Champ Car Mont-Tremblant 07

The Champ Car Mont-Tremblant 07 was the sixth round of the 2007 Champ Car World Series Season. It was held on July 1 at the Circuit Mont-Tremblant, in Saint-Jovite, Quebec, Canada. Robert Doornbos won his first career Champ Car race, with Sébastien Bourdais and Will Power rounding out the podium.

Canada 2007 Champ Car Mont-Tremblant
Race details
Race 6 of 14 in the 2007 Champ Car season
Mont-Tremblant Track Layout
DateJuly 1, 2007
Official nameChamp Car Mont-Tremblant 07
LocationCircuit Mont-Tremblant
Saint-Jovite, Quebec, Canada
CoursePermanent Road Course
2.621 mi / 4.218 km
Distance62 laps
162.502 mi / 261.516 km
WeatherPartly Cloudy, Rain
Pole position
DriverTristan Gommendy (PKV Racing)
Time1:16.776
Fastest lap
DriverSébastien Bourdais (N/H/L Racing)
Time1:17.327 (on lap 19 of 62)
Podium
FirstRobert Doornbos (Minardi Team USA)
SecondSébastien Bourdais (N/H/L Racing)
ThirdWill Power (Team Australia)

Qualifying results

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Pos Nat Name Team Qual 1 Qual 2 Best
1   Tristan Gommendy PKV Racing 1:16.776 no time 1:16.776
2   Will Power Team Australia 1:16.841 1:20.943 1:16.841
3   Sébastien Bourdais N/H/L Racing 1:16.783 1:21.380 1:16.783
4   Justin Wilson RSPORTS 1:16.843 1:20.981 1:16.843
5   Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 1:16.850 1:22.093 1:16.850
6   Neel Jani PKV Racing 1:16.931 1:22.604 1:16.931
7   Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 1:16.944 1:21.671 1:16.944
8   Alex Tagliani RSPORTS 1:17.256 1:21.610 1:17.256
9   Graham Rahal N/H/L Racing 1:17.475 1:21.350 1:17.475
10   Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 1:17.481 1:23.093 1:17.481
11   Paul Tracy Forsythe Racing 1:17.629 1:22.266 1:17.629
12   Jan Heylen Conquest Racing 1:17.832 1:21.611 1:17.832
13   Ryan Dalziel Pacific Coast Motorsports 1:17.965 1:22.804 1:17.965
14   Oriol Servia Forsythe Racing 1:17.965 1:21.579 1:17.965
15   Alex Figge Pacific Coast Motorsports 1:18.067 no time 1:18.067
16   Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 1:18.127 1:21.699 1:18.127
17   Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 1:18.989 1:26.259 1:18.989

Wet conditions on Saturday secured the first career Champ Car pole position for Tristan Gommendy, who pipped his countryman Sébastien Bourdais by .007 second on Friday. The Saturday session began with a brief rain shower. The track then dried enough to allow drivers to return to slicks but the times remained well short of Friday's. Will Power led the Saturday session to earn the front row starting spot next to Gommendy.

Race

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Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 14   Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 62 1:45:41.899 5 31
2 1   Sébastien Bourdais N/H/L Racing 62 +2.889 3 28
3 5   Will Power Team Australia 62 +7.310 2 26
4 15   Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 62 +10.563 7 23
5 9   Justin Wilson RSPORTS 62 +11.289 4 21
6 21   Neel Jani PKV Racing 62 +12.347 6 19
7 2   Graham Rahal N/H/L Racing 62 +12.8 9 17
8 8   Alex Tagliani RSPORTS 62 +13.4 8 15
9 3   Oriol Servia Forsythe Racing 62 +26.7 13 13
10 28   Ryan Dalziel Pacific Coast Motorsports 62 +32.9 12 11
11 11   Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 62 +46.6 16 11
12 22   Tristan Gommendy PKV Racing 60 + 2 Laps 1 10
13 29   Alex Figge Pacific Coast Motorsports 56 Mechanical 14 8
14 4   Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 34 Mechanical 10 7
15 7   Paul Tracy Forsythe Racing 28 Mechanical 17* 6
16 42   Jan Heylen Conquest Racing 24 Off Course 11 5
17 19   Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 5 Mechanical 15 4

* Paul Tracy qualified 11th but crashed his car in Sunday practice and started from the back of the grid in his backup car.

The race got off to a ragged start as polesitter Tristan Gommendy's car failed to fire for the formation lap. As the lights for the standing start went out three cars stalled, the first time stalls marred a standing start for Champ Car in three races. Team Australia teammates Will Power and Simon Pagenaud and Jan Heylen were left stranded on the grid. Sébastien Bourdais took advantage of the misfortune in front of him to take the early lead. It appeared as if Bourdais jumped the start, but Champ Car never assessed him a penalty. It would not be the last controversial moment in the race.

The early laps of the race were run in dry but threatening conditions. Power, Pagenaud, and Heylen were all able to rejoin the race on the lead lap, while Gommendy lost two laps while his car troubles were sorted out.

Shortly after the field finished the first round of pit stops staying on slick tires, light rain began to fall. Jan Heylen spun, bringing out a caution flag. Bourdais made an uncharacteristic mistake by sliding off the track on a slippery corner under yellow, dropping him from the lead back to 11th place.

The rain was intermittent and unpredictable, so the field continued to skate around on slick tires. Robert Doornbos and then Graham Rahal held the lead following Bourdais' error. The skies finally opened up on lap 44. Slick tires were no longer an option at this point. Rahal looked to be in position to run away with the race as the field pitted for fuel and rain tires, but his car stuck in gear during the stop and he was shuffled to the rear of the field, giving the lead over to Justin Wilson.

Wilson's British wet weather driving experience didn't seem to help him much on the treacherous track and he gave up the lead to 2006 Atlantics champion Pagenaud, who took the lead for the first time in Champ Car race. He led for five laps before an off course excursion gave the lead over to Doornbos. Bourdais was in 2nd.

Sometime during this stage of the race, Bourdais claims Doornbos blocked him and began to lobby for a penalty over his radio. Champ Car did not impose a penalty. Bourdais backed off to preserve his 2nd place and Doornbos came home to his first Champ Car victory. Power was able to get around teammate Pagenaud for the final spot on the podium.

In his post-race interview broadcast on TV and on the screens at the track, Bourdais complained about Doornbos' tactics. The crowd booed the Frenchman, who would later refuse to shake Doornbos' hand on the podium. Doornbos claimed innocence, explaining that in the wet everyone was taking odd lines looking for traction, and that he also learned his lesson about blocking from the penalty he received in the previous race at Cleveland, which likely cost him a victory.

Caution flags

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Laps Cause
1-2 Power, Pagenaud, Heylen stall on start
26-28 Heylen off course
28-29 Tracy spun/stalled before restart
36-39 Figge spun/stalled
46-47 Figge spun/stalled
56-57 Figge spun/stalled

Notes

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Laps Leader
1-27 Sébastien Bourdais
28-37 Robert Doornbos
38-44 Graham Rahal
45-47 Justin Wilson
48-52 Simon Pagenaud
53-62 Robert Doornbos
 
Driver Laps led
Sébastien Bourdais 27
Robert Doornbos 20
Graham Rahal 7
Simon Pagenaud 5
Justin Wilson 3

Championship standings after the race

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Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
  1   Sébastien Bourdais 145
  2   Robert Doornbos 145
  3   Will Power 131
  1 4   Justin Wilson 113
  1 5   Alex Tagliani 112
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included.

Attendance

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Attendance for the 3 day race weekend was reported to be in excess of 42,000 for the first Champ/CART/USAC race in 40 years at the circuit.[1] This was actually 7000 more than the expected 35,000 fans over the weekend by the race organizers.[2]

References

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  1. ^ "Home". Retrieved 2007-08-13.
  2. ^ TSN : AUTO RACING – Canada's Sports Leader
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Previous race:
2007 Grand Prix of Cleveland
Champ Car World Series
2007 season
Next race:
2007 Steelback Grand Prix

Previous race:
First Event
replaced Grand Prix of Montreal
Mont-Tremblant Champ Car Grand Prix Next race:
Mont-Tremblant 08
canceled by IndyCar/Champ Car merger