2007 CCWS Rd. 11--Grand Prix of Belgium

All about the Champ Car World Series (CCWS)

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Who will win the Grand Prix of Belgium?

Poll ended at Tue Aug 28, 2007 12:30 pm

Sebastien Bourdais
1
25%
Justin Wilson
0
No votes
Will Power
1
25%
Robert Doornbos
0
No votes
who knows; it's an inaugural event
1
25%
who knows; it's an inaugural event
1
25%
 
Total votes: 4

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2007 CCWS Rd. 11--Grand Prix of Belgium

Post by mlittle » Wed Aug 15, 2007 12:30 pm

(Mod's note.......thank heavens I've gotten my passport renewed............... :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: )

In 1917, when the first American troops arrived in Europe following the U.S. entrance into World War I, it is said that the American Expeditionary Forces commander, Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing uttered the immortal words, "Lafayette, nous sommes arrivee!(translated, Lafayette, we have arrived!--the Lafayette reference is to the Marquis de Lafayette, whose troops played a role in helping America secure its' independence from the British back in the 1700's.....)..........fast forward to 2007 and I suspect ChampCar officials might say something similar, for it has been a few years since the series last visited the Continent.

1978: 2 races, 1 at Silverstone and 1 at Brands Hatch
--Empress Indy Silverstone, won by A.J. Foyt
--Daily Mail Indy Trophy, won by Rick Mears
2001: 2 races, 1 at the EuroSpeedway and 1 at Rockingham
--American Memorial 500k, won by Kenny Brack
--Rockingham 500k, won by Gil de Ferran
2003: 2 races, 1 at EuroSpeedway and 1 at Brands Hatch
--German 500k, won by Sebastien Bourdais
--London ChampCar Trophy, won by Sebastien Bourdais

For its' return to the Continent, the series is traveling to two historic road courses, the first of which is the Zolder Circuit in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium; the track is an undulating 2.622 mile natural terrain road course that has hosted both Formula 1, sportscar and motorcycle races over the years; unfortunately it is also known as the place where legendary F1 racer Gilles Villeneuve lost his life during a qualifying session for the Belgian GP back in 1982..... :(

Event schedule for the inaugural ChampCar Grand Prix of Belgium............
note....all times are local/-6 hrs U.S. EDT
Practice Session 1, 10:40-11:55 am, 24 August 2007
Qualifying Session 1, 2:30-3:30 pm, 24 August 2007
Practice Session 2, 10:40-11:55 am, 25 August 2007
Qualifying Session 2, 2:30-3:30 pm. 25 August 2007
Warm-Up Session, 10:30-11 am, 26 August 2007
Race, 2 pm, 26 August 2007(1 hr., 45 minute timed event)
--notes on television............the race is set for broadcast at 8 am US EDT on ESPN-Classic(however, ESPN has announced that they will be using the international feed from Eurosport, which is covering the race in Europe)
Last edited by mlittle on Wed Aug 29, 2007 10:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by mlittle » Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:23 pm

Bridgestone Fast Facts..................

Event: Champ Car Grand Prix of Belgium
Where: Circuit Zolder, Heusden-Zolder, Belgium
Distance: timed event of 1 hr., 45 minutes
Circuit Length: 2.449 miles

Tire Dispensations..................
~~each team receives 13 sets of Bridgestone Potenza slicks
--7 sets of dry standard tires
--2 sets of dry option tires
--4 sets of wet condition tires
--tire compounds for Zolder were previously used at Cleveland and Edmonton

Entry List for Zolder...............................
Sebastien Bourdais, #1 McDonald's
(R)Graham Rahal, #2 Medi/Zone
Paul Tracy, #3 Indeck/Monster Energy Drink
Dan Clarke, #4 Ticketmaster/OzJet
Will Power, #5 Aussie Vineyards
Oriol Servia, #7 Indeck/American Enterprise Bank
Alex Tagliani, #8 Lexington Energy Svcs.
Justin Wilson, #9 CDW
Katherine Legge, #11 i-Rise/AMR
(R)Robert Doornbos, #14 Trust
(R)Simon Pagenaud, #15 Aussie Vineyards
Bruno Junquiera, #19 Sonny's Real Pit BBQ
(R)Neel Jani, #21 Red Bull/Gunlfstream
(R)Tristan Gommendy, #22 Pay-by-Touch/Megaspiera
(R)Ryan Dalziel, #28 Plain Jane Couture
(R)Alex Figge, #29 Plain Jane Couture
Jan Heylen, #34 Grafiprint Digital Services
Last edited by mlittle on Sat Aug 25, 2007 3:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Zolder Photos, part 1..............

Post by mlittle » Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:26 pm

Image

Image
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Post by mlittle » Sat Aug 25, 2007 3:53 am

Zolder Practice Session #1 top-5................
1st} Will Power, Team Australia...................................1:15.100 sec/119.457 mph
2nd} Sebastien Bourdais, NHL Racing...........................1:15.235 sec/119.242 mph
3rd}(R)Robert Doornbos, Minardi Team USA.................1:15.772 sec/118.397 mph
4th} Bruno Junquiera, Dale Coyne Racing.....................1:15.886 sec/118.219 mph
5th}(R)Neel Jani, PKV Racing.......................................1:15.912 sec/118.179 mph
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Post by mlittle » Sat Aug 25, 2007 3:57 am

Zolder Practice Session #2 top-5.......................
1st}(R)Robert Doornbos, Minardi Team USA....................1:15.013 sec/119.595 mph
2nd} Will Power, Team Australia.....................................1:15.162 sec/119.358 mph
3rd}(R)Simon Pagenaud, Team Australia.........................1:15.185 sec/119.322 mph
4th} Bruno Junquiera, Dale Coyne Racing........................1:15.733 sec/118.485 mph
5th}(R)Graham Rahal, NHL Racing..................................1:15.772 sec/118.772 mph
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Friday Notebook..........

Post by mlittle » Sat Aug 25, 2007 4:21 am

News and notes from Zolder, Belgium..............

~~One chance to make a good impression....and instead..........."Speedy" Dan Clarke ruined it! :evil: :evil: (Mod's note....I should start callin' him "Dumb--- Dan" for what happened today!!! :evil: :evil: ) So what happened? He caused a four-car crash four corners on the outlap of the practice session; the damage was bad enough to prevent Justin Wilson and Jan Heylen from running the remainder of the day, while FCR crewmembers scrambled to get Paul Tracy's car out for QS-1......as observers noted, the sheer stupidity of Clarke's actions were beyond belief.....as Justin Wilson noted,
We were crusing down the straight behind the pits. I was behind Jan as he drifted over to the left and as I started to go past him Dan came by going about 40 mph faster than everyone else; he hit my right front and sent me into Jan.
Moments later Paul Tracy became involved, clipping Wilson's car and ending his session very early; as he was a witness to the incident, he quickly pointed the blame at Clarke:
He came out of the pits on slicks and he was all over Justin like it was the last lap of the race. Justin was just doing what you do on new, rain tires on an installation lap and Clarke tried to go past with his right wheels on the grass. He hooked the curb, turned into Justin and all hell broke loose! Clarke said everyone else was going too slow....all I know is I was going about 140 mph when I hit Justin.
~~As a result.........ChampCar officials suspended Clarke, effective immediately as he was already on probation for avoidable contact at San Jose, for the remainder of the weekend.........series officials, including VP-Operations Tony Cotman, will decide whether to keep Clarke on suspension through the next race at Assen.... :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

~~So, who replaces Clarke for the weekend? Best guess---Mario Dominguez; he's already served as a "Super Sub" a few times this year; rumor has it that current Minardi F1x2 driver Zsolt Baumgartner is also on call to drive should Dominguez be unable to..... :shock: :shock: :shock:

~~New sponsors this weekend........three teams debuted new sponsors for the series' European swing:
--Minardi Team USA--Trust International
--Pacific Coast Motorsports--Plain Jane Couture
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Power nips SeaBass for pole in Zolder..................

Post by mlittle » Sat Aug 25, 2007 11:39 am

Making sure to wait 'til the last moments of the QS-1 session Friday, Team Australia's Will Power put up a flyer that beat current points leader Sebastien Bourdais's fastest time, taking provisional pole for Sunday's Belgian GP............here are the provisional top-5:

1st} Will Power, Team Australia................................1:13.810 sec
2nd} Sebastien Bourdais, NHL Racing........................1:14.023 sec
3rd}(R)Simon Pagenaud, Team Australia...................1:14.030 sec
4th}(R)Graham Rahal, NHL Racing............................1:14.224 sec
5th} Bruno Junquiera, Dale Coyne Racing..................1:14.433 sec
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Post by mlittle » Sun Aug 26, 2007 3:36 pm

Zolder Practice Session #3 top-5.......................
1st} Sebastien Bourdais, NHL Racing............................1:14.264 sec
2nd} Will Power, Team Australia..................................1:14.422 sec
3rd} Justin Wilson, RuSport Racing...............................1:14.480 sec
4th}(R)Graham Rahal, NHL Racing................................1:14.525 sec
5th}(R)Robert Doornbos, Minardi Team USA..................1:14.535 sec


Zolder Practice Session #4 top-5..........................
1st} Sebastien Bourdais, NHL Racing............................1:13.125 sec
2nd}(R)Graham Rahal, NHL Racing..............................1:13.581 sec
3rd} Justin Wilson, RuSport Racing...............................1:13.876 sec
4th}(R)Simon Pagenaud, Team Australia......................1:13.899 sec
5th}(R)Neel Jani, PKV Racing.......................................1:14.183 sec
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Post by mlittle » Sun Aug 26, 2007 3:47 pm

Grand Prix of Belgium Starting Grid.................................

1st} Sebastien Bourdais, #1 McDonald's...............................1:12.821 sec
2nd} Will Power, #5 Aussie Vineyards..................................1:13.194 sec

3rd}(R)Robert Doornbos, #14 Trust.....................................1:13.067 sec
4th} Bruno Junquiera, #19 Sonny's Real Pit BBQ...................1:13.313 sec

5th} Justin Wilson, #9 CDW.................................................1:13.327 sec
6th} Alex Tagliani, #8 Lexington Energy Services..................1:13.384 sec

7th} Paul Tracy, #3 Indeck/Monster Energy Drink.................1:13.407 sec
8th}(R)Simon Pagenaud, #15 Aussie Vineyards....................1:13.436 sec

9th}(R)Neel Jani, #21 Red Bull/Gulfstream...........................1:13.555 sec
10th} Oriol Servia, #7 Indeck/American Enterprise Bank.......1:13.720 sec

11th} Jan Heylen, #34 Grafiprint Digital Services..................1:13.768 sec
12th} Mario Dominguez, #4 Ticketmaster/OzJet....................1:13.810 sec

13th}(R)Graham Rahal, #2 Medi/Zone.................................1:13.822 sec
14th} Katherine Legge, #11 i-Rise/AMR................................1:13.987 sec

15th}(R)Tristan Gommendy, #22 Pay-by-Touch/Megaspirea...1:13.995 sec
16th}(R)Ryan Dalziel, #28 Plain Jane Couture.......................1:14.002 sec

17th}(R)Alex Figge, #29 Plain Jane Couture..........................1:14.744 sec
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Post by mlittle » Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:42 am

Brief Update from Zolder...................

~~With the exception of pitstops, NHL Racing's Sebastien Bourdais was the class of the field, winning the inaugural Grand Prix of Belgium; the big surprise was Bruno Junquiera, SeaBass's former then-Newman/Hass teammate who ran a stellar race for Dale Coyne Racing, finishing 2nd
~~With 1st and 3rd-place finishes, Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing took the lead in the Phanos Resorts European Crown competition
~~While ticket sales for today's race at Zolder were less than expected, walk-up sales exceeded even the wildest of expectations; estimates for the weekend range from 70-100k with around 35-40k on raceday


Top-10 from an exuberant Zolder..........................
1st} #1 Sebastien Bourdais..................................71 laps
2nd} #19 Bruno Junquiera....................................-13.655 sec
3rd}(R)#2 Graham Rahal......................................-14.458 sec
4th} #5 Will Power...............................................-15.147 sec
5th} #9 Justin Wilson............................................-15.972 sec
6th} #7 Oriol Servia.............................................-17.150 sec
7th}(R)#14 Robert Doornbos................................-18.368 sec
8th}(R)#21 Neel Jani............................................-19.073 sec
9th} #8 Alex Tagliani............................................-23.855 sec
10th} #3 Paul Tracy.............................................-24.500 sec
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