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Power wins Long Beach Grand Prix Champ Car finale PDF Print E-mail
Monday, 21 April 2008
willvictorylb-th.jpgTeam Australia star Will Power will go down in history as the final Champ Car winner after dominating the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in California today.

Power led 81 of the 83 laps to take the prestigious victory at the 34th running of the famous event, which marked the final race sanctioned by Champ Car. Points from today’s event still count towards the 2008 IndyCar Series, with Power’s win elevating the young Australian up to fifth in the series standings as well as giving him the lead of the Bombardier Rookie of the Year standings after three races.

Danica Patrick, who won yesterday’s Japan Indy 300 in Motegi, Japan, was also credited with points for her victory as both events were considered as points scoring events for the newly-unified IndyCar Series.

Last season Power was known as the master of standing starts and today’s one-off return to the Champ Car format gave his another opportunity to show that skill. Power got the best launch from the grid from fourth place to lead into the first corner and from there the #8 Aussie Vineyards – Team Australia car was simply unstoppable with Power securing a dominating victory.

It was a great day for the KV Racing Technology team, with all three cars finishingwilllbturnone-th.jpg in the top 10 as Oriol Servia came home in fifth position and team co-owner and 1996 series champion Jimmy Vasser coming out of retirement to finish in 10th place.

Power will jump back into the #8 Aussie Vineyards – Team Australia Honda/Dallara/Firestone next weekend for the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway oval.

RESULTS: IndyCar Series Split-Round Three: TOYOTA GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH
Results for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach event, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (4) Will Power, 83, Running
2. (6) Franck Montagny, 83, Running
3. (10) Mario Dominquez, 83, Running
4. (8) Enrique Bernoldi, 83, Running
5. (12) Oriol Servia, 83, Running
6. (3) Franck Perera, 83, Running
7. (2) Alex Tagliani, 83, Running
8. (18) David Martinez, 83, Running
9. (14) EJ Viso, 83, Running
10. (13) Jimmy Vasser, 83, Running
11. (5) Paul Tracy, 83, Running
12. (11) Bruno Junqueira, 83, Running
13. (9) Graham Rahal, 82, Running
14. (16) Alex Figge, 82, Running
15. (7) Nelson Phillipe, 80, Running
16. (15) Antonio Pizzonia, 80, Running
17. (17) Roberto Moreno, 63, Mechanical
18. (0) Juho Annala, 42, Mechanical
19. (1) Justin Wilson, 12, Mechanical
20. (19) Mario Moraes, 5, Contact

RESULTS: IndyCar Series Split-Round Three: INDYCAR SERIES INDY JAPAN 300
Results for the Indy Japan 300 IndyCar Series event at the 1.5-mile Twin Ring Motegi, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (6) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
2. (1) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
3. (2) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
4. (5) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
5. (3) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
6. (7) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
7. (10) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
8. (12) Darren Manning, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running
9. (15) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running
10. (16) Townsend Bell, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running
11. (9) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running
12. (11) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda, 198, Running
13. (14) Jay Howard, Dallara-Honda, 192, Running
14. (18) Roger Yasukawa, Dallara-Honda, 134, Mechanical
15. (8) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara-Honda, 103, Contact
16. (13) Vitor Meira, Dalla! ra-Honda, 92, Contact
17. (17) Marty Roth, Dallara-Honda, 44, Contact
18. (4) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 0, Contact

2008 IndyCar Series Championship Standings Top Ten - Post Round Three
1. Helio Castroneves - 112 points
2. Scott Dixon - 100
3. Danica Patrick - 98
4. Tony Kanaan - 89
5. Will Power - 87
6. Dan Wheldon - 85
7. Enrique Bernoldi - 74
8. Oriol Servia - 74
9. Graham Rahal - 70
10. Ed Carpenter - 70
20. Ryan Briscoe - 46

WHAT THE TEAM HAD TO SAY …

Will Power - #8 Aussie Vineyards - Team Australia DP01

“I got a very good start in the KVRT Aussie Vineyards – Team Australia car, which I knew was really important,” said Power.

“The KVRT team did a great job with the car. I was very fast in the race, good fuel saving, great pit stops. I am very happy for Kevin Kalkhoven and Craig Gore, who is the one who gave me the opportunity to race Champ Cars.

“I am also happy for the whole KVRT team and my Aussie Vineyards crew. They have put in so much work over the last couple of months, having been away from their families, it’s great to give them a win because they are the ones who deserve it.”

"I just got a great start. It hooked well and I did plenty of practice starts in the Warm Up.

“It means a lot to win the last Champ Car race. We were looking to win this championship this year and then suddenly it changed and we had one series.

willlbpodium-th.jpg“But this is a great way to finish off Champ Car. I’ve got to hand it to this team for everything they have done over the winter.”

Craig Gore - Aussie Vineyards - Team Australia

“Will has done it again and has produced one of the most dominating drives for a long time,” said Gore.

“He did not put a foot wrong for the entire race and he had the Aussie Vineyards – Team Australia car running like clockwork. From the standing start right to the finish Will was the class of the field and he deserved this win.

“It means a lot for everyone involved with Aussie Vineyards and the Team Australia program to win this final Champ Car race. The future is very bright for the IndyCar Series and it was great to give Champ Car a fitting send off at Long Beach this weekend.

“We still face some challenges on the ovals but Will and the team have shown their class on the street circuits, even at this early stage in the year.

“It’s great to see a young Aussie and a young Queenslander flying the flag and showing what a world class driver he is and I think we will see a lot more from the #8 Aussie Vineyards – Team Australia car this season and in the future.”

POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

THE MODERATOR: Our champion today, who won two races in Champ Car last season, Will Power. An extremely dominant performance. He was leading – took the lead at the first corner, led 81 of 83 laps, the other two laps were led during a pit switch. Obviously, I would say, based on what I saw last year, the most dominant performance I've seen from you. Would you agree, and maybe walk us through that a little bit?

wpowermjohns-th.jpgWILL POWER: Yeah, we had problems all weekend that we were ironing out in the car, and in qualifying we had a gear problem, so we didn't really get the most out of the session. We pulled it apart, and it was broken.

But for the race, I knew it was very important to get a start, because if not I was going to get hung up behind people. I know it's very tough to pass around here. So I had a really good start, and from that moment on we got good fuel mileage, and it was a pretty – the middle sector, I saved good fuel and had really good speed to pull a gap from Tagliani, and then in the last probably 15, 20 laps, I just cruised very easy.

I knew that Franck was catching, but I wasn't going to risk anything. It was a very … I didn't want to throw it in the wall. I'm just so happy for Kevin Kalkhoven, Aussie Vineyards, Craig Gore, all the guys that made this possible for me. You know, I'm really happy for the team. When you consider all the work they've done over the past couple months with the merger, these guys haven't been home, haven't been seeing their families, and they've been working late nights, midnights, getting up at 5. What better way to pay them back than with a win.

THE MODERATOR: You're now fifth in the championship, IndyCar Series. Obviously you'll be racing next week in a different car. What are you looking forward to for the rest of the year?

WILL POWER: Looking forward to the road circuits and the street courses (laughter).

THE MODERATOR: Actually you won all your races on street circuits, didn't you?

WILL POWER: Yes, I did. Road courses, as well. But it's understandable, these other teams had five years to develop that car, and it's just a fight, I guess, amongst the Champ Car guys at the moment, but I think we're going to halve that gap by the mid-season or after Indy, and by the end of the year we'll be a little closer.

But it's going to take this year, and you still won't be beating them next year. It's when the new car comes it makes it definitely easier for us.

THE MODERATOR: Now to questions from the floor.

Q. Will, you said up in the victory stand that you were very relaxed once the race got going today. This place tends not to be a place where you can relax real easily. Was the car just that good?

WILL POWER: Yeah, the car was nice. It just all fell together, you know? It was just a relaxing race. I was very focused on what I was doing. At the end there, it was just, “Don't make any mistakes, bring it home.” Actually an alarm came up on the dash. I was like, “OK, I can't believe it, five laps to go or something.” But it was nothing.

What I was hoping is that there wasn't going to be a yellow because on the restart it's always a little tough because your tires get cold and then you spin the wheels, and then if someone behind you gets a run, you can throw it away. But it was a good race. I really enjoyed it, and I'm glad to enjoy my last Champ Car race.

Q. Will, did you have anything for Justin, given he went out really early? Did you think he was going to be dominant?

WILL POWER: You know, we were both going to be there saving fuel. It was game on. Yeah, I mean, he was very quick, quick in qualifying, although I wasn't that worried about it because I knew we had more out of the car in qualifying. Yeah, Sebastien was very good at saving fuel, but I caught on to what he was doing last year, and I was able to equal him. Justin, I would say, was probably going to do a similar job and was going to be – it might have been a tough race.

Q. Could all of you guys comment on the difference between the Bridgestone reds and the blacks and how that played in, especially toward the end, because your teammate fell off quite a bit at the end, Will?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I was on the blacks at the end. I used the reds in the first stint, and they were pretty consistent. I thought the reds were better, to be honest. The blacks didn't have quite the bite that the reds did. I think if I had it again, I'd probably use reds in the last stint, and it would maybe give me a half second or so.

Q. Will, you're going to be the answer to a trivia question from now on, the guy to win the last one of these. Does it mean anything special that you will go down in history as the guy to win the last Champ Car race?

WILL POWER: Yeah, ever since I've joined Champ Car, my career is good. I was given a great opportunity by Craig Gore, and I took the ball and ran with it. So you know, for me, I love Champ Car racing, I love the cars, I love the engine. You know, it's great to win here in Long Beach for the last Champ Car race. It is pretty special, to be honest.

Q. Will, I'm wondering, starting with the merger in late February, then going to Graham Rahal's historic victory a couple weeks ago and then Danica's win last night, and then today we even had a female in the Atlantics win. Is it safe to say that open wheel racing might be getting more play, more publicity, than it ever has?

WILL POWER: Yes, definitely. I watched that race where Danica won. I felt really happy for her because she was smarter than the rest. She saved more fuel, and she won that fair and square. It's great for the series.

Yeah, and I saw that Simona qualified second in Atlantics; that's very impressive. She was at Walker's when I was there, and I was pretty impressed with her. It didn't surprise me to see her up there, and I was really happy to see that she had won, as well.

It's great for open-wheel racing, and with the unification and everything, I think, yeah, it's going to get a lot of media coverage.

Q. Will, you touched on this a little bit in your opening comments. Can you talk about what this means for your owners to get this victory? They've been in the news quite a lot lately. What does it mean to get this last victory?

WILL POWER: I'm sure they're extremely happy. I'm happy to give them a win. Kevin Kalkhoven has put a lot into this series, Craig Gore has put a lot into this series, as well. You know, he's run the Team Australia program for three years now, and to give these guys the last win here at Long Beach, you know, is a real feather in their cap.

Q. Will, I'd like you to explain a little bit about the start because you were alongside Justin Wilson. Did he get just a slower start and you got a better one? Can you talk about that? You passed him in the first turn, I believe.

WILL POWER: Yeah, and I think Tagliani bogged down. I saw that - I think I went outside him, I can't remember. But he got a bad start. And Justin must have spun a bit too much. I got a really good start, perfect start. Yeah, and it was just a matter of out-braking him in the first corner, and that was that. I was happy. You know, going down there I said, I'm going to get this lead, I don't care what happens (laughter).

Q. Will, for those of us who weren't in victory lane, what was it that you exclaimed so loudly as your celebratory thing?

WILL POWER: I think it was, "Yeah."

Q. I think it was something else.

WILL POWER: Oh, Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. That's Australian, "Aussie Aussie, Aussie, oy oy oy."

Q. Will, looking ahead to next week, you'll be back on an oval. Do you look at that as an opportunity to get better or do you look at that and think, “Oh, my God, I don't really want to do that?”

WILL POWER: It was hard at Homestead because you were just flat. You're qualifying on new tyres, and you're still 4 miles an hour off. We got some bits, and I think we're going to hopefully halve the gap. And then you've got the month of May, which gives the team some time to do a little bit of development and get me accustomed to ovals. We've got plenty of time there.

I'm not going to say we're going to be up there, but we're definitely going to close the gap. At the end of the year, it would be nice to be cracking around the top 12, top 10, once we get all the bits and everything, and I get used to it.

Maybe the shorter ovals also will help us, as well, because it's not all about rolling speed. It's not all about having a really good aero package or the bearings and all the stuff they do. Yeah, I'm looking forward to the Indy 500.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. Mr. Kevin Kalkhoven will be up immediately to answer questions.

Q. Can you just give us some reflections on the final Champ Car race?

KEVIN KALKHOVEN: The good news is it's not the final Long Beach Grand Prix because, of course, the Council has just extended it for another 10 years. During that period there have been different technologies involved, and obviously with mixed emotions today. I mean, I'm very proud of the DP01, but I'm also looking forward to the future which is the future of open-wheel motorsport here in North America.

I think it's been great to see some of these Champ Car drivers like Will. Will got second place in qualifying at St Pete and then completely screwed up because of the rain. No, we screwed up his entire strategy (laughing).

You know, it's mixed emotions, but we look forward, and it's been a great, great weekend. The crowds have been fantastic. You ladies and gentlemen of the press have been incredibly warm and generous to both our team and to the series, so I want to thank you.

Q. Kevin, talk about the race itself as you put on your hat as owner of the racetrack, the facility. Tell us, those crowds that you saw yesterday and what you think about the entire festival here.

KEVIN KALKHOVEN: Well, Long Beach is a crown jewel in every sense. Not only is it one of the oldest motor races in the world, consecutive events, it's really just an original street racing event. It's proven that over the last 34 years and will continue to prove it over the next at least 10.

As a team owner well, as an owner of the circuit, the crowds were just fantastic, and it was really interesting to me just walking around not just the race but the exhibition center, seeing the interest in the green exhibits and things like that. It's the future of this kind of event is to bring in all aspects of the motoring environment.

As a team owner, the race was at least one hour too long, and I don't think I breathed at all in the last 10 minutes. And in talking to Will, he was so cool and so calm, and we said Montagny is coming after you, and it was, "Oh, OK." For me it was desperate. But what a way to go, and I'm so proud of this young man on my right and I'm proud of the team because we got three cars in the top 10, and that's hard to do.

Q. Kevin, can you imagine or can you take us back to were you aware that this long, strange trip would take you from co owner of the series to finally having one series again in the United States?

KEVIN KALKHOVEN: It has been a long trip, and it's not been without its ups and downs, of course. But in the final analysis, what we've done is for the best interests of both the fans and North American open wheel sport. I can say that there's been a lot of goodwill on both sides. In fact, Tony George is in my hospitality right now drinking my booze without me. The quicker we get this over with, the better (laughing).

No, it's been a long and interesting journey, but I honestly, honestly believe that this is really only the start. We have a lot of work to do in the schedule; we have a lot of work to do in the car for 2010.

We have a lot of work to do in publicizing the great young drivers, having Graham Rahal who did a wonderful job at Homestead, Will who's been a fantastic job here, Danica winning yesterday. These are all new names to a lot of the motor racing fraternity. But they're names that are going to be around for a long time, and they're names that I think will help build the credibility of open wheel sport for a long time to come.

Q. Kevin, we spoke a couple hours ago. You look like a new man right now. You look like you could go out and run the circuit a couple laps. What has the victory done for you right now?

KEVIN KALKHOVEN: Well, I've still got the same six broken ribs and punctured lung I had two hours ago, but I will say that the victory keeps the adrenaline pumping. But the great thing was for the team. You know, these are guys who nobody really believed could have won both in IndyCar and in Champ Car and do it in essentially three races and produce competitive cars at St. Petersburg and obviously a winning car here.

Part of my vitalization, revitalization, if you like, is just looking in the eyes of these young men and women and just seeing the happiness they have.

Q. Kevin, all of your guys that I've spoken with that were Champ Car last year and now running IRL have said how much better the DP-01 is than the Dallara. As things go forward, is there a possibility of the Dallara well, the DP-01 taking the place of the Dallara in the future?

KEVIN KALKHOVEN: Well, one of the great things about the unification is Tony Cotman, who helped very specifically in the development and the specification of the car itself, the DP-01, is now, of course, in the IRL race operations, and if anyone knows Tony, they'll know that he has very strong, very opinionated and very personal viewpoints about what's right and wrong in a car. I think you could look to see his influence in the car, particularly for 2010. We can't let the experience that we've had in developing the DP-01, both in terms of its effectiveness, in terms of its power and its cost effectiveness, that helps, too.

So Tony is there, and I would ask Tony that question because I'm sure he's got some very strong opinions.

I would like to thank all of you. It's been an interesting ride over the last couple of years, but you've all been incredibly supportive, even when things haven't been necessarily perfect. But we finally got to a unified series, and I hope that you'll realize that first of all, the last few years have been very important in learning, but also as we go forward, this is not the end, this is just the beginning, and we have a lot of hard work to do in developing venues, in developing young heroes and heroines, and in redeveloping open wheel North American sport, and I'm committed to it, and I'd like to thank you for all your support. Please recognize that it's only the start. Thank you.

RESULTS: Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
1. #8 Will Power 83 laps
2. #7 Franck Montagny
3. #96 Mario Dominquez
4. #36 Enrique Bernoldi
5. #5 Oriol Servia
6. #34 Franck Perera
7. #15 Alex Tagliani
8. #18 David Martinez
9. #33 EJ Viso
10. #12 Jimmy Vasser

RESULTS: Qualifying
1. #02 Justin Wilson 1:06.902
2. #15 Alex Tagliani 1:07.084
3. #34 Franck Perera 1:07.180
4. #8 Will Power 1:07.205
5. #3 Paul Tracy 1:07.352
6. #7 Franck Montagny 1:07.360
7. #4 Nelson Philippe 1:07.415
8. #36 Enrique Bernoldi 1:07.682
9. #06 Graham Rahal 1:07.703
10. #96 Mario Dominguez 1:07.745

2008 IndyCar Series Points Standings - After Race 2
1. #3 Helio Castroneves 112
2. #9 Scott Dixon 100
3. #7 Danica Patrick 98
4. #11 Tony Kanaan 89
5. #8 Will Power 87
6. #10 Dan Wheldon 85
7. #36 Enrique Bernoldi 74
8. #5 Oriol Servia 74
9. #06 Graham Rahal 70
10. #20 Ed Carpenter 70

2008 Bombardier Rookie of the Year Standings - After Race 2
1. #8 Will Power 87
2. #36 Enrique Bernoldi 74
3. #06 Graham Rahal 70
4. #33 EJ Viso 67
5. #27 Hideki Mutoh 59
6. #34 Franck Perera 56
7. #02 Justin Wilson 49
8. #24 Jay Howard 45
9. #19 Mario Moraes 40

AUSTRALIAN TV REPLAY
Monday 21 April 2008
ESPN
7:30pm AEST

ABOUT LONG BEACH STREET CIRCUIT
Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
Venue: Streets of Long Beach

Location: Long Beach, California
Type: 1.97 mile/3.17km temporary street circuit
Distance: 74 laps – 145.6 miles/234.3km

INDYCAR SERIES RECORD BOOK
Defending Race Winner: Sebastien Bourdais
Defending Polesitter: Sebastien Bourdais
Will Power 2007 Race Finish: Third
Will Power 2007 Qualifying: Second
Last Updated ( Monday, 21 April 2008 )
 
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