Open-Wheel(Non-IRL) News

[mlittle]

Here is the qual. summary for session #1 of Sunday's Molson Indy Toronto....With a time of 58.887 secs/107.290 mph, Canadian Paul Tracy will take provisional pole and the guaranteed front-row(either P1 or P2) starting spot that comes w/it. The driver of the #3 Mtn. Grand Lodge-Avalanche Bay Ford-Cos./Lola blazed his fast lap in the last-third of the 30+ min. session, while taking P2 and P3 in the first session were the 2004 series champion, Sebastien Bourdais(#1 McDonald's/Newman-Haas FC/L) and fellow Canadian Alex Tagliani(#15 Aussie Vineyards/Walker Racing FC/L).

Qual. session #2 is Saturday afternoon; the fastest times from either session will be used to determine the grid for the race. I'll post the QS-2 summary in the evening, along w/a commentary or observation.

[mlittle]

For the second cons. year, Newman-Haas's Sebastien Bourdais(#1 McDonald's Ford-Cos./Lola) will sit on the pole for the 20th annual Molson Indy Toronto...The Le Mans, France native captured the pole midway through QS-2 w/a time of 58.552 secs/107.904 mph. With the prov. pole from Friday, Canadian Paul Tracy(#3 Mtn. Grand Lodge-Avalanche Bay FC/L) will sit in P2, while RuSport's Justin Wilson(#9 CDW Canada FC/L) will sit in third despite missing P1 by 2-thousandths' of a second. A late session crash by Alex Sperafico put an end to the session, giving Bourdais the pole for the race. Now, the observations...

1-For the thrid time in 4 yrs, Newman-Haas will have a car on the pole for the race; each time before(da Matta in 2002, Bourdais in 2004) they've won the race.

2-With the QS-2 times of Bourdais' and Wilson's a scant .002 secs. apart, the session was ChampCar's closest since Belle Isle(Detroit) in 2000 when Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti tied for the pole(Montoya won P1 based on QS-1 time).

3-By winning the pole for Sunday's race, Bourdais becomes the second driver to win back-to-back poles; Dario Franchitti is the other racer to do so(1997 & 1998).

4-Since joining NHR in 2003, Bourdais(counting today) has won 15 poles in the past 2 1/2 yrs., one of only 14 drivers in the modern era(since 1979) to reach that number. He currently sits in 14th all-time, just behind 2-time ChampCar series champion Gil de Ferran.

As for the race itself...the Molson Indy Toronto will be at 12:30 PM(16:30 UTC) on North American TV(CBS Sports--United States, Global TV--Canada). I'll post a brief race summary, puls any commentary or observations.

[JayVee]

... Aussie Vineyards/Walker Racing FC/L ...

Again very informative mlittle.

This Aussie Vinyards/Walker team, is it an Aussie team or just sponsored ? Must admit I've never heard of them

[mlittle]

It's the main sponsor for Derrick Walker's team, JayVee. Walker still runs the team, but from what I've read, the team's half owned btwn. Walker and his Australian co-owners, who brought Aussie Vineyards in to sponsor his two ChampCars.

[mlittle]

Question:Of RuSport's two racers, A.J. Allmendinger, and Justin Wilson, which one do you think would win first? If you picked A.J., you were wrong.

In the 20th running of this ChampCar classic, the Molson Indy Toronto, the ex-F1 driver Wilson took the lead w/11 laps left, holding off Newman-Haas's Oriol Servia and Walker Racing's Alex Tagliani to take his first CCWS event victory. At the beginning, it seemed to be a duel between NHR's Sebastien Bourdais and Forsythe's Paul Tracy as the two traded the lead a couple of times on the tight street circuit, until the first round of pit stops when the two decided on a banzai drag-race down the pitlane. The two touched, knocking the left-side front wing off of PT's car and causing SeaBass to have a cut tire, neccessitating a return to the pits. It got worse for the Scarborough, Ont. native(Tracy) as he continued on; as he was entering the pitlane on lap 57 the pits were closed for a caution when the cars of Ricardo Sperafico and Cristiano da Matta crashed going into turn 1...Tracy ran out of fuel as he crossed the start/finish line---Tracy would lose the pts. lead and finished 16th.

The lead soon transferred to NHR's Servia, subbing for the injured Bruno Junqueira, who broke two vertebrae in his back following a violent crash at this year's Indianapolis 500, who held on until being passed by Wilson w/11 laps to go. The race ended under caution when Wilson's teammate, Allmendinger, crashed into the turn 6 tirewalls and collected Tracy's teammate, Mario Dominguez on lap 80--race control called the race on lap 86 when the event hit the 1 hr., 45 min. time limit, giving Wilson the win after lap 86.

SeaBass retook the pts. lead, finishing 5th to lead w/150 pts. to Tracy's 135. Wilson, w/his first career ChampCar win, jumped to 3rd, 22 markers back. Allmendinger and Servia round out the top 5, 39 and 43 pts. behind Bourdais respectively.

[mlittle]

Here's some post-race CCWS observations from the Molson Indy Toronto...

1--ChampCar released a tentative schedule for 2006, and it shows a definite push to partner w/the ALMS. They'll start at Sebring, do about 3 more races w/the sports cars at Houston, Long Beach, and Portland. There's 2 oval races on the list(Milwaukee and las Vegas) and the season concludes w/races in Beijing(street circuit), Ansan, S.Korea, Surfers Paradise and Mexico City.

2-For the second time this year, Sebastien Bourdais and Paul Tracy locked horns and for the second time, Tracy came out the worser for it. At least SeaBass finished the race and now holds the points lead. Tracy(the "Thrill from West Hill" as some call him) didn't thrill the fans this round. Maybe next week in Edmonton.

3-RuSport Racing, a second-year team out of Denver, Col. finally scored their first ChampCar victory, albeit w/Justin Wilson and not A.J. "Flattop" Allmendinger getting the win. After dominating Atlantics in 2003, the Carl Russo-owned team jumped up the ladder and were immediately competitive in '04, and they seem to be continuing their successes this year. For Wilson, this should be his second win; he dominated at Portland leading all but 2 of the first 45 laps there until an oil-pump breakage foiled his plans.

Other than those, it was your "typical" street race in Toronto--fast action, some crashes, another "timed" event, but it was still a good race. Toronto is indeed a signature event for ChampCar, and ranks w/Long Beach for marquee status on the schedule.

[mlittle]

After last week's thrilla' of a street race in Toronto, the ChampCars travel to the heart of Alberta, Canada--Edmonton to be precise, for Round 7 of the 2005 Champ Car World Series, the West Edmonton Mall Grand Prix of Edmonton(GP of Edmonton). Situated on a 1.96-mile temporary road circuit similar to Cleveland's, the track is purpose-built on the grounds of Edmonton's Centre City Airport for the weekend. A new course, it should provide plenty of challenges for teams and drivers alike, w/multiple overtaking areas and long straights in all three sectors. Practice sessions 1 & 2, along w/qual. session 1 are July 15th; practice sessions 3 &4, along w/QS-2 are July 16th, with the race itself on July 17th at 3:30 PM EDT(19:30 UTC 17 july) on Speed Channel(domestic cable sports ntwk.-USA,) and Global TV-Canada. Storylines to follow on thursday, w/qual. summaries Fri./Sat, plus a race summary and observations on Sunday.

[Julian Mayo]

who do you pick for podiums ?
What about a competition, Ed's got lotsa fabulous prizes to give away

[mlittle]

Just as I did w/the IndyCar Series listing of teams/drivers, here's the current(as of 13 July 2005) list of CCWS teams and drivers.
(R)-denotes rookie

NOTE:Since driver sponsors are known to change on occasion, those are omitted from the list. In addition, all teams use a 2005-spec Ford Cosworth/Lola racecar.

Newman-Haas Racing:#1 Sebastien Bourdais, #2 Oriol Servia

Forsythe Championship Racing:#3 Paul Tracy, #7 Mario Dominguez

HVM Racing:#4 Bjorn Wirdheim(R), #55 Alex Sperafico

Walker Racing/Team Australia:#5 Marcus Marshall(R), #15 Alex Tagliani

RocketSports Racing:#8 Timo Glock(R), #31 Ryan Hunter-Reay

RuSport Racing:#9 Justin Wilson, #10 A.J. Allmendinger

Dale Coyne Racing:#11 Ricardo Sperafico(R), #19 Ryan Dalziel(R)

PKV Racing:#12 Jimmy Vasser, #21 Cristiano da Matta

MiJack-Conquest Racing:#27 Andrew Ranger(R), #34 Nelson Phillipe

NOTE 2:Due to injuries suffered at this year's Indianapolis 500, NHR driver Bruno Junquiera is being substituted at present by Servia.

A couple of points about the current drivers:
1--Four series champions are listed(Vasser-1996, da Matta-2002, Tracy-2003 and Bourdais-2004)
2--Six rookies are listed(Wirdheim, Marshall, Glock, R. Sperafico, Dalziel, and Ranger). of the six, two have Formula 1 experience(Wirdheim and Glock) while two are recent Toyota Atlantic alums(Dalziel and Ranger).

[Julian Mayo]

How is Marshall stacking up against Tagliani

[mlittle]

Not well at all, julian. Tag's got 4 top-5 starts(Monterrey, Portland, Cleveland and Toronto) while Marshall's yet to crack the top half of the grid yet(best start--15th at Milwaukee.)

In terms of finishes, Tag's got two podiums(Moterrey and Toronto) and 2 additional top-10 finishes(Milwaukee and Cleveland) while Marshall's best finish is a 12th at Cleveland.

As far as the current points table...
Alex Tagliani--7th overall, 94 pts.
Marcus Marshall(R)-17th overall(5th in rookie table), 43 pts.

[Julian Mayo]

thanks. I suspect this is the first time he has been in a single seater.

[Bundy]

Just as I did w/the IndyCar Series listing of teams/drivers, here's the current(as of 13 July 2005) list of CCWS teams and drivers.
(R)-denotes rookie

NOTE:Since driver sponsors are known to change on occasion, those are omitted from the list. In addition, all teams use a 2005-spec Ford Cosworth/Lola racecar.

Newman-Haas Racing:#1 Sebastien Bourdais, #2 Oriol Servia

Forsythe Championship Racing:#3 Paul Tracy, #7 Mario Dominguez

HVM Racing:#4 Bjorn Wirdheim(R), #55 Alex Sperafico

Walker Racing/Team Australia:#5 Marcus Marshall(R), #15 Alex Tagliani

RocketSports Racing:#8 Timo Glock(R), #31 Ryan Hunter-Reay

RuSport Racing:#9 Justin Wilson, #10 A.J. Allmendinger

Dale Coyne Racing:#11 Ricardo Sperafico(R), #19 Ryan Dalziel(R)

PKV Racing:#12 Jimmy Vasser, #21 Cristiano da Matta

MiJack-Conquest Racing:#27 Andrew Ranger(R), #34 Nelson Phillipe

NOTE 2:Due to injuries suffered at this year's Indianapolis 500, NHR driver Bruno Junquiera is being substituted at present by Servia.

A couple of points about the current drivers:
1--Four series champions are listed(Vasser-1996, da Matta-2002, Tracy-2003 and Bourdais-2004)
2--Six rookies are listed(Wirdheim, Marshall, Glock, R. Sperafico, Dalziel, and Ranger). of the six, two have Formula 1 experience(Wirdheim and Glock) while two are recent Toyota Atlantic alums(Dalziel and Ranger).

there's a few guys there with F1 experience....how does this series rate, audience & quality wise, against the IRL?

We get some coverage of champcar due to Team Australia obviously and also IRL due to Ryan Briscoe. Which series is more likely to produce F1 drivers?

[mlittle]

Bundy, excellent posting. As to your two questions...

In terms of television ratings, both are decent, but compared to the 800-lb. "gorillia" known as NASCAR(stock-car series), not so well. Chalk it up to the CART-IRL split in 1996, in essence. Now, when you look at both series, the big draw is still the Indianapolis 500(which is the IRL's signature race), even though the only drama from the month of may is the race itself(I still remember years when there were 40, 45, 50+ drivers trying to qualify for the 33 spots on the grid for the 500) in recent memory. Even when ChampCar teams have tried to compete at the Brickyard since the split, only the top teams, like Newman-Haas Racing, make the effort(for the simple reason that for them, its' a one-off race that has to be done separate from their CCWS efforts). Now, after floundering in the TV hinterlands last year, ChampCar finally got a decent TV package(Speed Channel, NBC and CBS) which should help them, while the IRL has had a long-term package btwn. ESPN, ESPN-2 and ABC since 2001.

As to the second question...that's an admittedly tough question to answer.
On the ChampCar side of the ledger, Cristiano da Matta had his 1 1/2+ yr. voyage in F1 w/Toyota, and couldn't compete there; he's made it abuntantly clear in the U.S. media that he likes ChampCar and wouldn't go back to F1 if asked. There's probably three drivers in ChampCar w/a shot at Formula 1:Sebastien Bourdais, Mario Dominguez, and Andrew Ranger. Bourdais, like da Matta, has a CCWS title under his belt, and both Dominguez and Ranger have been mentioned by various F1 sources(where, I'm honestly not sure at this time) but Ranger was seen at the Canadian GP talking w/Jordan F1 officials and Bourdais was in the F1 paddock at Magny-Cours, so there's always the chance.

On the IndyCar side, three names come to mind from past postings:Dan Wheldon, Tony Kanaan and Danica Patrick. Now, Kanaan has a confirmed test session w/BAR-Honda later this year, so his name is at the top of the list. Wheldon, like Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve, has an Indy 500 win under his belt so his name gets mentioned in F1 circles as well. Patrick, on the other hand, is the proverbial wild card of the three. Now, there had a "demo ride" set up for her by BAR-Honda at the USGP in June, but everybody in sight(including her) saw it as a publicity stunt and shot it down like the proverbial flying duck. However, Danica's experience in open-wheels has been almost exclusively in road racing(not ovals) and how she does at the series' 2 road courses, Infineon and Watkins Glen, will answer the question of her chances at getting to F1 immensely. If she does well(even possibly winning at either) then the chances of a test session go up; with who is the question?

I hope this answered your questions, bundy...if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

[Julian Mayo]

When does Danica get to show her stuff on the road courses?