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Aussie Invasion Continues in Long Beach |
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Tuesday, 17 April 2007 |
The Australian invasion of the Champ Car World Series looks set to continue this weekend when Team Australia’s Will Power aims for successive victories in the International open wheel Series at Long Beach, California.
For many of the elite drivers in the Champ Car ranks, last weekend’s Vegas Grand Prix provided an early wake up call, as the young talent in the series staked their claim on the 2007 championship.
Second-year Team Australia prodigy Will Power (#5 Aussie Vineyards
Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) dominated the weekend to score his first
Champ Car win, rolling from the pole and setting the fastest lap of the
race on his way to Victory Lane.
It’s that sort of form that is sure to excite Australian fans as the
countdown towards the Gold Coast’s Lexmark Indy 300 on October 18-21
continues.
Power’s second series pole, follows on from his debut number one qualifying effort on the streets of Surfers Paradise last year.
His maiden event victory in Las Vegas has given him the early lead in
the chase for the Vanderbilt Cup as he carries a six-point cushion into
Long Beach, where the series will celebrate its 24th trip to one of its
most celebrated events, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
“I feel great and very confident going into Long Beach after our strong weekend,” said Power.
“We will go into this weekend the same as we did in Vegas. Try to get
the best out of the car, qualify in the top five and minimize our
mistakes and get as many points as possible.
“It helps coming to Long Beach because I really like the circuit and I
look forward to coming back to a track that I have been to before.
“Last year we did well, but I made some mistakes so I want to get this race right and get Team Australia on the podium again.”
The marquee event among street courses in the United States, the
1.968-mile Long Beach street course has been a springboard for a number
of championship runs, from Paul Tracy in 2003 to Sebastien Bourdais’
third straight title a year ago.
The event history reads like a roster of Hall-of-Fame brochure, with
Mario Andretti, Danny Sullivan, Al Unser Jr., Alex Zanardi and Jimmy
Vasser having taken the top trophy home from the Southern California
street party.
Four of those trophies belong to Paul Tracy (#3 Indeck
Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone), who showed last week that he was nowhere
near ready to let the young guys have all the fun.
The 38-year-old Canadian superstar led Friday qualifying in Vegas and
came home in third, leading more laps in the season-opening event than
he did throughout all of 2006. Tracy has two poles and four wins in
Long Beach and has finished seventh or better in six of the last seven
Long Beach events.
Tracy is third behind leading rookie Robert Doornbos (#14
Muermans/Jumbo Supermarkten/Mediamall Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone), who
announced his presence with authority over the past weekend.
The former Formula 1 driver showed that he was ready for Champ Cars by
qualifying third and finishing second in his series debut, making him
the first driver in 14 years to podium in his Champ Car debut.
Doornbos is just six points behind Power heading into this weekend, but
will be a bit behind on the learning curve as he has yet to race on the
Long Beach layout.
Three-time and defending series champion Sebastien Bourdais (#1
McDonald’s Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) had the worst weekend of his
Champ Car career last weekend, but heads to a Long Beach track this
weekend where he has won in each of the last two seasons.
Bourdais qualified a career-low 16th in Las Vegas and finished 13th,
immediately dropping him 25 points behind in his quest for an historic
fourth consecutive championship.
Bourdais won Long Beach from pole last year, dominating the field by
leading 70 of the day’s 74 laps after setting a new track record in
taking the pole.
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