2007 Steelback Grand Prix

2007 Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto
Race details
Race 7 of 14 in the 2007 Champ Car season

Exhibition Place track layout
Date July 8, 2007
Official name Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto
Location Exhibition Place
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Course Temporary Street Course
1.755 mi / 2.824 km
Distance 73 laps
128.115 mi / 206.181 km
Weather Rain/Overcast with temperatures reaching up to 30.9 °C (87.6 °F)
Pole position
Driver Sébastien Bourdais (N/H/L Racing)
Time 58.288
Fastest lap
Driver Sébastien Bourdais (N/H/L Racing)
Time 1:00.083 (on lap 34 of 73)
Podium
First Will Power (Team Australia)
Second Neel Jani (PKV Racing)
Third Justin Wilson (RSPORTS)

The 2007 Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto is the seventh round of the 2007 Champ Car World Series Season. It was held on July 8 at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Will Power won the race, followed by Neel Jani and Justin Wilson.

Qualifying results

Pos Nat Name Team Qual 1 Qual 2 Best
1 France Sébastien Bourdais N/H/L Racing 58.783 58.288 58.288
2 United Kingdom Justin Wilson RSPORTS 59.099 58.299 58.299
3 Spain Oriol Servia Forsythe Racing 58.801 58.661 58.661
4 France Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 59.341 58.664 58.664
5 Brazil Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 59.547 58.675 58.675
6 Canada Alex Tagliani RSPORTS 59.737 58.779 58.779
7 Australia Will Power Team Australia 1:01.040 58.790 58.790
8 Belgium Jan Heylen Conquest Racing 59.813 58.816 58.816
9 Switzerland Neel Jani PKV Racing 1:00.123 58.834 58.834
10 Canada Paul Tracy Forsythe Racing 59.368 58.882 58.882
11 United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel Pacific Coast Motorsports 59.880 58.912 58.912
12 Netherlands Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 59.132 59.024 59.024
13 United Kingdom Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 59.288 59.263 59.263
14 France Tristan Gommendy PKV Racing 59.624 59.265 59.265
15 United States Graham Rahal N/H/L Racing 59.456 59.384 59.384
16 United Kingdom Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 59.520 59.562 59.520
17 United States Alex Figge Pacific Coast Motorsports 1:00.880 59.973 59.973

Sébastien Bourdais led both the Friday and Saturday qualifying sessions to win his 28th career Champ Car pole position. On Saturday Bourdais and Justin Wilson traded the fast lap three times in the final minutes, with Wilson coming up only .011 second short at the end after he brushed the wall on his last lap.

Race

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 Australia Will Power Team Australia 73 1:45:58.568 7 31
2 21 Switzerland Neel Jani PKV Racing 73 +2.972 9 28
3 9 United Kingdom Justin Wilson RSPORTS 73 +3.480 2 25
4 15 France Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 73 +5.643 4 23
5 19 Brazil Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 73 +20.738 5 21
6 14 Netherlands Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 72 + 1 Lap 12 19
7 28 United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel Pacific Coast Motorsports 72 + 1 Lap 11 17
8 8 Canada Alex Tagliani RSPORTS 71 + 2 Laps 6 15
9 1 France Sébastien Bourdais N/H/L Racing 67 Contact 1 16
10 7 Spain Oriol Servia Forsythe Racing 56 Contact 3 11
11 2 United States Graham Rahal N/H/L Racing 52 Contact 15 10
12 4 United Kingdom Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 43 Contact 13 9
13 34 Belgium Jan Heylen Conquest Racing 1 Contact 8 8
14 3 Canada Paul Tracy Forsythe Racing 0 Contact 10 7
15 22 France Tristan Gommendy PKV Racing 0 Contact 14 6
16 11 United Kingdom Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 0 Contact 16 5
17 29 United States Alex Figge Pacific Coast Motorsports 0 Contact 17 4

For the second race in a row rain had a major impact on the proceedings. The race began under cloudy skies and on a track that was still partially damp after heavy rains earlier in the day. Oriol Servia got the best start from the second row and led into the first corner. Trouble began as the cars funneled through turn 3 for the first time. Alex Tagliani contacted Simon Pagenaud, knocking the front wing off Pagenaud's car. Paul Tracy collected the wing but could not see that it remained stuck under his own front wing. Coming out of the fast turn 7 the errant wing began to interfere with Tracy's steering and he hit the outside wall. This set off a chain reaction of carnage behind him as cars behind him rounded the blind turn and were not able thread through the mess. In the end, Tracy, Katherine Legge, Alex Figge, and Tristan Gommendy all ended their races immediately, with Gommendy almost flipping up the back of Jan Heylen, catching air. Heylen was able to limp back to the pits, only to retire (his fourth consecutive retirement since returning to the series), while Graham Rahal was able to return to the race with a new front wing.

Servia held the lead until he pitted for fuel and a fresh set of slick tires on lap 34. Rain began to fall soon after. On lap 38, Ryan Dalziel and Neel Jani came out of the pits on rain tires. It turned out to be the correct decision. Servia and Tagliani tangled at the slippery turn 3 on lap 39. Both cars were able to continue but a yellow flag was brought out. Except for Dan Clarke, the rest of the field pitted for rain tires during the caution.

Dan Clarke lasted only 3 green flag laps on dry weather tires before finding the wall and ending his day. Meanwhile, Ryan Dalziel led a Champ Car race for the first time in his career. They were also the first laps in the lead for the Pacific Coast Motorsports team.

After a caution period for a spin and crash by Graham Rahal, Will Power got around Dalziel on the restart on lap 56 and took the lead which he would not relinquish for the rest of the race. Dalziel was dropped to third by Jani on the next restart on lap 62. With 3 laps to go, Dalziel's hopes for a podium were dashed when Justin Wilson bounced him into the tires as he made the pass for third place.

In the end Will Power cruised to his second career Champ Car race win. Meanwhile, Sébastien Bourdais' 9th-place finish cost him the championship lead. Entering the second half of the season a close three-way battle has developed. Robert Doornbos now leads the championship with 164 points, followed closely by Power with 162 and Bourdais with 161.

Caution flags

Laps Cause
1-7 Tracy (3)/Legge (11)/Figge (29)/Gommendy (22)/Rahal (2)/Heylen (34) crash
14-16 Debris on track
39-42 Servia (7)/Tagliani (8) spin/stall
45-48 Clarke (4) crash
53-56 Rahal (2) crash
58-61 Servia (7) crash
68-70 Bourdais (1)/Doornbos (14) crash

Notes

Laps Leader
1-34 Oriol Servia
35-35 Sébastien Bourdais
36-36 Will Power
37-37 Simon Pagenaud
38-38 Alex Tagliani
39-40 Robert Doornbos
41-56 Ryan Dalziel
57-73 Will Power
 
Driver Laps led
Oriol Servia 34
Will Power 18
Ryan Dalziel 16
Robert Doornbos 2
Simon Pagenaud 1
Alex Tagliani 1
Sébastien Bourdais 1

Attendance

Race attendance numbers were not released for the 2007 Steelback Grand Prix. However the race reportedly had a 12% attendance increase over the 2006 race weekend. However number may be released at a later date as they do exist and are currently being used in sponsor negotiations for 2008.[1]

References

  1. TheStar.com | Sports | T.O. Grand Prix sponsor hopes to extend contract

External links

Previous race:
2007 Champ Car Mont-Tremblant
Champ Car World Series
2007 season
Next race:
2007 Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton

Previous race:
2006 Molson Grand Prix of Toronto
2007 Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto Next race:
2009 Honda Indy Toronto
IndyCar Series event
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