Round 10--Molson Indy Montreal

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Now that we're clear of the Front Range, the ChampCars travel back across the border to Montreal and the Ile de Notre Dame and the venerable Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, home to both Formula 1's Canadian Grand Prix and, since 2002, the ChampCar World Series' Molson Indy Montreal. Set on a 2.709-mile permanent road course, the series faced some questions back in 2002, but the race that year answered those questions, as both Cristiano da Matta and Dario Franchitti fought a tooth-and-nail battle, each setting fast lap after fast lap, with da Matta taking the victory en route to the 2002 Vanderbilt Cup. Last year saw 2004 CCWS titleist Sebastien Bourdais duel w/fellow racer A.J. Allmendinger that culminated in SeaBass colliding w/A.J. at the Casino Hairpin, ending SeaBass's day w/about 25 laps to go that day. With 4 rounds to go after Montreal, the race this weekend will go a long way to determining who will hoist the Vanderbilt Cup up in Mexico City at season's end. Here's the weekend schedule for the Molson Indy Montreal.

Friday Practice #1==10:15 AM EST, Aug. 26
Friday Practice #2==2:00 PM EST, Aug. 26
Friday QS-1==(est.) 2:25 PM EST, Aug. 26
Saturday Practice #1==10:30 AM EST, Aug. 27
Saturday Practice #2==2:00 PM EST, Aug. 27
Saturday QS-2==(est.) 2:25 PM EST, Aug. 27
Sunday Warm-Up==9:45 AM EST, Aug. 28
Molson Indy Mtl.==1:45 PM EST, Aug. 28

Coverage on Sunday will be on both NBC Sports in the United States, and on Global TV in Canada. Live timing and scoring is available on the series website: www.champcarworldseries.com

I'll have a race preview on Tuesday, with the usual assortment of things...practice, qual. and race summaries, plus observations/commentaries where needed.

[mlittle]

With the background for Round 10, the Molson Indy Montreal, in the first posting on this thread, here's the mid-week storylines flying around the Ile de Notre-Dame....

1}Can SeaBass sweep Canada? In the first two ChampCar races in Canda this year(Toronto, Edmonton), Sebastien Bourdais has done better than his chief nemesis, Paul Tracy. Last year, Tracy got the best of him here. Will Bourdais best his rival once again, or will the "Thrill from West Hill" finally thrill everyone with a win in Montreal?

2}Junquiera to return for Mexico City? If the reports are true, then Newman-Haas Racing's Bruno Junquiera, injured in a crash at this year's Indy 500, could possibly return to the seat of his PacifiCare car by season's end in Mexico City, or possibly in time for Surfers Paradise. Considering the severity of his injuries, it is a testament to the physical fitness of Champ and IndyCar drivers that Junky, who broke two vertebrae in his back along with a bone in his ankle, has been told that he could return by then. All I know is that a lot of open-wheel fans in NA(myself included) definitely look forward to seeing Junky back in the saddle again.

3}Who will win the Atlantic Championship? With their final race of the season this weekend at Montreal, either Tonis Kasemets or Charles Zwolsman have a shot at the title, which will come with two prizes this year:1-a $1 million USD prize, and 2-a one-off ChampCar ride at Mexico City in November. That alone's enough encouragement, but the way the Atlantic season's gone this year, it should go right down to the wire. Good luck to everyone.

[mlittle]

With three consecutive wins behind him, ChampCar series points leader Sebastien Bourdais(#1 McDonald's FC/L) clinched a front-row spot for Sunday by setting the fastest QS-1 lap in Friday qualfying for Sunday's Molson Indy Montreal with a time of 1:21.924 secs.(119.042 mph). In what has become his most successful season to date, Bourdais's teammate, Catalonian Oriol Servia(#2 PacifiCare FC/L) posted the second-fastest time, a 1:22.010 secs.(118.917 mph). 2003 series champion and Ontario native, Paul Tracy(#3 Indeck/Forsythe FC/L) sits in P3 w/a time of 1:22.040 secs.(118.354 mph). Rounding out the top 5 were PT's teammate, Mario Dominguez(#7 Indeck/Forsythe FC/L) and 2002 series champion, PKV Racing's Cristiano Da Matta(#21 Bell Micro FC/L).

As the qualfying session began, drivers took to the circuit, recently repaved with additional asphalt and concrete patches which saw lots of usage from the Formula 1 race in mid-June, and some of the racers had problems immediately. Indeed, two of them, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Ricardo Sperafico, failed to post a QS-1 time due to damage suffered in the two practice session proceeding qualifying. The worst of the accidents was that of Quebecois native Andrew Ranger(#27 MiJack/Tide FC/L), who slid through turn 7 and slammed into an outside concrete barrier. ChampCar medical staff examined the momentarily-stunned Ranger, but cleared him to continue and race on Sunday. Said the Roxton Pond, PQ, native, "It was a hard crash, but I feel fine. The MiJack car was very, very fast today. I was P7 and up .4 on my best time and tried to push too hard. I touched the (concrete) patch and went into the wall. It was my mistake. I just pushed too hard and lost the rear end of the car."

Other notables in Friday qualfying were Da Matta's PKV teammate, Jimmy Vasser(#12 Gulfstream FC/L) who sits in 6th. RuSport's two racers, Justin Wilson(#9 Intel/SanDisk FC/L) posted the 7th-fastest time while A.J. Allmendinger(#10 Western Union FC/L) struggled and could only post P16 today. Rookie points leader Timo Glock(#8 DHL Global FC/L) was ninth-fastest, while the other Quebscois native in the field, Alex Tagliani(#15 Aussie Vineyards FC/L) posted P10.

Saturday's qualifying session(QS-2) will set the final grid for Sunday, with the fastest time from QS-1 and 2 used to line the cars up for the race. With the provisional pole, Bourdais earned a championship point, giving him a 54-point lead over Tracy.

[mlittle]

Now, if I could just find out where Rue Ste. Catherine's is...after all, we're in Montreal, and no visit's complete without paying homage to one of hockey's great venues, the old Montreal Forum. But enough of that...here's some observations on the day's events.

1--Ranger Cleared to Continue. After smacking the concrete barrier around turn 7, ChampCar medical personnel have cleared MiJack-Conquest's Andrew Ranger to continue and to race on Sunday. He was momentarily stunned following the crash, but was uninjured otherwise.

2--Bridesmaid Again? In what is a repeating occurance, Newman-Haas Racing's Oriol Servia currently sits P2 after Friday's QS-1, just behind the provisional polesitter, SeaBass. He shouldn't relax, though, for right behind him sits the other half of ChampCar's "Odd Couple", Forsythe Racing's Paul Tracy.

3--ChampCar vs. Formula One. When the ChampCar World Series first ventured to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2002, the comparisons naturally came as to which series was faster, CCWS or F1. The result...no contest, the F1 cars are definitely faster here. Back in 2002, Cristiano Da Matta' pole time of 1:18.959 secs. was over 6 seconds slower than Juan Pablo Montoya's pole speed for the Canadian GP, a 1:12.836 secs. That time fell with 2004 Canadian pole winner Ralf Schumacher, who set a time of 1:12.275 secs., but w/heavier fuel loads and a new qualifying procedure, this year's F1 pole winner, Jenson Button, could only manage a time of 1:15.217 secs. By comparison, Bourdais's P1 time of 1:21.924 secs. probably would've put SeaBass deal last on the F1 grid.

4--Rain in the Forecast? The weather reports for the weekend are calling for the possibility of rain, which would normally faze most racers. Not these ChampCar drivers. Said Paul Tracy, "I think Bridgestone's rain tire is much better this year--it's softer. So we'll just have to wait and see what happens." His nemesis, Sebastien Bourdais, who currently sits P1, had a decidely different view. "A rain race would be a big mess. It's been a long time since we raced in the rain(at Elkhart Lake, in 2003), and that was an adventure. It's extremely difficult here; the walls are close to the track and the asphalt is very tight, so water stays on top it. You can expect a few incidents if it does rain." Let's just hope it doesn't rain, because if it does, and PT and SeaBass are on row 1...well, . You get the picture.

[mlittle]

In his 43 ChampCar World Series starts, Le Mans, France native Sebastien Bourdais has racked up 16 pole positions....make that 17, as he will start on the pole for Sunday's Molson Indy Montreal from the famed Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. With his time of 1:20.396 secs.(121.305 mph), Bourdais now sits in 12th on the all-time ChampCar polewinner list, passing the legendary Emerson Fittipaldi. Indeed, his pole time was a half-sec. faster than that of his Newman-Haas teammate, Oriol Servia(#2 PacifiCare FC/L).

As the session began Paul Tracy(#3 Indeck/Forsythe FC/L) immediately set the fast lap of the QS-2 session on his first flying lap; by the time his Bridgestone Potenzas were at temperature, a third of the field were out on the track. PT's time wouldn't last, as RuSport's Justin Wilson(#9 CDW FC/L) soon sat in P1. A lap later, A.J. Allmendinger(#10 Western Union FC/L) was in P1. Just as A.J. posted his fastest lap, Bourdais was just exiting pitroad, and by SeaBass' fourth lap of qual. he would set the polewinning time, bettering it two laps later.

The first three rows are as follows.....

Row 1:1-Sebastien Bourdais, #1 McDonald's FC/L
2-Oriol Servia, #2 PacifiCare FC/L
Row 2:3-Justin Wilson, #9 CDW FC/L
4-A.J. Allmendinger, #10 Western Union FC/L
Row 3:5-Paul Tracy, #3 Indeck/Forsythe FC/L
6-Alex Tagliani, #15 Aussie Vineyards FC/L

Other notables on the grid....Tracy's Forsythe teammate, Mario Dominguez, will start 7th; rookie points leader Timo Glock(#8 DHL Global FC/L) will start 8th. In 13th is the RocketSports entry of Ryan Hunter-Reay(#31 Red Paw Systems FC/L) with a time of 1:22.285 secs.(118.520 mph), while Dale Coyne Racing's Ricardo Sperafico(#11 Sonny's Real Pit BBQ FC/L) will start 16th(neither RHR or Sperafico posted a QS-1 time on Friday).

Round 10, the Molson Indy Montreal, is set to start at 1:45 PM EDT on NBC Sports(in the USA) and Global TV(Canada), with live timing/scoring available on the series' website, www.champcarworldseries.com

Observations to follow later in the evening...

[mlittle]

Now if I could just figure out how to pronounce all those French words...where is the old Forum, anyway? Ah, well, here's Saturday's observations for all to read and enjoy.

1--Last lap pressure...For Newman-Haas Racing's Oriol Servia, he just couldn't catch a clean flying lap. His first five today were "spoiled" by traffic/incidents, most notably Timo Glock's visit with the turn 15 wall(the infamous "Wall of Champions" for all the great drivers who've hit that wall), so what does the Catalonian do? He sets P2 on his 15th and final QS-2 lap. Not bad, Servia.

2--On the other hand....HVM's Rodalfo Lavin had an awful QS-2 session, only managing to set P12 today despite being in the top-half of the grid for most of the session. Said Lavin, "My first outing (was) a 1:22.2 and I'm sure that I could have gotten into the middle-21's on my second set (of tires), but I just couldn't do the proper lap. All the time there was traffic and guys slowing down to get a grip in front of them, and then you'd see a guy coming and speed up not to block him..." At least he didn't get an up-close look at turn 15's wall a/la Glock.

3--So that's how they do it....In other racing news, at NASCAR's Busch Series race in Bristol, TN, one of Chip Ganassi's Busch teams got busted, big-time, for trying to "soak" their tires for Friday night's Busch race. I mention this because of this give-and-take between Forsythe's Neil Micklewright, team VP and principle for Paul Tracy's team and assorted media. Upon reading about it in one of the Montreal-area's papers, Micklewright smiled at the media and said, "Simple Green." The media perked up and asked him, "How's that?" Micklewright replied, "Sure, when you swab Simple Green (on the tires) it gives three or four more laps of peak performance." The media's response, "So, you've heard..." And Micklewright, as he was leaving for the Forsythe paddock, said..."No, we've tried it. It works. Last year we got wind that Newman-Haas might have been using Simple Green on its' tires to enhance performance, so we tried it at a test session. It works...." And you thought it was only the tires, hmm?

[Julian Mayo]

I will guarantee there are some v8 supercar people over in the States right now, trying to buy up as much of it as possible

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Back on June 1st, Catalonian native Oriol Servai(#2 PacifiCare FC/L) made the biggest gamble of his career when he was brought in to sub for the injured Bruno Junquiera following Junky's back injuries suffered during the 89th Indianapolis 500. Today, he made that gamble pay off, winning the Molson Indy Montreal over former F1-racer Timo Glock.

At the beginning of the race, polesitter Sebastien Bourdais(#1 McDonald's FC/L) led and began what appeared on the outside as a caution-free race. Early on, Bourdais, along with Mario Dominguez(#7 Indeck/Forsythe FC/L), A.J. Allmendinger(#10 Western Union FC/L) and Alex Tagliani(#15 Aussie Vineyards FC/L) all traded the fastest lap, with SeaBass never really seriously challenged, except for one opportunity when Allmendinger's RuSport teammate, Justin Wilson(#9 CDW FC/L) challneged Bourdais for the lead down the long Casino Straight, but Bourdais held him off through the turn 14-15 chicane. Through 58 laps, it looked as though the race was bound to be another Bourdais victory. Guess again....

The dark side of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve reared itself on lap 58 as the rear wing of Ricardo Sperafico's car broke off, flew over the car of Paul Tracy(#3 Indeck/Forsythe FC/L) and landing right in front of Allmenidnger's car, causing the first full caution as Sperafico crashed into the wall near the pit entrance. A.J., cutting a tire in the process, entered the pits, only to suffer a drive-through penalty for entering the pits just as they were closed when the yellow flew. Everyone entered the pits except Glock and Allmendinger upon their opening, and that's when the fun began. SeaBass saw his victory go away with a tire-mounting problem, while Tracy missed his pitstall, had to be pushed back to his spot, and and then brushed the outside pitwall, dropping him from 4th to 13th; Tracy would later finish 8th, while Bourdais wound up 4th.

As the race wound down, it became a three-way battle royale between Wilson, Glock and Servia as the three dueled late in the race, with Glock being penalized for straight-lining the final chicane in an effort to keep Servia behind him; race control ordered him to relinquish 1st as lap 77 began. It then became a last-lap chase as Servia held off the two former Formula 1 drivers, Glock and Wilson, to take the checkers for Newman-Haas Racing and his first-ever victory.

Strategically, Bourdais benefitted from the race the most, taking a 61-pt. lead over his NHR teammate Servia, who passed Tracy for 2nd. Tracy now sits in third, 65 pts. back, while Wilson sits 72 markers back, with Allmendinger 1 pt. ahead of Mario Dominguez for 5th. In the Roshfrans rookie standings Timo Glock's second-place finish pushes his lead over Ronnie Bremer to 27 pts. with four races to go.

Up next for the ChampCar World Series....Round 11, the second of the series' two ovals, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, for the Bridgestone/Corona 400k, Sept. 24. Observations to follow later in the evening.

[mlittle]

Let's see, where did we go...well, I got to see the old Forum(man, the memories!), traveled up to Quebec City and walked on the Plains of Abraham...oh, and got back to the Ile de Notre Dame for the race. Here's my Sunday observations from the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

1--Thank you, race control. After several years of seeing race control officials make some dumb, dumb calls, this year's race control director, Tony Cotman, finally has things uder control. Case in point, telling Timo Glock to relinquish the lead after straight-lining the 14-15 chicane on two consecutive laps trying to keep race-winner Oriol Servia from passing him. In past years, race control might have ignored it, but no more, thankfully.

2--Attendance... With over 35,000 people on hand for today's race, the total attendance figures were guestimated at around 133-134 thousand people. While this figure is lower than in the past three runnings of the Molson Indy Montreal, it still is comparable to the 150K+ that both Toronto and Edmonton saw in their race weekends. Still, they could've used more general-admission seating, but at least the seats were filled, unlike the IRL's first outing in Sonoma.

3--2007 CCWS chassis? With the nearly four-week gap between Montreal and Las Vegas, expect ChampCar officials to unveil the specs for the 2007 ChampCar to be used then. What will the new car look like, besides being similar to the current 2005-spec Lola B0/01? According to CCWS officials, the car will be a little smaller/narrower, with a narrower front and rear-wing package plus additional ground-effects features on the chassis underbody, presumably to make overtaking(read-passing!) more feasible. As to the manufacturer, well, unless Lola withdraws, it won't surprise me if they decide on Lola.

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1}Sebastien Bourdais 276 pts.
2}Oriol Servia 215 pts.
3}Paul Tracy 211 pts.
4}Justin Wilson 204 pts.
5}A.J. Allmendinger 164 pts.
6}Mario Dominguez 163 pts.
7}Alex Tagliani 152 pts.
8}Jimmy Vasser 148 pts.
9]Timo Glock(R) 146 pts.
10}Cristiano da Matta 121 pts.


R-1}Timo Glock 146 pts(9th overall)
R-2}Ronnie Bremer 119 pts(11th overall)
R-3}Andrew Ranger 108 pts(12th overall)
R-4}Bjorn Wirdheim 96 pts(14th overall)
R-5}Marcus Marshall 81 pts(16th overall)
R-6}Ricardo Sperafico 69 pts(17th overall)
Rookies Ryan Dalziel, Michael Valiente, Fabrizio Del Monte and Jorge Goeters have competed in one race each.