PAUL
TRACY WINS FOR FIRST TIME AT MID-OHIO
LEXINGTON,
Ohio -- Paul Tracy decisively ended his frustration at the Mid-Ohio
Sports Car Course.
Tracy
dominated Sunday's Champ Car Grand Prix, losing the lead only
on pit stops in winning his career-best sixth race of the year
and first at Mid-Ohio, where he had finished second four times
in 10 previous CART appearances.
It also
was a big day for Player's-Forsythe Racing, which had its first
one-two finish in the six years it's been a two-car team. Tracy's
fellow Canadian, Patrick Carpentier, finished second.
``Finishing
one-two feels really great, especially heading to Montreal, where
we'll try to make it three-for-three in Canada,'' Tracy said.
CART's
next race is in Montreal in two weeks. Tracy won back-to-back
events at Toronto and Vancouver earlier this season.
``I've
been a bridesmaid a lot here, had good runs but never was able
to get to the top of the podium. I even wrapped up an Indy Lights
championship here in 1990 with a win. So to come back here now
and have a win feels great,'' Tracy said.
He averaged 106.251 mph and won by 0.51 seconds over Carpentier,
who won here last year and was third in 2001.
Tracy
pulled away from the field to take a big lead at the start and
led 69 of the 92 laps, losing first place only on pit stops for
13 laps to Adrian Fernandez and 10 laps to Tiago Monteiro, both
of whom pitted out of sequence.
Monteiro
later was given a stop-and-go penalty for blocking Mario Dominguez.
Tracy's
victory gave him a 20-point lead in the driver standings over
Bruno Junqueira. Tracy won the maximum 23 points for the race
-- 20 for winning, one for leading the most laps and two for being
the top qualifier Friday and Saturday.
Junqueira
failed to pick up any points. He finished 13th, losing two laps
when Oriol Servia bumped him on the 13th lap, sending him off
course.
Tracy
crashed early last week at Road America, allowing Junqueira to
move past him into first. He said he knew a similar performance
could be costly at this stage of the season, which has six races
to go.
``I had
a long talk this weekend with (Player's-Forsythe technical adviser)
Tony Cicale and he said 'We're not going to win the championship
at Mid-Ohio, but we could lose it at Mid-Ohio if we have a bad
race,''' he said.
``I don't
expect Bruno to go away. The championship will be tight to the
end.''
Carpentier said his teammate was too fast for him.
``I caught
up to Paul a couple times, but to pass him would have been another
story. I don't think we would have been able to,'' he said. ``It
was a fun race. I pushed hard and really enjoyed it.''
Rookie
Ryan Hunter-Reay, who started second, was third in the season's
best finish for the first-year American Spirit team.
``Today
was a learning process for me,'' he said. ``Running near the front,
I haven't experienced intensity like that. It's a much different
pace than I was used to. ``
``The
team did a great job in the pits and all weekend. They did the
job in the truck and I did the job on the track.''
Local
favorite Michel Jourdain of Team Rahal, CART's only Ohio-based
team, was fourth. He's third in the points race with 137.
He was
followed in order by Sebastien Bourdais, Alex Tagliani, Fernandez,
Darren Manning, Max Papis and Mario Haberfeld.
Hunter-Reay's
teammate, Jimmy Vasser, who started 14th, got as high as fourth
before losing his rear end and going off the track with eight
laps to go. He had the fastest lap of the race at 118.901 mph.
Tracy
moved into second place in career CART laps led with 3,322, putting
him ahead of Rick Mears, who had 3,286. Michael Andretti is the
leader with 6,607.
His 25th
career victory gave him sole possession of fourth place in that
department, one ahead of Bobby Rahal and one behind Mears. Andretti
has 42 and Al Unser Jr. 31.
It's the
10th time in 22 CART Mid-Ohio races that the winner has come from
the pole.
PAUL
TRACY CLAIMS PROVISIONAL POLE AT CHAMP CAR MID-OHIO
LEXINGTON, Ohio -- Paul Tracy led a Canadian sweep of the top
three positions in claiming the provisional pole for Sunday's
Champ Car World Series Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio at the local Sports
Car Course.
Tracy
was fastest at 120.957 miles per hour, covering the 2.25-mile
course in 1 minute 7.204 seconds. He scored a valuable point in
the championship and has secured at least a front row position
in the starting grid.
"We
had an off weekend at Elkhart Lake, losing the top spot in the
standings, so we had to rebound today," Tracy said. "I
know there is a lot of traffic out there but we have to deal with
it and get it done."
Tracy also will be looking to record his fifth pole of the season
in Saturday's second round qualifying. He is now two points behind
Brazilian Bruno Junqueira in the series formerly known as CART.
"I
think we had a top-three car but we couldn't get a clear lap,"
said Junqueira, who was 11th-fastest on Friday."On my first
timed lap someone came out of the pits in front of me and that
happened each time."
Alex Tagliani
was second at 120.468 mph and Patrick Carpentier rounded out the
all-Canadian top three with a speed of 120.284.
Several
other drivers had their attempts ruined by traffic, with all the
cars on the track in the final five minutes.
Jimmy
Vasser also did not help the situation by spinning with two minutes
remaining which brought out the red flag stop.
Mexican
drivers Mario Dominguez and Michel Jourdain rounded out the top
five, with top rookie Sebastien Bourdais of France in sixth position.
PAUL
TRACY EYES FIRST MID-OHIO VICTORY
LEXINGTON,
Ohio -- Paul Tracy has driven well at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car
Course for years. The only thing he hasn't done is win a race
there.
Tracy
has finished second in four of his 10 CART races at the track.
Now he hopes to reach the winner's platform at Sunday's Champ
Car Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio.
Qualifying takes place Friday and Saturday at the 2.26-mile, 13-turn
road course in the hills of north central Ohio.
``There's
no doubt that winning here is something I've targeted this season,''
Tracy said. ``I've been looking forward to coming back because
we had the fastest car during one of the two testing days here
earlier this year and I've always done so well at Mid-Ohio.''
The Canadian
has led the driver point standings most of the season but fell
to second, three points behind leader Bruno Junqueira, after crashing
early last Sunday at Road America.
``We made
one mistake too many last weekend, and it cost us some precious
points,'' he said.
Tracy,
driving for Player's-Forsythe Racing, has won five races and has
161 points, equaling his best season totals in both categories,
so he's almost certain to have his best year.
But it
hasn't been an easy year. His aggressive driving has been the
subject of frequent complaints and he lost the provisional pole
at Vancouver for blocking, though he won the pole in final qualifying.
He's been
critical of CART officials and some drivers, but intends to lower
the volume for the season's remaining seven races.
``I spoke
out in the heat of the moment and said what I had to say at the
time,'' he said. ``I realize that I'm under intense scrutiny from
CART and could be punished if I say anything more, so I'm going
to settle down and hope my racing does the talking for me.''
Junqueira
earned the maximum 23 points at Road America by winning the race,
leading the most laps and being the top qualifier both days.
``I had
a really good feeling about last week because we tested well at
Road America and I really like the track, and I feel the same
way about Mid-Ohio,'' the Newman-Haas Racing driver said.
Tracy
(164 points) and Junqueira (161) have made the driver standings
a two-man race, with Team Rahal's Michel Jourdain Jr. third at
125 and Junqueira's teammate, rookie Sebastien Bourdais, fourth
at 116.
Jourdain
will have the support of much of the crowd. Team Rahal is headquartered
in suburban Columbus, about an hour's drive from Mid-Ohio, and
it's the only CART team based in Ohio.
``I know
the crew members are anxious to do well here because this is the
team's home track and for many of them, it's the only time their
friends and families get to see them race,'' he said.
``I don't
feel so much pressure here for myself, though, because I'm Mexican.
For me, the big excitement comes when we go to Monterrey and Mexico
City.''
BRUNO
JUNQUEIRA WINS SHORTENED MARIO ANDRETTI
ELKHART
LAKE, Wis. -- Bruno Junqueira won his first race of the CART season
Sunday at the rain-shortened Mario Andretti Grand Prix.
Junqueira,
who started at the pole, moves into first place in the Champ Car
standings. He's three points ahead of Paul Tracy, who slid off
the track in the 11th lap and did not return.
The race was frustrating for drivers and fans. It started under
a yellow flag and was delayed twice because of rain -- the second
time for about 2 1/2 hours.
In the
end, 34 laps were completed instead of the planned 60.
The first
green came after 10 laps and more than three hours. It lasted
less than a lap before the yellow flag came out again because
of a crash on turn eight that ended the day for Michel Jourdain
and Tiago Monteiro.
The rain
made it a messy race, with the first crash coming midway through
the first lap.
Despite
the weather, Junqueira dominated the field. The Brazilian's lead
was never challenged. Rookie Sebastien Bourdais, Junqueira's Newman/Haas
teammate, finished second. Alex Tagliani, who started 13th, finished
third.
Junqueira
repeatedly said Road America's permanent road course was his favorite
on the circuit, and it showed throughout the weekend. He won both
qualifying rounds and had the fastest laps in every practice.
Junqueira
won the first CART race of his career at Elkhart Lake in 2001
and started at the pole last year before a poor pit stop dropped
him to third.
BRUNO
JUNQUEIRA EASILY GRABS PROVISIONAL POLE
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. -- Bruno Junqueira earned a spot in the front
row Friday for the Mario Andretti Grand Prix at Road America,
the Brazilian's favorite course on the CART circuit.
"That's
the best race track in North America for me and for at least 80
percent of the drivers,'' he said. "Everything here is perfect.''
Junqueira
earned the provisional pole in the first round of qualifying with
a lap time of 1:43.917. Newman/Haas Racing teammate Sebastien
Bourdais was second at 1:44.722.
Series
points leader Paul Tracy finished was next at 1:44.725. He is
19 points ahead of Junqueira in the Champ Car standings after
the qualifying round.
Junqueira
is looking for his first win this season Sunday. He has been in
the top five in all but one race.
Tracy
has been the driver to beat. He earned his fifth victory in eleven
races last weekend at the Vancouver Molson Indy.
Tracy
said the track was slick Friday after a rain storm Thursday night.
He was forced to slow down more than he wanted on the turns, he
said.
"We
have a little bit of imbalance on the car. We're still searching
for the right setup,'' Tracy said. "If you find just a small
gain in performance it can be quite a lot of lap time.''
Bourdais,
the rookie points leader, put together his best time on his final
full lap of qualifying.
"It
took me quite a while and a second set of tires to get a quick
lap,'' he said.
Junqueira,
who also had the fastest lap time in practice, looked the most
comfortable on the track. He even decided not to go out on the
10-minute practice immediately before qualifying.
He said
the track's long straightaways and 14 corners suit his style.
He learned to race on similar road courses.
"This
track is very technical with a lot of high-speed corners,'' he
said.
Junqueira
won his first CART series race at Road America in 2001. He took
the pole last season, before finishing third.
So he
was very frustrated when the race at Road America was taken off
the CART schedule last winter. It was renamed for Andretti in
April, after he helped CART and Road America resolve their differences
and reinstate the event.
He and
Junqueira have a similar connection to the track. Andretti won
the first race for Newman/Haas at Road America in 1983.
The team,
founded by actor Paul Newman and entrepreneur Carl A. Haas, is
the most successful CART team at Road America with eight wins.
The team's Cristiano da Matta won last year.
But Junqueira
said his owner's history at the track hasn't put more pressure
on him, because his own expectations are so high.
"The
pressure that I put on myself to do well on this track is unbelievable,''
he said. "This is some place that I want to start from the
pole and win.''
PAUL
TRACY SCORES FIFTH WIN OF 2003
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Nobody complained about Paul Tracy
blocking the track in the Vancouver Molson Indy on Sunday. They
couldn't get close enough to the runaway winner.
Tracy
bounced back from another dispute in his rocky relationship with
CART officials by turning the 100-lap race on the 1.781-mile downtown
street course into a rout.
The victory
-- his fifth of the season -- stretched his lead from 15 points
to 20 over Bruno Junqueira in Tracy's quest for his first CART
championship.
It also
stamped the end to a tumultuous weekend for Tracy, sometimes considered
CART's "bad boy" but also its current star.
He said
he felt "betrayed" by CART over a series of recent calls
against him, including Friday when the sanctioning body stripped
him of the provisional pole and the championship point that goes
with it after Tracy blocked other cars during qualifying.
But Tracy
did most of his talk on the track, reclaiming the pole on Saturday.
Junqueira,
who was awarded the provisional pole and one championship point
after Tracy lost it, started next to him on the front row.
Junqueira
then took the lead when the green flag came out. He stayed there
for 24 laps, but had to give it up when CART ruled Junqueira had
jumped the start. He was forced to let Tracy's No. 3 Player's/Forsythe
Racing Lola go past.
"Bruno
blatantly jumped the start," Tracy said. "I was really
mad, but I stayed with him. CART did the right thing because it
was very obvious what happened. After I got out front, I was much,
much faster than Bruno and I was able to pull away easily."
Junqueira
said he was stunned when told to let Tracy take the lead.
"I
got a good start and go outside where it's clean and I pass him,"
the Brazilian driver said. "I'll have to look at the videotape.
I was 2 seconds ahead of him and it was a big frustration. I lost
concentration."
The only
question after that was if Tracy could stay out of the trouble
that ambushed a number of drivers on the slick, narrow circuit.
He built
leads of nearly 20 seconds and wound up crossing the finish line
17.82 seconds -- nearly a third of the track -- ahead of Junqueira.
It was
no problem, though, as the Canadian-born driver -- now a resident
of Las Vegas but still a national hero north of the border --
came up with his fifth victory in 11 races this season. He added
this one to his win two weeks ago in his hometown of Toronto.
He has 24 career victories.
Junqueira
finished second and might have made it a little closer had he
not stalled his engine on his first of three pit stops.
But this
was definitely Tracy's day as he added this victory to a Vancouver
win in 2000.
"It's
awesome," said the crowd favorite, who was turning smoke-spewing
doughnuts before the second-place car even crossed the finish
line. "Team Player's has given me a great car all year and
I was able to run hard all day."
Rookie
Sebastien Bourdais finished third, despite being involved in two
early incidents, and Michel Jourdain was fourth, the last car
on the lead lap. In fact, fifth-place Darren Manning, another
rookie, was two laps down.
It was
not a tidy race, with a series of crashes that began even before
the green flag waved.
Geoff
Boss and Gualter Salles, both driving for Dale Coyne, hit the
wall and were out of the race as the 19-car field headed toward
the start behind the pace car.
That forced
CART to run the first three laps under caution while the crashed
cars were taken off the track. When the green flag did finally
wave, Bourdais bumped third-place starter Roberto Moreno into
the wall, Tiago Monteiro and Oriol Service banged together and
Mario Dominguez slid into Monteiro -- all on the fourth lap.
Bourdais
then slid into the back of Dominguez under caution the next time
around, but was able to continue without serious damage to the
front or his car.
Dominguez
was also able to continue and eventually crashed with Patrick
Carpentier on lap 61 while Carpentier was running a distant second
to teammate Tracy.
PAUL
TRACY LOSES PROVISIONAL POLE TO BRUNO JUNQUEIRA
VANCOUVER,
British Columbia -- Bruno Junqueira is on the provisional pole
for the Vancouver Molson Indy thanks to a decision that took 4
1/2 hours to make and cost Paul Tracy a point off his CART series
lead.
Tracy
appeared to win his fifth provisional pole of the season Friday
before CART stewards, headed by chief steward Chris Kneifel, said
he violated a rule prohibiting drivers from ``not running at full
qualifying pace'' and not letting faster cars pass.
The announcement
was made after the stewards spent hours watching videotape of
the qualifying session and gathering data from the teams involved.
That gave
Junqueira the top qualifying spot heading into Saturday's final
time trials, as well as earning the point for winning the provisional
pole and guaranteeing the Brazilian driver a front row starting
spot in Sunday's street race.
Tracy
lost his fast lap of 1 minute, 1.706 seconds, 103.906 mph, and
reverted to his second best lap of 1:01.845, 103.644, which placed
him second on the provisional grid and cut his series lead over
Junqueira to 14 points.
Tracy
and his team had no comment after the decision was announced by
CART.
The anger aimed at Tracy after the qualifying session came from
Newman/Haas Racing, which fields cars for Junqueira and third-place
qualifier Sebastien Bourdais, and Rocketsports Racing, whose entry
is Alex Tagliani, fourth on Friday.
Both teams
threatened to protest, complaining that Tracy, who posted his
fast lap early in the 30-minute session, did some major blocking
on the tight 1.78-mile street circuit in the last few laps.
The protests
were never filed, but CART immediately began an investigation
of the charges.
Junqueira
managed to put in his fast lap of 1:01.706, 103.672, on his last
trip around the track, after finally passing Tracy. But he was
very frustrated after losing what he said was a faster lap when
he came up behind Tracy before that.
``It's
kind of frustrating because you're halfway through the lap and
you're already much, much faster and you see the guys very slow
in front of you,'' Junqueira said. ``To be fair, it's a difficult
thing to go out and watch on the rules. The guy that's slow has
to let the other guys pass.''
Blocking
has become a major issue this season, with Tracy -- often CART's
bad boy and on probation several times over the years -- in the
midst of much of the controversy. He had won three poles and led
first-day qualifying four times -- a total of seven points --
prior to Friday.
Tracy,
a four-time winner this season and coming off an emotional win
two weeks ago in his hometown of Toronto, insisted he was blocked
by slower traffic, too.
``I got
blocked on my laps but I'm not throwing protests around and I
don't complain,'' Tracy said coldly. ``I've been doing this for
13 years. That's the way the game is.
``What can I say? What goes around comes around. I've been blocked
hundreds of times over my career.''
Junqueira
wasn't sympathetic to the man he is chasing for the Champ Car
title.
He said
he didn't know what Tracy said, ``but I did not see the guys in
front. It was pretty early on the lap.''
Sitting
next to Tracy at the post-qualifying news conference, Junqueira
talked to his competitor without looking at him.
``Maybe
you got blocked, but I think you back off too much,'' Junqueira
said. ``I think you let the guys go for like 10 seconds because
I couldn't even see the guys in front, Jimmy (Vasser) or Adrian
(Fernandez).''
Tagliani,
whose best lap was 1:02.032, said, ``I'm just disappointed we
didn't get the opportunity to get a fast lap with Tracy blocking
me, and there's data and witnesses to prove this.
``He did
a 1:06 and I was doing a 1:02, but he wouldn't let me go by. He
got the (provisional) pole and he'll do whatever it takes to preserve
it. It's the hardest thing for a driver that knows they've got
the fastest time so far to move over and let someone else challenge
him and possibly take that way. (But) that's no way to compete.''
Formula
One, which had similar problems in qualifying, went to single-car
qualifying this season, with the cars lined up by practice times
and the fastest drivers going out last to build excitement.
Asked
if CART should follow suit, Tracy said, ``It's a suggestion. We
did it at Brands Hatch (in England) and I think all the drivers
enjoyed it.
``It would
give a nice lead-up to the final few cars coming out on the track,
and it's entertaining to the fans. But, to be honest, if CART
listened to a lot of the suggestions that people had for them
maybe they wouldn't be in the trouble they're in right now.''
CART has
struggled in recent years to keep top drivers and teams and to
increase its poor TV ratings. Now, the public company is looking
for a buyer and has said it could run out of money midway through
the 2004 season if more money is not raised.
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