2007 Grand Prix of Cleveland explained

Country:United States
Race:Grand Prix of Cleveland
Date:June 24
Year:2007
Official Name:Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by LaSalle Bank
Race No:5
Season No:14
Series:Champ Car
Location:Burke Lakefront Airport
Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Course:Temporary Airport Course
Course Mi:2.106
Course Km:3.389
Distance Laps:89
Distance Mi:187.434
Distance Km:301.621
Weather:Sunny/Cloudy
Pole Driver:Sébastien Bourdais
Pole Team:N/H/L Racing
Pole Time:56.363
Pole Country:France
Fast Driver:Sébastien Bourdais
Fast Team:N/H/L Racing
Fast Time:57.601
Fast Lap:56
Fast Country:France
First Driver:Paul Tracy
First Team:Forsythe Racing
First Country:Canada
Second Driver:Robert Doornbos
Second Team:Minardi Team USA
Second Country:NED
Third Driver:Neel Jani
Third Team:PKV Racing
Third Country:Switzerland

The 2007 Grand Prix of Cleveland is the fifth round of the 2007 Champ Car World Series Season. It was held on June 24 at the Burke Lakefront Airport, in Cleveland, Ohio. As of 2024 this is the last race held in the city.

Qualifying results

PosNatNameTeamQual 1Qual 2Best
1Sébastien BourdaisN/H/L Racing56.96156.36356.363
2Simon PagenaudTeam Australia57.33856.38856.388
3Will PowerTeam Australia57.30156.47356.473
4Graham RahalN/H/L Racing57.65856.58856.588
5Robert DoornbosMinardi Team USA57.74556.75156.751
6Dan ClarkeMinardi Team USA57.85557.00157.001
7Paul TracyForsythe Racing57.78257.06557.065
8Justin WilsonRSPORTS57.42757.07957.079
9Alex TaglianiRSPORTS57.65257.19957.199
10Oriol ServiaForsythe Racing57.72257.38057.380
11Neel JaniPKV Racing57.53557.40057.400
12Tristan GommendyPKV Racing57.97857.51657.516
13Alex FiggePacific Coast Motorsports59.11757.62657.626
14Bruno JunqueiraDale Coyne Racing57.81157.75857.758
15Katherine LeggeDale Coyne Racing58.68157.81157.811
16Ryan DalzielPacific Coast Motorsports58.23857.92857.928
17Jan HeylenConquest Racing58.25958.11658.116

Sébastien Bourdais lead both Friday and Saturday's qualification sessions. Rookie Simon Pagenaud missed the pole by .025 of a second to score his first Champ Car front row starting position next to Bourdais. Bourdais chose to start from the left side of the track, opposite the traditional inside position leading to Cleveland's often frantic first turn.

Race

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
17 Paul TracyForsythe Racing891:45:10.860731
214 Robert DoornbosMinardi Team USA89+0.5 secs527
321 Neel JaniPKV Racing89+5.4 secs1126
49 Justin WilsonRSPORTS89+5.9 secs823
515 Simon PagenaudTeam Australia89+6.3 secs221
68 Alex TaglianiRSPORTS89+17.8 secs919
73 Oriol ServiaForsythe Racing89+23.7 secs1017
82 Graham RahalN/H/L Racing89+24.7 secs415
928 Ryan DalzielPacific Coast Motorsports89+27.8 secs1613
105 Will PowerTeam Australia89+55.2 secs311
114 Dan ClarkeMinardi Team USA88+ 1 Lap610
121 Sébastien BourdaisN/H/L Racing67Mechanical112
1322 Tristan GommendyPKV Racing34Contact128
1442 Jan HeylenConquest Racing34Contact177
1511 Katherine LeggeDale Coyne Racing32Mechanical156
1619 Bruno JunqueiraDale Coyne Racing6Contact145
1729 Alex FiggePacific Coast Motorsports3Mechanical134

An incident-filled race ended with a surprise winner in Paul Tracy, his first victory since the 2005 Cleveland Grand Prix and 31st overall. Despite two early crashes which forced him to pit and have his crew replace his nose cone twice, Tracy managed to stay on the lead lap. Tracy found himself in lead on lap 70 during the last yellow flag period. The extra fuel he gained by his two early pit stops allowed him to gamble on fuel strategy. Robert Doornbos, recovering from an early setback of his own after he was black-flagged for blocking, was catching up to him quickly in the final laps but was unable to pass Tracy before the checkered flag after 89 laps.

Early in the race it looked as if the race would come down to a showdown between Will Power and Sébastien Bourdais as they raced nose to tail, with Bourdais leading from the standing start. Power, following the script Bourdais ran to in the Portland race, passed Bourdais after the first round of pit stops by staying out an extra lap. But the battle was aborted when Bourdais' car broke down on lap 67. Not long later, Power was forced to pit under green on lap 75 to change a tire that failed because of a broken valve.

Caution flags

Laps Cause
4-6 Rahal/Tracy crash
7-10 Junqueira/Tracy crash
36-41 Heylen/Gommendy crash
68-72 Bourdais/Clarke off course

Notes

Laps Leader
1-27 Sébastien Bourdais
28-29 Will Power
30-33 Graham Rahal
34 Paul Tracy
35-57 Will Power
58-62 Paul Tracy
63-69 Will Power
70-89 Paul Tracy
 
Driver Laps led
32
27
26
4

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
PosDriverPoints
1 Sébastien Bourdais117
12 Robert Doornbos114
13 Will Power105
4 Alex Tagliani97
5 Justin Wilson92

Attendance

Attendance at the 3 day race weekend was 151,426 people with over 65,000 fans attending the Champ Car raceday main event. This represented a 28% increase over 2006.[1]

References

  1. Web site: 2008 Grand Prix of Cleveland :: Media: News . 2007-08-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070927205658/http://www.grandprixofcleveland.com/content2007/release_06_24_2007_weekend.html . 2007-09-27 . dead .

External links