33rd Annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach(CCWS rd.2 of 16)

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After an interesting inaugural event on the streets of downtown Las Vegas, the stars of the Champ Car World Series travel to the Left Coast(oops, I meant, the West Coast... ) and to the streets of Long Beach, California for the 33rd running of America's premier street race. Since the 1970's, when the stars of Formula 1 came to town through to the present, drivers near and far have come to seek victory on the tree-lined streets of Southern California. With a new engine, new chassis and the largest rookie grid since 2003, expect lots of action on the streets.

Previous race winners of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach..........
Al Unser, Jr.(6)--1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995
Mario Andretti(4)--1977, 1984, 1985, 1987
Paul Tracy(4)--1993, 2000, 2003, 2004
Michael Andretti(2)--1986, 2002
Alex Zanardi(2)--1997, 1998
Sebastien Bourdais(2)--2005, 2006
Brian Redman(1)--1975
Clay Regazzoni(1)--1976
Carlos Reutimann(1)--1978
Gilles Villeneuve(1)--1979
Nelson Piquet(1)--1980
Alan Jones(1)--1981
Niki Lauda(1)--1982
John Watson(1)--1983
Danny Sullivan(1)--1992
Jimmy Vasser(1)--1996
Juan Pablo Montoya(1)--1999
Helio Castroneves(1)--2001

Will we see a new face on the above list of winners, or could either SeaBass or PT add another win to their tallies.........well, that's why they run the races!!!

Here is the event schedule for the 33rd annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach......
Practice Session #1........1 pm, 13 April 2007
Practice Session #2........5 pm, 13 April 2007
Qualifying Session #1.....5:20 pm, 13 April 2007
Practice Session #3........1:15 pm, 14 April 2007
Practice Session #4........5 pm, 14 April 2007
Qualifying Session #2.....5:20 pm, 14 April 2007
Final Practice Session......12:05 pm, 15 April 2007
33rd annual TGPLB..........4 pm, 15 April 2007(broadcast live on NBC Sports and Global TV[USA, Canada]; check local listings for time/network)
note.....all times are U.S. EDT/-4 hrs GMT

[RE30B#16]

Previous race winners of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach..........
...
Niki Lauda(1)--1982...

A little history: Gilles Villeneuve actually took the checkered flag third and did the podium thing only to be disqualified for having a "movable aerodynamic device" on the Ferrari later. Ferrari had fitted at huge wing on the back of the car the width of the entire car. Since it flopped around as the drivers bumped through the streets of Long Beach, other teams successfully convinced the FIA that the floppy wing constituted a "movable aerodynamic device" (this rule was written into the FIA rule book in 1978 to ban the infamous Brabham BT46B "fan car")!

Interesting fact!

[mlittle]

With one round in the books, it is time to pack up the warhorse and head to the Left Coast(......DOH!! I meant, the West Coast, darn it!! .....) and to the streets of Long Beach for the 33rd running of America's premier street race, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

With his dominant win from Vegas, Team Australia's Will Power is the early points leader coming into Long Beach; in winning Sunday, Power became the first-ever Australian-born driver to win in NA open-wheel competition, and it's a sure bet he'll try to ride the momentum into this weekend's race.........but he'll have some mighty heavy opposition trackside to deal, namely the two series "heavyweights", Paul Tracy and Sebastien Bourdais.....

For "the Thrill from West Hill" and SeaBass, it was a "best of times, worst of times" race in Vegas; PT finished third behind Power and former F1 driver Robert Doornbos, while SeaBass suffered multiple tire issues before conking the turn 4 wall, ending his day somewhat earlier than I suspect he'd liked. Speaking of Doornbos.....

IMHO, if I had to give a "Drive of the Day" Award for the Las Vegas race, Doornbos would've gotten the award; after all, it was his first experience with such NA motorsports staples as, rolling starts(F1 should try 'em sometime..... ), saving fuel during the race, no-blocking rules, etc....his 2nd-place was the best finish for a rookie driver in ChampCar since Nigel Mansell's win in Surfers Paradise back in 1993; a close second to Doornbos was fellow rookie Tristan Gommendy, who finished 5th(marking the first time in 23 years that two rookies finished in the top-5 of their debuts).......

As to the rookie class so far......ironically, thanks to the Atlantic Championship, only three of them(Doornbos, Gommendy and Jani) have zero experience at Long Beach. The other five(Figge, Rahal, Pagenaud, Halliday and Dalziel) have track-time from their Atlantic races, w/Dalziel's pole(and win from the pole) from 2004 being the best effort of any of the five.

So, what'll happen this weekend? Who knows..............before I forget, though, let's give a shoutout to fellow forum member RE30B#16, who IIRC will be once again performing at some of the concerts to be held during the weekend; if you don't see him there, check the Trizac bldg; he should be there. As for me.....I'll be roaming the paddocks once again, looking for stories, commentaries and whatever else comes to mind. All I know, it should be one heck of a....(okay, one h--- of a weekend).

[mlittle]

~~Event.........33rd Toyota Grand prix of Long Beach, Long Beach, Ca., round 2 of 16, 2007 Champ Car World Series
~~Distance.....timed race of 1 hr., 45 minutes; track distance of 1.968 miles
~~TV details....live, NBC, 4 pm Sunday

~~each team is supplied with 13 sets of Bridgestone Potenza racing slicks; 7 standard(black-walled) sets, 2 softer-compound(red-walled) sets and 4 sets of wet-weather tires
~~during the race itself, all teams are required to use the "reds" during at least one stint of the race
~~according to Bridgestone Motorsports' Al Speyer, the standard-compound tire to be used has been used in competition before, at 6 events in 2006 and in Las Vegas last weekend; the softer-compound tires will see their second event(the first being at Surfers Paradise in 2006)

[RE30B#16]

So, what'll happen this weekend? Who knows..............before I forget, though, let's give a shoutout to fellow forum member RE30B#16, who IIRC will be once again performing at some of the concerts to be held during the weekend; if you don't see him there, check the Trizac bldg; he should be there. As for me.....I'll be roaming the paddocks once again, looking for stories, commentaries and whatever else comes to mind. All I know, it should be one heck of a....(okay, one h--- of a weekend).

[mlittle]

Practice Session #1 top-5............

1} #1 Sebastien Bourdais, NHL Racing.......................1:08.857 sec
2} #7 Mario Dominguez, Forsythe Ch. Racing.............1:09.145 sec
3} #5 Will Power, Team Australia..............................1:09.506 sec
4} (R)#15 Simon Pagenaud, Team Australia...............1:09.749 sec
5} #8 Alex Tagliani, Rocketsports..............................1:09.756 sec

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

1} #5 Will Power, Team Australia..................................1:08.701 sec
2} #8 Alex Tagliani, Rocketsports..................................1:08.738 sec
3} #1 Sebastien Bourdais, NHL Racing...........................1:08.869 sec
4} (R)#22 Tristan Gommendy, PKV Racing.....................1:09.051 sec
5} (R)#15 Simon Pagenaud, Team Australia...................1:09.067 sec

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In what looked for all the world to be a motorsports' version of a UFC championship fight, Team Australia's Will Power edged out series champion Sebastien Bourdais for the provisional pole in Friday qualifying....here are the top-5 from QS-1.................

1} #5 Will Power, Team Australia...........................1:07.920 sec*
2} #1 Sebastien Bourdais, NHL Racing....................1:07.970 sec
3} (R)#15 Simon Pagenaud, Team Australia............1:08.200 sec
4} #8 Alex Tagliani, Rocketsports...........................1:08.304 sec
5} #3 Paul Tracy, Forsythe Champ. Racing..............1:08.573 sec
*--guaranteed a front-row starting spot and 1 championship pt.

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Q: What happens when one comsumes copious amounts of alcoholic beverages and attends several events on a Friday?

A: You end up doing the Friday notebook on Saturday afternoon!

Before beginning the Friday notebook, I'd like to offer my condolences to the family of ChampCar safety official Dr. Jason Greenbaugh, whose brother, U.S. Army Capt. Jonathan Greenbaugh, was killed during combat operations in Zaganiyah, Iraq along with three other members of the 5th Sqdn., 73rd Cavalry[82nd ABN Div.] serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom, from injuries suffered when an IED(Improvised Explosive Device) was detonated near them.....according to his brother, Jonathan was a huge fan of the ChampCar series; he will be sorely missed by everyone in the ChampCar paddock.

And now, the notebook............

~~Is it bumpier than ever, heh? Street circuits the world over have one complaint that drivers universally bring up; since the only time you get to drive on 'em is usually on a race weekend, they can change from year to year.....case in point, Long Beach, and according to all the drivers, it has gotten especially bumpy this year.....indeed, most drivers are saying that thebackstraight(Seaside Way) is really bumpy, due to all the construction that was being done in the area.......drivers, always complaining, hmm?

~~An all-star lineup? One look inside the PKV Racing paddock and you'd sworn that an all-star lineup had been assembled, from co-owner Jimmy Vasser, to former Team Rahal and Arciero/Wells Racing driver Max Papis to former engineering legend Mo Nunn.

~~Alternating strategies.......Team Australia employed an interesting strategy for Friday's QS-1 and it paid off.......Simon Pagenaud ran on the "reds" during the session, clocking a time good enough for 3rd; Will Power, on the other hand, did what not very many people have been able to do agst. Sebastien Bourdais in a qual. session.....while SeaBass was running on the "reds", Power stuck with the "blacks"(the references are to the tire compounds....."reds" meaning the option tire; "blacks" meaning the standard-compound tire) and stuck it to SeaBass, pipping the Frenchman for P1 in the session....

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

1} #1 Sebastien Bourdais, NHL Racing.........................1:07.732 sec
2} #5 Will Power, Team Australia................................1:07.985 sec
3} (R)#15 Simon Pagenaud, Team Australia.................1:08.051 sec
4} (R)#2 Graham Rahal, NHL Racing............................1:08.099 sec
5} #7 Mario Dominguez, Forsythe Champ. Racing.........1:08.215 sec

Most of the session, however, was red-flagged due to a hard crash involving Forsythe Championship Racing's Paul Tracy, who crashed in turn 1, suffering a compression fracture to his first lumbar vertebrae. Although he was awake and alert when the ChampCar saefty crews reached him, PT complained of lower back pain and was transported to St. Mary's Hospital in Long Beach.....according to team VP-Operations Neil Micklewright, Oriol Servia has been tapped to replace PT for the remainder of the weekend; future plans will be determined following Sunday's race.

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

1} #1 Sebastien Bourdais, NHL Racing..............................1:07.454 sec
2} #7 Mario Dominguez, Forsythe Champ. Racing..............1:08.413 sec
3} #8 Alex Tagliani, Rocketsports.....................................1:08.414 sec
4} #9 Justin Wilson, RuSport Racing.................................1:08.515 sec
5} (R)#21 Neel Jani, PKV Racing......................................1:08.559 sec

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Starting Grid for the 33rd annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach............
....all drivers using Ford-Cosworth/Panoz racecars


1st} Sebastien Bourdais, #1 McDonald's............................1:07.546 sec/104.889 mph
2nd} Will Power, #5 Aussie Vineyards...............................1:07.695 sec/104.658 mph

3rd} (R)Simon Pagenaud, #15 Aussie Vineyards................1:07.883 sec/104.368 mph
4th} Alex Tagliani, #8 Lexington Energy Svcs.....................1:08.047 sec/104.116 mph

5th} (R)Graham Rahal, #2 Medi/Zone................................1:08.170 sec/103.928 mph
6th} (R)Robert Doornbos, #14 Muermans/Mediamall...........1:08.183 sec/103.909 mph

7th} Justin Wilson, #9 CDW..............................................1:08.200 sec/103.880 mph
8th} Bruno Junquiera, #19 Sonny's Real Pit BBQ................1:08.430 sec/103.430 mph

9th} (R)Tristan Gommendy, #22 Pay by Touch/Megaspiera..1:08.527 sec/103.387 mph
10th} Mario Dominguez, #7 Telmex/Indeck........................1:08.554 sec/103.346 mph

11th} (R)Neel Jani, #21 Red Bull/Gulfstream.......................1:08.609 sec/103.263 mph
12th} (R)Matt Halliday, #42 42 Below.................................1:08.864 sec/102.881 mph

13th} Dan Clarke, #4 Ticketmaster/Synapse Power.............1:08.890 sec/102.842 mph
14th} Oriol Servia, #3 Indeck/Monster Energy Drink............1:08.922 sec/102.794 mph

15th} (R)Ryan Dalziel, #28 Ironclad...................................1:09.070 sec/102.574 mph
16th} (R)Alex Figge, #29 Imperial Capital Bank...................1:09.151 sec/102.454 mph

17th} Katherine Legge, #11 AMR/i-Rise...............................1:09.766 sec/101.556 mph

[mlittle]

Due to the power outages in Western NC Sunday night, a summary of the 33rd Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will hopefully be up on the forums by Thursday evening.

[mlittle]

Long Beach top-10................

1st} #1 Sebastien Bourdais.................................78 laps
2nd} #3 Oriol Servia..........................................-2.614 sec
3rd} #5 Will Power............................................-3.866 sec
4th} #9 Justin Wilson.........................................-5.325 sec
5th} #8 Alex Tagliani.........................................-6.179 sec
6th} #19 Bruno Junquiera..................................-6.394 sec
7th} (R)#21 Neel Jani........................................-7.710 sec
8th} (R)#2 Graham Rahal..................................-8.267 sec
9th} (R)#28 Ryan Dalziel...................................-8.962 sec
10th} #11 Katherine Legge................................-9.886 sec

[RE30B#16]

Yay! I picked SeaBass to win Long Beach again. Any word on Paul Tracy's condition?

There was a serious accident in turn one during the Trans Am race that ended it.