Round 11--Champ Car Hurricane Relief 400

[Julian Mayo]

Ahh thats what a run in a mighty V8 Supercar will do for you. Plus he probably stocked up on vegemite sandwhiches while he was back here

[mlittle]

Well, couldn't he have given Tag some of those sandwiches? Speaking of which, maybe he could've given PT one as well. It might've have helped him in qual. tonight.

[mlittle]

Sebastien Bourdais(#1 McDonald's FC/L):"It just felt like my McDonald's crew on every single (piece) of the car, you know, pushing me around. It's pretty much a good summary of what happened today. I think it's to their credit what kind of performance we had in qualifying today."

Oriol Servia(#2 PacifiCare FC/L):"It was great. I think we already showed in practice we were going to be up there. No surprises; I'm just very happy. The car (actually) felt very good in traffic, so I think once we change it for the race, is going to be even better. Hopefully we can put the PacifiCare car on top of the podium Saturday."

Jimmy Vasser(#12 Gulfstream FC/L):"We weren't very happy in the afternoon session, but the team did a great job on the setups. I do know we need to do a lot of work on the race setups for tonight, but, you know, all the credit to the guys in the shop, they did a great job."

Marcus Marshall(#5 Aussie Vineyards FC/L):"The team has done a great job to give me a car this quick straight out of the box. The super speedway is definitely an interesting experience. You really have to grit your teeth and go for it. I have struggled in qualifying this year, so to be in the top 10 is obviously pleasing. We just need to convert it into a race result tomorrow night."

Ryan Hunter-Reay(#31 Red Paw Systems FC/L):"We just don't have the speed; that is really all there is to it. You are either really fast here, or slow, and unfortunately we are slow. We have to continue to do our homework and prepare for the race. It is a long race, so we will see what happens."

[mlittle]

While Julian, T-K, and Bundy all mess around Area 51, here are some observations from the track.....

1}Formula 1-style grid? If one looks at the grid, it kinda reminds you of some of the grids at a grand prix event....ya' know, McLarens' in one row, Renault in another, etc. It almost happened at Vegas. Row 1--NHR. Row 2--PKV Racing, HVM's pair 5th and 7th, and RuSport 8th and 9th. The two exceptions....Walker's Marcus Marshall-10th, and Forsythe's Paul Tracy, 14th.

2}Where'd he come from? For Aussie Marcus Marshall, this was, by far, his best qual. effort of the year. How'd he do it? Here's his take:"You really have to grit your teeth and go for it." With that, what's next, Indy?

3}Artwork..on a helmet? If one got a close look at Oriol Servia's helmet, you'd swear he'd lost it. Not quite; it just looks like it. While his helmet sports the colors of his native Catalonia, it just had a...Dalian look to it. The reason:both Servia and Dali come from Catalonia, so Servia had his helmet painter do a unique, one-off design for his helmet this weekend.

There's one additional practice session tonight, followed by one Saturday afternoon, with the Champ Car Hurricane Relief 400 tomorrow night at 11:30 PM EDT(TV broadcast Sunday, Sept. 25, 3:30 PM, on Speed Channel).

[mlittle]

Here's a brief update of the just-ended Champ Car Hurricane Relief 400, won by Sebastien Bourdais. An on-track incident between SeaBass and Paul Tracy may result in a protest being filed by Forsythe Racing to Race Control officials; until there's a decision, Bourdais is the provisional winner of tonight's race. More info to follow.....

[mlittle]

In a 166-lap bullring-fight that saw cars touch wheels and tempers flare pitside, Newman-Haas claimed yet another 1-2 finish as Sebastien Bourdais(#1 McDonald's FC/L), moves ever closer to clinching his second Vanderbilt Cup title, with teammate Oriol Servia(#2 PacifiCare FC/L) finishing .312 secs. behind.

When the race began, Forsythe's Paul Tracy(#3 indeck/Forsythe FC/L), who started 14th, bulled his way up to the lead by lap 7, making high/low-side passes on Jimmy Vasser(#12 Gulfstream FC/L), Servia, and Bourdais on his way to the lead. As the leaders fought their own battle, care further back fought one of their own, as Tracy's teammate, Mario Dominguez(#7 Indeck/Forsythe FC/L) and the Dale Coyne Racing American Medical Response #19 of Ronnie Bremer swapped 8th and 8th several laps in a row. By lap 41, the first round of stops began, as Tracy relinquished the lead to SeaBass, who in turn gave it up to Vasser , then Servia, and back to Tracy. A few laps later, there was a near three-car wreck as Servia, Vasser and Tracy go three-wide into turn 3, and Tracy and Servia touch, sending Servia a little high towards Vasser, who has to tap the brakes and nearly slides into the turn 4 wall, dropping several spots; Vasser would return to the front, though. By lap 70, the top 5 are 1--Tracy, 2--Bourdais, 3--Servia, 4--Allmendinger, and 5--Vasser.

The leaders then began swapping the lead as the second round of stops began; once again, Tracy goes in on lap 82 along with the car of Timo Glock(#8 DHL Global Mail FC/L). Then Bourdais goes in, and Servia resumes the lead, only to relinquish it back to Tracy. Top 5 at lap 92:1--Tracy, 2--Bourdais, 3--Servia, 4--Vasser and 5--Tagliani. The race continued as the lead pack fought wheel-to-wheel, none giving an inch to the others. By lap 123, the leaders prepared to make their final stops of the night when things...got very interesting.

By now, it had become a bullfight btwn. PT and Bourdais when, as Tracy begins to make his in-lap to the pits, gets a little "nudge" from SeaBass, sending Tracy into the turn 3 wall, bringing out the only caution of the race. As the cars pit for the third and final time, the #10 Western Union FC/L of A.J. Allmendinger runs out of fuel on the tri-oval; his day ends bitterly as Flattop was running P8 or better up to that point. By lap 139, following a wave-off when Bourdais "jumped" the gun on the restart, it had become a three-dog fight with SeaBass, Servia and Vasser the only ones in the lead pack. While Vasser would fade towards the end, the NHR duo fought doggedly for the last 26 laps, using every trick they knew in the arsensal, touching sidepods/wheels twice but keeping out of trouble. In the end, Servia, despite his efforts, had nothing for the Frenchman as Bourdais notched his 5th win of the season, almost certainly locking up the title for 2005. Servia would record yet another runner-up in a breakout season for the Catalonian, while Vasser, who all but announced his retirement at season's end, took the 3rd-spot. Forsythe's Mario Dominguez wound up 4th, while the guy Dominguez replaced this year, Rodalfo Lavin, finished 5th. Top rookie of the race went to HVM's Bjorn Wirdheim in 6th.

Observations to follow Sunday afternoon, followed by an updated pts. table...

[mlittle]

Boy, this was an exciting weekend in Vegas. Julian won an event at the WSOP, T-K flew over Groom Lake(a/k/a Area 51)...where is he, anyway?, and Bundy's been wanderin' up and down the Strip. Meanwhile, here's some obseervations from the track....

1}No Ansan race.... Sources inside the paddock indicate that the CCWS may cancel the Ansan GP event for the Oct. 14-16 weekend. While the 1.9-mile circuit is complete, the facilities(med center, paddock, race ctrl., etc) aren't finished. If the race is cancelled, then Sebastien Bourdais effectively becomes the 2005 CCWS champion. However, series officials have hinted that if Ansan is cancelled, then the next race on the schedule, Surfers Paradise, may be made a "double points" event. This is getting interesting.

2}The RuSport blues...While Justin Wilson stayed relatively mid-pack the whole race, teammate A.J. Allmendinger ran a clean, smooth race...until he ran out of fuel following Paul Tracy's crash. What he he say about it? "The car was awesome but as my runs went on, the car basically got loose and I had to hang on until the next pit stop. I don't know what happened with running out of fuel, but it was really frustrating because I think we had a fourth or fifth place car tonight."

3}Team Australia to test Atlantics hopefuls. Sometime next week, Walker Racing/Team Australia plans to test several drivers for their two car Atlantics team in 2006. Among the hopefuls....current Team Australia Formula BMW drivers James Davison and Michael Patrizi, along with former Aussie F3 champion Peter Hackett. The tests are scheduled to occur at Firebird Raceway near Phoenix, Az. with the help of Brooks Racing.

[mlittle]

Here are the updated CCWS standings....(top-10 and rookie)

1}Sebastien Bourdais 310 pts.
2}Oriol Servia 243 pts.
3}Paul Tracy 216 pts.
4}Justin Wilson 214 pts.
5}Mario Dominguez 186 pts.
6}(tie)A.J. Allmendinger 173 pts.
Jimmy Vasser 173 pts.
8}Alex Tagliani 169 pts.
9}(R)Timo Glock 163 pts.
10}Cristiano DaMatta 130 pts.

R-1}Timo Glock 163 pts.(9th overall)
R-2}Ronnie Bremer 122 pts.(11th overall)
R-3}Andrew Ranger 115 pts.(t-12th overall)
R-4}Bjorn Wirdheim 115 pts.(t-12th overall)
R-5}Marcus Marshall 94 pts.(15th overall)
R-6}Ricardo Sperafico 75 pts.(17th overall)