2007 CCWS Rd. 5--Grand Prix of Cleveland

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Since 1982, the stars of the Champ Car World Series have traveled to the very flat racetrack a/k/a Burke Lakefront Airport, one of the best places to race IMO......and in those 25 or so years some of the most interesting racing in all of the world has taken place, starting at the turn infamously known as "the funnel turn", turn 1........imagine traveling down a 150-ft. wide straight heading towards a turn about 50 or feet wide.....



Yeah, that's how I feel......and I'm only watching; imagine what the drivers are thinking.........

Hopefully, with the series having survived its' first standing start(I was actually quite pleased...... ), they'll have the sense to use that kind of a start here........hey, it couldn't hurt!

Here is the event schedule for the weekend..................
Practice Session #1..............12:15 pm, 22 June 2007
Practice Session #2..............4 pm, 22 June 2007
Qualifying Session #1...........4:25 pm, 22 June 2007
Practice Session #3..............10:15 am, 23 June 2007
Practice Session #4..............2 pm, 23 June 2007
Qualifying Session #2...........2:20 pm, 23 June 2007
Warm-Up.............................9 am, 24 June 2007
GP of Cleveland...................1 pm, 24 June 2007(live television on CBS Sports in the U.S. and TSN/RDS in Canada)

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Race Distance..................timed event at 1 hr, 45 minutes
Track Length....................2.106 miles
Television........................1 pm U.S. EDT, 24 June 2007 on CBS Sports

Bridgestone Primer.................
--each team will receive 13 sets of Bridgestone Potenza racing slicks for the event weekend(7 dry sets, 2 option sets and 4 wet sets of tires)
--during the race, each team must utilize the "reds"(the option tires) during at least one stint of the race
--the standard spec tire compound to be used was last used at Cleveland in 2006; the option spec tires were used at Toronto in 2006 and at Portland in the most recent round

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Cleveland Practice Session #1 top-5.................
1st} Sebastien Bourdais, NHL Racing....................................57.663 sec/131.484 mph
2nd} Paul Tracy, Forsythe Ch. Racing...................................58.168 sec/130.340 mph
3rd} (R)Simon Pagenaud, Team Australia..............................58.187 sec/130.297 mph
4th} Will Power, Team Australia............................................58.228 sec/130.205 mph
5th} Alex Tagliani, Rocketsports............................................58.365 sec/129.900 mph

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Cleveland Practice Session #2 top-5.......................

1st}(R)Graham Rahal, NHL Racing......................................57.940 sec/130.853 mph
2nd}(R)Neel Jani, PKV Racing.............................................58.154 sec/130.371 mph
3rd} Justin Wilson, RuSport Racing......................................58.284 sec/130.080 mph
4th} (R)Simon Pagenaud, Team Australia............................58.316 sec/130.009 mph
5th} Bruno Junquiera, Dale Coyne Racing............................58.441 sec/129.731 mph

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Cleveland QS-1 top-5...............

1st} Sebastien Bourdais, #1 McDonald's.............................56.961 sec/133.102 mph**
2nd} Will Power, #5 Aussie Vineyards................................57.301 sec/132.312 mph
3rd}(R)Simon Pagenaud, #15 Aussie Vineyards..................57.338 sec/132.226 mph
4th} Justin Wilson, #9 CDW/Plantronics..............................57.427 sec/132.022 mph
5th}(R)Neel Jani, #21 Red Bull/Gulfstream..........................57.535 sec/131.774 mph

**--by taking the provisional pole, Bourdais guarantees himself a front-row starting spot(P1 or P2) and takes 1 championship point

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Cleveland Practice Session #3 top-5..............

1st} Sebastien Bourdais, NHL Racing................................56.415 sec/134.390 mph
2nd} Will Power, Team Australia......................................56.989 sec/133.036 mph
3rd} Justin Wilson, RuSport Racing...................................57.135 sec/132.696 mph
4th}(R)Simon Pagenaud, Team Australia..........................57.144 sec/132.675 mph
5th}(R)Graham Rahal, NHL Racing...................................57.190 sec/132.569 mph

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Cleveland Practice Session #4 top-5....................

1st}(R)Simon Pagenaud, Team Australia...........................56.980 sec/133.057 mph
2nd} Sebastien Bourdais, NHL Racing................................57.042 sec/132.913 mph
3rd} Will Power, Team Australia........................................57.183 sec/132.583 mph
4th}(R)Graham Rahal, NHL Racing.....................................57.258 sec/132.411 mph
5th} Paul Tracy, Forsythe Champ. Racing...........................57.372 sec/132.148 mph

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Grand Prix of Clveland presented by LaSalle Bank Starting Grid...........

1st} Sebastien Bourdais, #1 McDonald's................................56.363 sec/134.514 mph
2nd}(R)Simon Pagenaud, #15 Aussie Vineyards.....................56.388 sec/134.454 mph

3rd} Will Power, #5 Aussie Vineyards....................................56.473 sec/134.252 mph
4th}(R)Graham Rahal, #2 Medi/Zone.....................................56.588 sec/133.979 mph

5th}(R)Robert Doornbos, #14 Muermans/OzJet.......................56.751 sec/133.594 mph
6th} Dan Clarke, #4 Ticketmaster/Synapse Power..................57.001 sec/133.008 mph

7th} Paul Tracy, #3 Forsythe/Indeck......................................57.065 sec/132.859 mph
8th} Justin Wilson, #9 CDW/Plantronics..................................57.079 sec/132.826 mph

9th} Alex Tagliani, #8 Lexington Energy Svcs.........................57.199 sec/132.548 mph
10th} Oriol Servia, #7 Telmex/Indeck...................................57.380 sec/132.130 mph

11th}(R)Neel Jani, #21 Red Bull/Gulfstream...........................57.400 sec/132.084 mph
12th}(R)Tristan Gommendy, #22 Pay by Touch/MegaSpiera.....57.516 sec/131.817 mph

13th}(R)Alex Figge, #29 Molecule Labs...................................57.626 sec/131.566 mph
14th} Bruno Junquiera, #19 Sonny's Real Pit BBQ....................57.758 sec/131.265 mph

15th} Katherine Legge, #11 AMR/i-Rise...................................57.811 sec/131.145 mph
16th}(R)Ryan Dalziel, #28 Ironclad/Molecule Labs....................57.928 sec/130.880 mph

17th} Jan Heylen, #34 Grand Prix of Belgium 2007...................58.116 sec/130.456 mph

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Where is everyone..........let's see, Julian's windsurfing off on the lake, T-K's giving all the forum newcomers flying lessons in the Cessna plider(........ ) and I'm wandering the paddock at Burke Lakefront Airport.......so where should I begin?

Here's some of the scuttlebutt, rumors and fly-on-the-wall things heard so far in Cleveland...............

--Attendance at Cleveland is up about 20% from last year's figures; indeed, there were people still entering the grand prix grounds at 8:30 PM to watch the drifting and drag racing competitions ontrack........

--according to series officials, now that ESPN and ABC have begun covering ChampCar, expect more and more tie-ins and series plugs throughout their family of networks

--officials with Eurosport are expected to renew their broadcast contract with ChampCar for another year or so

--several drivers were spotted walking through the paddock looking for series rides; notable among them were Matt Halliday, who drove for Conquest Racing the first three races of the year and Mario Dominguez, who likewise drove the first three races of the year

--and, as reported over on the Champ Car News Thread, reports of a possible new team in the series for 2008 are true(considering the , uhmm...., "business" the new team is from, expect lots of "pole position" jokes over the course of the year.......

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Question: What do you call someone who, a--wrecks two other drivers during the race, b--has to make two extra pitstops and c--holds off two former F1 pilots for the win?

Answer.............the winner of today's Grand Prix of Cleveland, Paul Tracy!!



Thoughts and notes on the race....................
--for the second race this year, ChampCar instituted a standing start to begin the race......and for the second race this year, every driver survived, making it through the "funnel turn" unscathed.....
--for the past few years, Cosworth's XFE series of 2.65L turbo V8's have had an unparalled record of reliability..until Sebastien Bourdais' XFE-3 decided to BBQ itself
--I don't think Paul Tracy is going to get Christmas cards from either Graham Rahal or Bruno Junquiera; first, he "chrome horns" Bobby's son and has to get a new front wing; a few laps later, entering turn 1, the "funnel turn", he "chrome horns" Junky........maybe he was just having some senior moments, but hey.........PT won!
--kudos to Minardi Team USA and driver Robert Doornbos for finishing 2nd; not only did he drive great all race long, but he put lots of pressure on PT the last 10 or so laps
--more kudos to Team Australia; both Will Power and Simon Pagenaud were the class of the field leading up to the race, and they're showing why the team could be a major challenger to Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing


Cleveland top-10....................
1st} #3 Paul Tracy.........................................89 laps
2nd}(R)#14 Robert Doornbos.........................-0.513 sec
3rd}(R)#21 Neel Jani.....................................-5.404 sec
4th} #9 Justin Wilson.....................................-5.948 sec
5th}(R)#15 Simon Pagenaud..........................-6.311 sec
6th} #8 Alex Tagliani.....................................-17.749 sec
7th} #7 Oriol Servia......................................-23.654 sec
8th}(R)#2 Graham Rahal...............................-24.689 sec
9th}(R)#28 Ryan Dalziel................................-27.817 sec
10th} #5 Will Power.......................................-55.210 sec

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Cleveland Attendance)(3-day total)...................

2003....................(est.)80,000*
2004.....................(est)84,000*
2005.....................89,877
2006.....................118,563
2007.....................151,426

*--both years the race was run under temporary lighting at night