Forsythe Indeck team, they've been absolutely doing a brilliant job every weekend that I've been with the team. The crew guys, they worked really hard and keep plugging away, and the whole engineering staff, they just did , this is definitely the hardest weekend to go through because the car wasn't great right away, we had to keep working at it. Seems like every time we get in race mode, they hit it perfect, and the car's just brilliant to drive, nice and smooth, and we can keep the pace, not abuse the tires. I said yesterday that I had no problem starting behind Wilson because I knew that my team would give me better pit stops, and that's just exactly what happened and they got me out in the lead. Everything's just falling into place so far during the races. It takes a lot during the Champ Car races to have a lot of luck with timing of the yellows and everything that can happen. It's just we've been fortunate, made the right calls, had the car to beat. I just want to keep doing this."
• Paul Tracy #3 INDECK Ford-Cosworth/Bridgestone/Lola , Second Position , Sixth in Points
• "It was a good race for us. I'm happy for Team Forsythe. To come away in Toronto with a 1-2, it's great. It's a great feeling to know that our team has rebounded this year. We've got performance back in the car, and the team is up. You know, I had a good race today. AJ was strong. There was a point in the race where everybody was saving a lot of fuel. AJ was starting to pull out a little bit. I knew I could get by if I just tried to use a little bit of fuel for a couple laps. I was able to get by Sebastien and Wilson, but then had to save a lot of fuel. You know, we had a pretty big margin after the last pit stop, over Sebastien. I was able to really just run at my own pace and try to pace off of AJ. But all in all, I'm happy. You know, it's been a rough year so far. But to come away, we know we can perform, we know we can run with the top guys in the series. To come away with a podium in my hometown is great."

NEWMAN-HAAS RACE REPORT (BOURDAIS 2ND)    (TOP OF PAGE)

• McDONALD'S® DRIVER BOURDAIS MAINTAINED POINTS LEAD WITH THIRD PLACE FINISH IN THE MOLSON CHAMP CAR GRAND PRIX OF TORONTO; HOLE IN THE WALL CAMPS DRIVER JUNQUEIRA FINISHED EIGHTH
• McDonald's® driver Sebastien Bourdais maintained the Champ Car World Series points lead after starting and finishing third in the 86-lap Molson Champ Car Grand Prix of Toronto. His pre-race lead over second place of 25 points was slightly trimmed to 23 points over A.J. Allmendinger (191- 168) who won his third race in a row and took over second in the standings from former teammate Justin Wilson who has 165 points. He maintained third place behind polesitter Wilson and second place Allmendinger through the start and until the first of three caution periods of the day for contact between Jan Heylen, Katherine Legge, Dan Clarke and Tonis Kasemets. All but three cars elected to pit early on Lap 11 before the pit window opened around Lap 20. Bourdais returned to the track in sixth place, but third behind Allmendinger, and Wilson who also pit. The race was restarted on Lap 12 and on Lap 14 Bourdais was trying to hold off Tracy, and tapped Wilson's wheel with his front wing but fortunately both continued relatively unscathed. He held the position until he moved into fifth on Lap 25 when second place runner Oriol Servia made his first pit stop and into fourth on Lap 35 when temporary race leader Nelson Philippe made his first stop. His teammate Bruno Junqueira was the last driver to make his first stop on Lap 37 and Bourdais moved back into third place behind Allmendinger and Wilson. On Lap 41 fourth place runner Tracy pressured Bourdais and was able to pass him. While Bourdais was getting back online, Alex Tagliani also used the opportunity to pass and Bourdais was now in fifth place. He was able to regain a position when he passed Tagliani on Lap 46 and moved back into third on Lap 48 when he passed Wilson. On Lap 50 he made his final pit stop as did race leader Allmendinger and second place Tracy. He returned to the race in sixth place but moved back into third by Lap 64 of 86 as the remainder of the field made their final stops. The third and final caution period of the race came out on Lap 77 due to contact between Philippe and Servia and enabled those drivers who were tight on fuel the ability to run until the end of the race without a splash of fuel. The race restarted with four laps to go and Bourdais attempted to pressure Tracy. He was within four-tenths of a second at one point but was unable to pass the Toronto native and took the checkered flag in third place. He collected 25 points to bring his total to 191 and lost two points worth of ground over second place during the event. Following are his post race comments:
• "It's been a little bit of an up and down day," said Bourdais. "I think I really missed a shot at the start. I had a pretty good reference point for braking, but unfortunately got on the brakes and locked up the right front. Just couldn't make it stick, so had to give up second place. After that, it was all about fuel consumption. The whole race, we ended up saving fuel, saving fuel, saving fuel. When we took that early yellow, it got even worse from there on. Didn't get so many yellows, only one towards the end. We had to save fuel really, really hard. I guess it kind of really threw the race in the end of how you going to catch traffic and who was going to lose the tires and when. Quite honestly, I just missed another shot on Justin. Two laps later PT got me. That's really a shame. But it's one of these days where you just got to think "championship." We took some risks, we've been aggressive, but didn't get desperate and try something stupid. When Paul got a run on me, I just kept enough room for him to sneak in, and he went around. After, the only problem was Alex took advantage of that, and now I had to pass two cars to get back on the podium. Felt that at some point we were going to get only five out of this thing. Still managed to bring the McDonald's car up front. All in all, it's not that bad.

JUSTIN WILSON RACE REPORT, 4TH    (TOP OF PAGE)

• Justin 4th in Toronto after difficult race
• Starting from pole position Justin had high hopes of repeating his 2005 race-winning performance, but he finished a disappointed 4th at the Grand Prix of Toronto. The #9 CDW car struggled for balance and Justin lost ground during pit-stops and on track to both Forsythe cars and Sebastien Bourdais. Though he drove a hard race and made some good passes for position during his final stint, in the end the pace wasn't there to capitalise on his front row start. A.J. Allmendinger took his third straight win for Forsythe. His team-mate Paul Tracy was runner up, while Sebastien Bourdais took the final podium spot for Newman Haas. Justin's team mate Cristiano da Matta finished 5th.
• "It was a difficult day", said Justin. "Starting from pole position we were obviously hoping for more than fourth place, but we weren't quick enough today. We just couldn't get a good balance in the car and were sliding around and seemed to be giving our tyres a harder time than anyone else. Under the circumstances I think we had to play it smart here and keep ourselves in the game. We'll have to learn from this and move on to Edmonton now."
• Though Justin is still well in the hunt for the driver championship, he now lies 3rd in the points, 26 behind Sebastien and 3 behind A.J.

TEAM AUSTRALIA RACE REPORT - TAGLIANI 6TH   (TOP OF PAGE)

• AMAZING DAY FOR TEAM AUSTRALIA IN TORONTO
• Team Australia has overcome all kinds of adversity to finish strongly in the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto today in Ontario, Canada. The Aussie Vineyards team now leaves the Canadian venue with Alex Tagliani fourth in the championship and Will Power leader of the rookie standings.
• Race day started poorly for the Aussie Vineyards squad when Tagliani had a front lower wishbone fail on his Lola in the morning warm-up, sending his car into the wall and severely damaging the chassis. Team Australia then kicked into action with crew from both cars working frantically to get the spare car ready for Tagliani in only two hours.
• The team admittedly struggled for set-up in qualifying, but as has been the case all year, both cars were at their best on race day. After starting mid-pack, Tagliani climbed up the order to finish sixth and Power seventh to give a boost to the championship aspirations of the Aussie Vineyards team.
• Remarkably, despite using Team Australia's spare Lola chassis, Tagliani recorded the fastest lap of the race. The Canadian's Aussie Vineyards car was showing strong pace towards the end of the race and Tagliani now sits fourth in the championship.
• Power also came on strong in the latter stages of the event to finish one place behind his experienced team-mate. The strong finish from the Australian driver vaults him from fourth to first in the Roshfrans Rookie of the Year standings.
• WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY ,
• ALEX TAGLIANI , TEAM AUSTRALIA/AUSSIE VINEYARDS #15 LOLA
• "All I have to say right now is what an outstanding job the team did putting this car together in about two hours," said Tagliani.
• "They are the reason why we are out there. The engineers did a great job in giving me a fast car, we had the fastest lap of the race and we never gave up. Even at the end we had the shot at the podium if the race would have kept going green.
• "It was amazing. I can't thank them enough. They are a great group of guys.
• "Early on in the race I didn't want to push, I wanted to be safe. Then I felt that the car was good so I was able to stay close to Tracy, Bourdais and Wilson and to fight with those guys.
• "We had a pretty good car for the whole race and I'm so happy with the result."
• WILL POWER , TEAM AUSTRALIA/AUSSIE VINEYARDS #5 LOLA
• "Today I got a really good start and got a good run down the back straight into turn three and passed a few people," said Power.
• "In the first pit stop we lost a position because the rear tyres went off really badly and I was struggling for pace. After that the race was just a procession.
• "The last couple of laps were really interesting. I passed Junqueira and unfortunately Zwolsman prevented me from having a chance to attack Alex (Tagliani).
• "We still had a really good result. We got some really good points for the rookie standings. Compared to how I was in qualifying it was really good for the team."
• DERRICK WALKER , TEAM AUSTRALIA CO-OWNER
• "All weekend long we were off the pace," said Walker. "We just couldn't get the cars quick enough to be more competitive. The whole thing about the weekend was the team effort and them putting the #15 car back on the race track after basically writing off another car.
• "Without a mammoth effort on the part of everybody we would have only had one car to race. I think both drivers did a good job in the race and brought home solid finishes which capitalise on all the effort they put into it."
• CRAIG GORE , TEAM AUSTRALIA CO-OWNER
• "The whole team toughed it out over the weekend and was rewarded for its efforts with a couple of top-seven places," said Gore.
• "The crew did an amazing job to get the spare car ready after the drama in warm-up. It just goes to show what you can achieve when you have such a dedicated team and solid leadership. In many ways that is what this entire Team Australia program is about.
• "Will has again proven himself as the leading rookie in the field and he continues on track to be Rookie of the Year. Wouldn't it be fantastic if he could edge away and give himself a chance to collecting that title in front of a home crowd on the streets of the Gold Coast in October!
• "Alex is now fourth in the championship and while the guys in front of him have a bit of a break, he is certainly still in championship contention."

QUALIFYING

RUSPORT QUALIFYING REPORT - WILSON ON POLE    (TOP OF PAGE)

• Justin Wilson captures Bridgestone Pole Award, Cristiano da Matta takes the eighth spot on starting grid
• TORONTO, Ontario, Canada, July 8, 2006 , Justin Wilson (#9 CDW / RuSPORT Ford-Cosworth / Lola / Bridgestone) used his last lap in final qualifying to capture the pole position for the 2006 Molson Grand Prix of Toronto, recording a best lap time of 58.182 seconds, which was the fastest pole lap time in Toronto since 2002. His teammate, Cristiano da Matta (#10 RuSPORT Ford-Cosworth / Lola / Bridgestone), posted a best lap time of 59.102 seconds to qualify in eighth place for Sunday's race at Exhibition Place in Toronto.
• The result gives Wilson his third Bridgestone Pole Award in his three-year Champ Car World Series career, and his first of the 2006 season. The pole position also earns Wilson a point in the Champ Car World Series driver's championship, where he currently sits in second place, just 25 points behind Sebastien Bourdais.
• Until the last two laps in the final qualifying session, Wilson was unable to post a better lap time than his provisional qualifying time, because of slower traffic on the track at Exhibition Place.
• "I was just getting into a little bit of traffic, and kept getting held up," said Wilson. "No matter where I was on track, I always had Oriol Servia in front of me. It was getting a little bit frustrating. But I knew I had to stay calm. Fortunately, he'd gone out early, so he pulled off and left me two clear laps. I just managed to put it all together on my last lap and make it count. The car felt great. It's been working well all weekend. I'm just really pleased to have finally put that one lap together and make it count. I've just got to thank my team, and the whole crew on the CDW #9 car. I'm very pleased for them, and I'm looking forward to a great race tomorrow."
• "I'm a little a disappointed that we didn't get everything out of the car," said da Matta. "I think we had a car that was good enough for the top five. But fortunately, we have 86 laps in tomorrow's race to get it back. I was hoping to make more gains from yesterday to today than we did , but we'll just keep working hard and try to find out what we need to do for tomorrow."
• "Congratulations must go out to everyone on the CDW #9 car team today," said RuSPORT President Jeremy Dale. "Justin and his team did an exceptional job, and it was a real nail-biter in final qualifying. On his last lap, Justin managed to squeak through and post that pole position time. I think it's very important for the team to start from the pole position, especially at this event. Obviously we're very happy to get the championship point for the pole, but more than that, the track position here in Toronto is very important. It's great for everyone on the car #9 team, and it's great for CDW, because we've got many guests here in Toronto this weekend. We're hoping for a great result on Sunday not only for the team, but for all of our CDW guests."
• "Cristiano had a good day, but not a great day," continued Dale. "He's in the eighth position on the grid, but I don't think the car #10 team got the performance out of the car that they wanted to. A tenth-and-a-half of a second less on his final qualifying time would put Cristiano inside the top five, so he's very close, and actually has quite a good car. He's a very savvy racer, and I think everyone on the car #10 team will be thinking about how to move that car forward in the race tomorrow here in Toronto."

NEWMAN-HASS FRI REPORT    (TOP OF PAGE)

• McDONALD'S® DRIVER BOURDAIS FIFTH FAST IN PROVISIONAL QUALIFYING FOR THE MOLSON CHAMP CAR GRAND PRIX OF TORONTO; JUNQUEIRA SEVENTH
• Sebastien Bourdais, No. 1 McDonald's Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone: "The McDonald's team had a fairly good first run. We had quite a bit of traffic but put it in P2 (second fast). We were pretty close but then the other guys put the Bridgestone red's (softer alternate tires) on and set faster times on their second runs. We had a small misunderstanding so we decided not to go back out on the second run and instead try to think about our setup and try to make it better for tomorrow."
• Bruno Junqueira, No. 2 Hole in the Wall Camps Ford- Cosworth/Lola/ Bridgestone: "The car was okay. I was close to P3 (third fastest time) on regular tires then some guys ran the Bridgestone alternate tires on their second runs. Everyone is very close apart from A.J.; he looks to have an edge. On the first outing I flat spotted one of my tires and got traffic on my second set but we will continue to improve the car and try to gain some positions in final qualifying."

FORSYTHE FRI REPORT     (TOP OF PAGE)

• Allmendinger Secures Provisional Pole at Toronto
• Toronto, Ontario, Canada - July 7th 2006 , A.J. Allmendinger continued his mid-season domination of the Champ Car World Series today by capturing the provisional Pole Position for the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto and securing his third consecutive front row start with the Forsythe Team. Home town hero Paul Tracy finished fourth in the session after leading the pre-qualifying practice. Tomorrow the Forsythe team will try to secure their first 1-2 qualifying effort the season.
• A.J. Allmendinger #7 INDECK Ford-Cosworth/Bridgestone/Lola, Pole Position "The whole Forsythe team did a great job. It was probably the toughest day that we've had so far in the three weekends that we've been together. Toronto is a difficult track and we still have a lot of work to do on the car, I think as a team we still have a lot of to improve on. The Bridgestone blacks we're not as good as the red ones today. But I knew we were fairly close to the pole. I saw Paul was going to put on the reds, I figure a couple people were. I knew they probably would make a lot bigger difference than, say, in Cleveland a couple weeks ago. We put on the reds. I held my breath for a lap, hung on to it."
• Paul Tracy #3 INDECK Ford-Cosworth/Bridgestone/Lola, Fourth "Well I know that we will be strong tomorrow because we have a fast car, but its frustrating because once we put the red Bridgestone tires on we didn't really improve that much. So we'll give it another shot tomorrow. It's great being back in my home town, the fans here are just amazing and you can really feel their support, I know I have a good car and hopefully tomorrow we'll give them a better result.

JUSTIN WILSON FRI REPORT     (TOP OF PAGE)

• Justin 2nd in Toronto first qualifying
• Justin got his Toronto weekend off to a good start by posting the 2nd fastest time with a 58.830 second lap (107.394 mph). In the morning practice session Justin was 3rd fastest overall, in spite of an engine fire which meant he had limited running in the #9 CDW car.
• After lunch Justin was leading the qualifying timesheets after a first stint on the harder black Bridgestone tyres. With provisional pole seemingly within reach, he decided to try the softer red compound for his final stint, but A.J. Allmendinger, also on reds, took the top spot for Forsythe with a lap time of 58.621. Nelson Philippe was 3rd fastest for CTE-HVM.
• "The CDW team did a great job to bounce back from this morning", said Justin. "After we went P1 in the first stint we decided to take the gamble on the Bridgestone reds, but just weren't quite fast enough. But it's a good start and hopefully we're in good shape for tomorrow".

PREVIEW

• McDONALD'S DRIVER BOURDAIS HOPES TO RAISE HIS GAME IN THI WEEKEND'S MOLSON GRAND PRIX OF TORONTO; HOLE IN THE WALL CAMPS
• DRIVER JUNQUEIRA AIMS TO CONTINUE MOMENTUM FROM SECOND PLACE IN PREVIOUS RACE
• TORONTO, Ontario, Canada (July 5, 2006) , - After escaping injury from a scary crash that saw Paul Tracy roll over his head and end his race on Lap 1 in the previous event in Cleveland, McDonald's driver Sebastien Bourdais lost only four points of ground over second place Justin Wilson (166-140) in the title battle of the Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford championship. He knows a strong finish in this weekend's 86-lap Molson Grand Prix of Toronto could help him keep the wolves at bay with RuSPORT's Wilson only 26 points behind and A.J. Allmendinger who won the past two events since switching to Forsythe Championship Racing, only 31 back.
• "At the beginning of the season we were afraid that RuSPORT would be tough and were also concerned with PT (Paul Tracy) because you can never count him out," said Bourdais who has four wins, one third and an 18th place finish due to contact with Tracy in Cleveland so far this season. "Now there is not one guy at Forsythe to beat, but two. Basically we now have to add another driver to the mix. A.J. is carrying the momentum from a couple of good races. He's been in the car at the right time too. Forsythe had a good test at Portland and at Cleveland they've had the best car the last two years. We'll see what happens in Toronto but PT won there in 2003 and was running with us in 2004 and 2005 so we know they have a good setup there so we will have to raise our game. It just makes it nicer if you can win."
• In just three starts on the streets of Toronto Bourdais has earned two pole positions and one victory (2004) on the course, and has finished in the top-five in each of his three starts. He started from pole the past two years but was unable to earn back-to-back wins here after he led the first 34 laps before contact with Tracy while the two were racing out of the pits limited his result to fifth place. He is optimistic the team can continue to improve on their racing package after competitive runs on the streets of Toronto.
• "It's a place we've had a really good balance the last two years with the McDonald's car so I'm pretty happy to come back to Toronto," said Bourdais. "It's a great race for Champ Car. The track is pretty bumpy and it is getting rougher and rougher every year although the track guys are trying to smooth it out and get rid of the bumps that appeared over the winter. The winters are pretty rough there and it takes it toll on the track so you have to get the balance right, get the car as low as you can but obviously the big bumps stop you from doing so and that's the biggest challenge."
• Since joining the series in 2003 as the reigning Formula 3000 champion Bourdais has won 20 races and 21 poles in his 51 starts. The Cleveland DNF was only his third in the past 30 races. Bourdais and the McDonald's team have no intention of changing their usual routine to make up for an 18th place finish in an attempt to earn a third consecutive title for the first time since Ted Horn accomplished the feat from 1946-1948.
• "There is no real strategy right now to winning the championship," said Bourdais, who moonlighted as a TV broadcast commentator for a Belgian network at the United States Grand Prix last weekend. "We are just trying to stay focused on what we do; everybody is really aware of that. We are just trying to do the job they way we know it and it's been working fine so far. We don't need to add any pressure to it; everybody knows what we want to achieve here and how big a deal it is and we've done it the last couple of seasons so we just keep our heads down and try not to think too much about it. We are just focusing on the task ahead and try our best to get it done."
• In the previous 20 years of racing on the streets of Toronto Newman/ Haas Racing has earned a total of seven wins, four poles and 15 podium finishes. Their most recent pole came last year by Bourdais and of their 15 podium finishes, their most recent came last year with Oriol Servia, who filled in for injured Hole in the Wall Camps driver Bruno Junqueira, and nearly won his first Champ Car event but relinquished the lead with 11 laps to go and finished second to Wilson. Junqueira was onsite last year to watch his friend Servia earn a strong result and helped celebrate the finish at a party thrown in his honour by his racing peers.
• "Toronto was the first race I was fit enough to travel to last year and I was really looking forward to it after the accident in Indianapolis," said Junqueira. "I had just taken the cast off my left ankle the day before and I couldn't walk very well and I still had a little bit of pain but I really wanted to be with the Newman/Haas team and see the race. Paul Tracy and his friends organized a Sunday night party for me and it was pretty nice. It was called "Party Till You Break Your Back" which was pretty funny, I enjoyed it a lot. Unfortunately I couldn't be at the party very long but it was very nice what they did for me."
• In the first five races of the season, Junqueira qualified no lower than fourth place but was mired in the bottom half of the series ranking due to begin taken out of two races on the first lap and other various misfortunes. With his fourth place finish in Portland and second in Cleveland he moved from a 16th place rank to eighth with a total of 87 points after Round 6 of 15. A strong finish in Toronto could move him closer to fourth place ranked Andrew Ranger who is within reach with a total of 99 points. In the past three of his four races here he has started third twice (2002 and 2004) and second once (2003) although contact took him out of all but one race where he finished third in 2003. He knows that racing on the tight 1.755-mile street course not only requires skill but also a little luck.
• "My last race in Toronto two years ago was not good," recalled Junqueira. "We qualified third and I was hoping for a big fight between me Sebastien and (Paul) Tracy but on the first lap, in the first turn Mario Dominguez hit me and took me out of the race. It was the only DNF (did not finish) I had in 2004 and it was a shame. Toronto is a hard track, very narrow and fast so you need to be up there. Turn 3 is 185 mph and then you are braking, downshifting to first gear so it's quite exciting and there is a lot of action. It's an exciting track that is very technical and physical because it's often hot there. The best thing is the crowd though; it's a great crowd and its one of my favorite races of the season."

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