2007 Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton

2007 Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton
Race details
Race 8 of 14 in the 2007 Champ Car season
Date July 22, 2007
Official name Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton
Location Rexall Speedway, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Course Temporary Airport Course
1.973 mi / 3.175 km
Distance 96 laps
189.408 mi / 304.800 km
Weather Mostly Cloudy (28.0°C / 82.4°F)
Pole position
Driver Will Power (Australia Team Australia)
Time 58.403
Fastest lap
Driver Sébastien Bourdais (United States N/H/L Racing)
Time 58.653 (on lap 93 of 96)
Podium
First Sébastien Bourdais (United States N/H/L Racing)
Second Justin Wilson (United States RSPORTS)
Third Graham Rahal (United States N/H/L Racing)

The 2007 Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton was the eighth round of the 2007 Champ Car World Series Season, and was held on July 22, 2007 at Rexall Speedway in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The race was won by Sébastien Bourdais followed by Justin Wilson and Graham Rahal.

Qualifying results

Pos Nat Name Team Qual 1 Qual 2 Best
1 Australia Will Power Team Australia 59.155 58.403 58.403
2 France Sébastien Bourdais N/H/L Racing 58.709 58.596 58.596
3 United Kingdom Justin Wilson RSPORTS 59.174 58.410 58.410
4 United States Graham Rahal N/H/L Racing 59.112 58.485 58.485
5 Switzerland Neel Jani (R) PKV Racing 59.465 58.762 58.762
6 Brazil Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 59.127 58.846 58.846
7 France Simon Pagenaud (R) Team Australia 58.974 58.868 58.868
8 United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel Pacific Coast Motorsports 1:01.055 59.256 59.256
9 Canada Alex Tagliani RSPORTS 59.483 59.549 59.483
10 United Kingdom Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA no time 59.503 59.503
11 Netherlands Robert Doornbos (R) Minardi Team USA 59.941 59.553 59.553
12 Belgium Jan Heylen Conquest Racing 1:00.470 59.561 59.561
13 Spain Oriol Servia Forsythe Racing 59.582 59.695 59.582
14 Canada Paul Tracy Forsythe Racing 1:01.840 1:00.107 1:00.107
15 United Kingdom Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 1:00.222 1:00.850 1:00.222
16 United States Alex Figge (R) Pacific Coast Motorsports 1:00.937 1:01.996 1:00.937

Will Power won his fourth career pole position by nipping Justin Wilson by .007 of a second. Power knocked the front wing off his car while going off course during his final lap, but Wilson was unable to better Power's earlier best lap. Sébastien Bourdais was only fourth fastest on Saturday but his top time from Friday secured him a front row beside his championship rival Power. Tristan Gommendy will not take part in the race after suffering a back injury when he contacted the wall in Friday's qualification session. He was replaced by Mario Dominguez, who is searching for a full-time ride in the series and was in Edmonton driving the Minardi two-seater.

Race

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 France Sébastien Bourdais N/H/L Racing 96 1:45:41.953 2 33
2 9 United Kingdom Justin Wilson RSPORTS 96 +3.9 secs 3 27
3 2 United States Graham Rahal N/H/L Racing 96 +6.6 secs 4 25
4 15 France Simon Pagenaud (R) Team Australia 96 +24.8 secs 7 23
5 3 Canada Paul Tracy Forsythe Racing 96 +28.1 secs 14 22
6 7 Spain Oriol Servia Forsythe Racing 96 +30.0 secs 13 19
7 19 Brazil Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 96 +30.7 secs 6 17
8 4 United Kingdom Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 96 +35.3 secs 10 15
9 21 Switzerland Neel Jani (R) PKV Racing 96 +37.8 secs 5 13
10 34 Belgium Jan Heylen Conquest Racing 96 +58.7 secs 12 11
11 14 Netherlands Robert Doornbos (R) Minardi Team USA 95 + 1 Lap 11 10
12 28 United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel Pacific Coast Motorsports 95 + 1 Lap 8 9
13 29 United States Alex Figge (R) Pacific Coast Motorsports 95 + 1 Lap 16 8
14 8 Canada Alex Tagliani RSPORTS 69 Contact 9 7
15 5 Australia Will Power Team Australia 69 Mechanical 1 7
16 11 United Kingdom Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 36 Mechanical 15 5
17 22 Mexico Mario Dominguez PKV Racing 32 Mechanical 17 4

Going into the race Sebastien Bourdais found himself in an unusual position: third place in the season points standings behind Robert Doornbos and Will Power. Starting from second on the grid next to Power, Bourdais swept around the pole-sitter on the outside through Edmonton's wide first turn. Bourdais led the race until his first pit stop on lap 21. Bourdais was forced to wait critical seconds for Katherine Legge to enter her pit stall and lost two positions.

Power now led the race in front of Justin Wilson and Bourdais. He led until his second pit stop on lap 49. Wilson stayed out an extra lap, coming in on lap 50, but Bourdais stayed out until lap 52, which proved to be the critical strategic move of the race. Bourdais came out in the lead after his stop. Bourdais now led in front of Wilson and Graham Rahal, with Power back in fourth place.

Disaster hit Power on lap 66 when the steering rack on his Panoz broke. Meanwhile, Robert Doornbos', who spent the early stages of the race stuck deep in the field unable to improve much on his 11th place grid position, tangled with the lapped car of Alex Tagliani on lap 69. Tagliani was knocked out of the race, while Doornbos was able to continue, but a lap down.

Bourdais cruised to his fourth victory of the year, followed by Justin Wilson and teammate Graham Rahal. Even more impressive was the turnaround in the season points championship. At the end of the race Bourdais led Doornbos by 20 and Will Power by 25 in his drive for an unprecedented fourth consecutive Champ Car title.

Caution flags

Laps Cause
19-21 Debris on track
69-73 Doornbos (14)/Tagliani (8) crash

Notes

Laps Leader
1-20 Sébastien Bourdais
21-48 Will Power
49 Justin Wilson
50-96 Sébastien Bourdais
 
Driver Laps led
Sébastien Bourdais 67
Will Power 28
Justin Wilson 1

Attendance

Race weekend attendance was 167,152. This was down slightly from the 171,391 who attended in 2006.[1]

References

  1. Story not found - NJ.com

External links

Previous race:
2007 Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto
Champ Car World Series
2007 season
Next race:
2007 San Jose Grand Prix at Redback Raceway

Previous race:
2006 West Edmonton Mall Grand Prix of Edmonton
2007 Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton Next race:
2008 Rexall Edmonton Indy

Coordinates: 53°34′32″N 113°31′22.5″W / 53.57556°N 113.522917°W / 53.57556; -113.522917

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