Enjoying an evening in the air conditioned comfort
of a Boeing 737, homeward-bound for a brief visit between Champ
Car’s stops at the series’ two newest venues, Edmonton’s City Centre
Airport and San Jose’s downtown street circuit. Air conditioning was
much in demand over the weekend in Edmonton with ambient
temperatures in the mid-90’s and track temps of more than 115
degrees posing a very tough challenge for Champ Car and Atlantic
teams, drivers, and tire companies.
A terrific second visit to Edmonton Sunday was
capped by a strong drive to victory for RuSPORT’s Justin Wilson.
Wilson was patient, smart, and fast when it counted both on pit road
and on the 1.9 mile race track, using a quick pit stop and a strong
race car to complete one of the toughest tasks in open wheel racing:
running down, passing, and beating Champ Car’s dominant player,
Sebastien Bourdais.
Justin Wilson brought home the bacon last weekend in Edmonton Champ Car
Bourdais did what he needed to do in the title
picture, hanging on to second, finishing ahead of his new nemesis AJ
Allmendinger, and maintaining his gap over the other contenders. But
Wilson, in his best drive since Mexico City last fall, earned some
payback to a track where he suffered a major disappointment last
year. Justin reestablished himself as a championship contender and
brought a much-needed taste of success to Carl Russo’s team, reeling
from the departure of Allmendinger and the so-far unsuccessful
marriage of former champ Cristiano da Matta and the 10 car.
Grip was hard to find at Edmonton this year, with
the unseasonably warm weather likely at least part of the problem.
There were indications that if a driver got out of the groove in
certain parts of the course the penalty was a quick trip off course.
We saw some incredibly hard wrecks over the weekend, including
Allmendinger on Friday, Dan Clarke on Saturday, and most
frightening, Will Power’s trip off-road at the final chicane which
pitched his Team Australia machine onto the grass headed straight
for one of our camera locations.
Fortunately the Jersey barriers and
soft tire walls did their job and protected both our courageous
camera operator and Power from serious injury. But the wreck cost
Derrick Walker’s squad another Lola tub at least temporarily, and
doubtless taught the impressive Aussie rookie another valuable
lesson in the wiles of high-horsepower open wheel race cars.
The Forsythe Championship Racing team of
Allmendinger and Paul Tracy showed plenty on the weekend as well.
PT looked like he had a winning combination for much of the weekend
before tire issues forced him off the pace, but the Thrill still
picked up a top five finish. His young American counterpart was
under the weather physically on race day, but AJ battled his way
onto the podium, staying close to Bourdais in the championship
standings.
Dan Clarke is fast when he keeps it on the road Champ Car
Nelson Philippe’s rise is also worthy of note. Both he and Clarke
have seen more than their share of trouble this season, but while
Clarke can surely be accused of overdriving in his rookie year,
Philippe, already in his third Champ Car year and just marking his
20th birthday this past weekend, is in my mind, along with Power,
the next Champ Car young gun who’s most likely to win.
Nelson didn’t
lead Sunday, but was quick much of the race before coming to grief
at the treacherous turn 5. Power was solid again all day, shaking
off the effects of his Friday crash to finish 6th on the lead lap.
Walker Racing has a future winner in Power.
I’m also thoroughly enjoying this season of the Champ Car Atlantic
Championship. The new Swift chassis along with the bigger, faster
Mazda Cosworth motor have combined to create faster, tougher
competition, and the Atlantics never fail to provide an hour’s worth
of outstanding action. Raphael Matos will have to wait another day
to pick up his first series win, but point’s leader Simon Pagenaud
turned in a great drive for his Team Australia squad to grab his
first victory in the US and extend his lead in the drive for the $2
million Atlantics prize. Pagenaud is an engaging young man, clearly
talented, and someone who gets it. He, too, is a real asset to the
ranks of Champ Car.
This week, after that brief break, we’re back on the road for San
Jose and the second running of the Champ Car GP of San Jose, for the
Canary Fund. The course’s been improved and we should see a much
more competitive event. We’re looking forward to our second glimpse
of California sunshine this year. If you’re not able to be there in
person, we hope you can join us Sunday afternoon on NBC Sports.
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