2006 CCWS Rd. 11--Grand Prix of Montreal

[mlittle]

With the dust still settling from a wild weekend on the Front Range, the teams and drivers of the Champ Car World Series now head for one more trip north of the border, to the famous Circuit Gilles Villeneueve, and the Grand Prix of Montreal. It will be, though, a bittersweet event weekend....for two reasons:
1--unless things change, the series is set to depart Montreal and not return for 2007, and
2--everyone's thoughts are still focused on injured RuSport driver Cristiano da Matta, recovering from injuries suffered at Road America earlier this month

All things aside, the focus will be on the series' resident curmudgeon(I mean, veteran Paul Tracy..... ) who has managed to get into scrapes with French-Canadian driver Alex Tagliani(I'll bet PT's going to real...real popular in Montreal this weekend...if you know what I mean..... ) at San Jose, and then with series champion(and ChampCar's fair-haired boy..... )Sebastien Bourdais at Denver. What, praytell, will "The Thrill from West Hill" do for an encore?

Here, then, is the event schedule for the weekend.....(note, all times U.S. EDT/-4 hrs. GMT)

Practice Session #1}10:15 am, 26 August 2006
Practice Session #2}2 pm, 26 August 2006
Qualifying Session #1}2:25 pm, 26 August 2006
Practice Session #3}10:30 am, 27 August 2006
Practice Session #4}2 pm, 27 August 2006
Qualifying Session #2}2:30 pm, 27 August 2006
Final Practice Session}9:30 am, 28 August 2006
Grand Prix of Montreal, 1:30 pm, 28 August 2006

television}NBC Sports(live-USA), TSN(tape delayed-Canada)
terrestrial radio}ChampCar Radio Network(throughout U.S), CBC Sports Radio and Radio Canada International
satellite radio}XM Satellite Radio

[mlittle]

According to multiple sources, there will be a driver change at Rocketsports Racing for the upcoming round in Montreal, as team officials confirmed that former F1 driver Antonio Pizzonia will step in for Nicky Pastorelli in the #8 Rocketsports entry; it is unclear, though, whether this is a another one-off for Pizzonia or if it could lead to a long-term ride w/the team.

[mlittle]

According to multiple sources, there will be a driver change at Rocketsports Racing for the upcoming round in Montreal, as team officials confirmed that former F1 driver Antonio Pizzonia will step in for Nicky Pastorelli in the #8 Rocketsports entry; it is unclear, though, whether this is a another one-off for Pizzonia or if it could lead to a long-term ride w/the team.

Correction to the above............according to speedtv.com, Pizzonia will partner Pastorelli at Montreal; team officials also hinted that Pizzonia may drive a second car at Surfers Paradise later this year.

[mlittle]

With the battle for the Vanderbilt Cup now in full swing, current points leader and 2-time series champion Sebastien Bourdais fired the first round, dominating Friday's QS-1 and capturing the provisional pole, guaranteeing a front-row spot for Sunday's race. How dominating was SeaBass's day? He spun three times in practice, brushing the turn 4 wall at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and spinning through the Senna Curves just past pit-out. Here are the top-5 from QS-1.............

1}S. Bourdais, Newman-Haas............................1:21.193 sec
2}O. Servia, PKV..............................................1:21.523 sec
3}B. Junquiera, Newman-Haas...........................1:21.856 sec
4}J. Wilson, RuSport.........................................1:22.085 sec
5}P. Tracy, Forsythe.........................................1:22.222 sec

[cmlean]

Thanks mfer. Good to be kept informed.

[mlittle]

Let's see...........as usual, Julian's stuck in Montreal traffic, there are reports of plider sightings above the city(....I wondered where T-K's been...... ) and I'm having a bittersweet day at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Anyway, here's the observations...........

1}Farewell, Montreal......and don't let the door hit your %^& on the way out! At least, that was the impression from series president Steve Johnson, who confirmed to reporters Friday that the series will not return to the famed circuit in 2007, and from the sounds of it, he laid the blame squarely on two individuals.......Montreal promoter Normand Legault, and IRL founder Tony George for having damaged the sport with the split. (Moderators' note.....while you're at it, Mr. Johnson, why don't we blame the France family as well, hmm? )

2}There's the guy with the black hat. The easiest way to tell where Paul Tracy was...........wait for all the French-Canadian fans to boo and hiss at him, then look out at the track and see him drive by.

3}A red flag.......for ducks!! There were several red flag stoppages during Friday's practices, but the strangest one was at 10:44 am, when the pit notes said........10:44 am, RED FLAG for debris removal and duck removal. Apparently, a family of ducks had wandered onto the track, precipating the red flag.

[mlittle]

In what is becoming an all-too regular occurance, Newman-Haas Racing got its' 100th-ever pole courtesy of Sebastien Bourdais, who reeled off a flyer at the last second to nip Forsythe Championship Racing's A.J. Allmendinger, delighting the thousands of French-Canadian fans present. For the second day in a row, SeaBass crashed during practice; this time, he got to visit up close and personal CGV's "Wall of Champions"(the concrete wall at the final chicane) when he missed his braking point and slid into the famed' wall, slightly damaging the car. With forecasts of rain in the picture(bringing the prospect of a wet-weather race to the fore....... ), here is the grid for what appears to be the final running of the Grand Prix of Montreal.............

1}Sebastien Bourdais, #1 McDonald's FC/L........................1:20.005 sec
2}A.J. Allmendinger, #7 Indeck/Forsythe FC/L....................1:20.361 sec

3}Justin Wilson, #9 CDW FC/L...........................................1:20.587 sec
4}Paul Tracy, #3 Indeck/Forsythe FC/L..............................1:20.669 sec

5}Oriol Servia, #6 Gulfstream FC/L...................................1:20.691 sec
6}Bruno Junquiera, #2 Hole in the Walls FC/L.....................1:20.772 sec

7}(R)Will Power, #5 Aussie Vineyards FC/L........................1:21.156 sec
8}(R)Dan Clarke, #14 Sherwin-Williams FC/L.....................1:21.555 sec

9}Andrew Ranger, #27 Wal-Mart/Enfant Soleil FC/L............1:21.561 sec
10}Nelson Phillipe, #4 WellBox FC/L..................................1:21.725 sec

11}(R)Charles Zwolsman, #34 GoldenPalace.com FC/L.......1:21.771 sec
12}Alex Tagliani, #15 Aussie Vineyards FC/L.....................1:21.916 sec

13}(R)Antonio Pizzonia, #8 Curacao FC/L..........................1:22.050 sec
14}(R)Jan Heylen, #11 Diamall/Muermans FC/L.................1:22.096 sec

15}Mario Dominguez, #19 Pride of Mexico FC/L.................1:22.581 sec
16}(R)Katherine Legge, #20 Bell Micro FC/L......................1:22.902 sec

17}(R)Nicky Pastorelli, #55 Bavaria City FC/L....................1:24.202 sec

[mlittle]

Wet weather, a timed ChampCar race.......what else has happened? Here is the raceday notebook......

1}Who is that masked man? Say what you will, but the "Thrill from West Hill", Paul Tracy, knows a lot about promoting both himself and the series.....case in point, during pre-race driver intros a little bit ago, he looked less like a racer and more like a professional wrestler, complete with cape and mask.

2}He's fully sponsored for the rest of the year.........earlier in the month, the rumor mill was abuzz with reports that MJCR's Andrew Ranger would have to sit out the remainder of the season due to sponsorship woes. Thankfully, those reports are out the provebial window, as the team announced that Wal-Mart will, along with Tide, will sponsor Ranger's car for the rest of the season.

3}Having funs with the fans(this goes along with #1 above......) Saturday, the topic of conversation around PT centered around the give-and-take btwn. him and the French-Canadian fans, which Tracy accented by curiously mocking the fans with a hat which read, "Montreal, province of Canada." With all the infighting and squabbling btwn. Quebec and the rest of Canada, PT picked a......interesting way to express himself to the fans.

[mlittle]

Race officials announced around 5 pm that, due to the intense rains passing through the Montreal area, that the ChampCar Grand Prix of Montreal will be postponed until 10 am Monday morning; in addition, the Atlantic Championship race will be run at 8:20 am tomorrow as well.

[mlittle]

After a day's rain-delay, Sebastien Bourdais(#1 McDonald's FC/L) all but wrapped up his third consecutive Vanderbilt Cup, dominating in ChampCar's likely last visit to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, winning the Grand Prix of Montreal as his main opponents, Justin Wilson(#9 CDW FC/L) and A.J. Allmendinger(#7 Indeck/Forsythe FC/L) fell to mechanical woes(driveshaft failure for A.J.) and accidents(Wilson crashed about halfway through as a result of contact w/Andrew Ranger). Afterwards, in victory lane, SeaBass commented on the win......

For sure this is as good as it gets. It was important to bounce back after Denver; I can't say I'm happy about what happened to A.J. I'd have preferred to beat him fair and square on the racetrack, but (mechanical failures) are part of racing. And Justin made a mistake, which is also part of racing.

Although Wilson and Allmendinger saw their series title hopes all but disappear, SeaBass still had to contend with one other driver the whole day.......Allmendinger's teammate(and prinicpal curmudgeon/rival), Paul Tracy. Just as the currently injured Cristiano da Matta and then-Team Green driver Dario Franchitti dueled in 2002, Tracy and Bourdais ensured that, should the series not return in 2007, the fans won't have left disappointed. How good was the fight btwn. them? Well.....it took a green-white-checkered finish to settle it all; despite his best attempts, PT never could get a shot at passing Bourdais. The surprise of the day, however, belonged to SeaBass' fellow Frenchman, CTE-HVM's Nelson Phillipe, who scored his second podium of the year in an unlikely manner. In Sunday's somewhat truncated start, Phillipe suffered a cut tire(courtesy of contact btwn. him and PKV's Katherine Legge, fell back to near last, then patiently worked his way up to third. The real battle of the day, though, was late in the going, when P4-P7 were literally up for grabs btwn. "Speedy" Dan Clarke(Phillipe's teammate), Rocketsports' Nicky Pastorelli and the Team Australia duo of Will Power and Alex Tagliani. In the end, Clarke held on to fourth, while Power continues to lead the Roshfrans rookie-of-the-year fight, finishing fifth. Here, then, are the top-10 from an interesting and exciting Grand Prix of Montreal....................

1st}#1 Sebastien Bourdais.................................67 laps*
2nd}#3 Paul Tracy.............................................-1.398 sec
3rd}#4 Nelson Phillipe........................................-2.754 sec
4th}(R)#14 Dan Clarke......................................-3.121 sec
5th}(R)#5 Will Power.........................................-6.359 sec
6th}(R)#55 Nicky Pastorelli................................-7.431 sec
7th}#15 Alex Tagliani........................................-8.321 sec
8th}(R)#34 Charles Zwolsman...........................-8.409 sec
9th}(R)#11 Jan Heylen......................................-10.529 sec
10th}#19 Mario Dominguez...............................-10.617 sec

[Julian Mayo]

Sounds like a helluva good race to watch. Will Power seems to be getting a handle on things

[cmlean]

I don't know if we will see it. We had the first 7 laps last night but I don't know if Network 10 will telecast the Monday race.

[Julian Mayo]

I don't know if we will see it. We had the first 7 laps last night but I don't know if Network 10 will telecast the Monday race.