2007 Grand Prix of Houston

The 2007 Grand Prix of Houston was the third round of the 2007 Champ Car World Series Season, held on April 22 at JAGFlo Speedway at Reliant Park.

2007 Grand Prix of Houston
Race details
Race 3 of 14 in the 2007 Champ Car season
DateApril 22, 2007
Official nameGrand Prix of Houston
LocationJAGFlo Speedway at Reliant Park
Houston, Texas, United States
CourseTemporary street circuit
1.700 mi / 2.722 km
Distance93 laps
158.1 mi / 253.146 km
WeatherCloudy with temperatures reaching up to 80.1 °F (26.7 °C); wind speeds approaching 14 miles per hour (23 km/h)[1]
Pole position
DriverWill Power (Team Australia)
Time57.405
Fastest lap
DriverSébastien Bourdais (N/H/L Racing)
Time58.018 (on lap 93 of 93)
Podium
FirstSébastien Bourdais (N/H/L Racing)
SecondGraham Rahal (N/H/L Racing)
ThirdRobert Doornbos (Minardi Team USA)

Qualifying results
Pos Nat Name Team Qual 1 Qual 2 Best
1 Will Power Team Australia 58.890 57.405 57.405
2 Sébastien Bourdais N/H/L Racing 58.376 57.653 57.653
3 Justin Wilson RSPORTS 59.216 57.533 57.533
4 Neel Jani PKV Racing 59.354 57.753 57.753
5 Oriol Servia Forsythe Racing 59.338 57.790 57.790
6 Graham Rahal N/H/L Racing 58.998 57.896 57.896
7 Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 59.446 57.929 57.929
8 Tristan Gommendy PKV Racing 1:00.348 58.026 58.026
9 Mario Dominguez Forsythe Racing 59.788 58.079 58.079
10 Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 59.575 58.169 58.169
11 Alex Tagliani RSPORTS 59.269 58.261 58.261
12 Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 1:00.365 58.355 58.355
13 Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 59.940 58.569 58.569
14 Matt Halliday Conquest Racing 59.747 58.577 58.577
15 Ryan Dalziel Pacific Coast Motorsports 59.746 58.835 58.835
16 Roberto Moreno Pacific Coast Motorsports - 59.231 59.231
17 Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 1:00.603 59.257 59.257

Sébastien Bourdais originally took pole but was penalised for blocking Will Power. Roberto Moreno substituted for Alex Figge beginning on Saturday after Figge was unable to race the bumpy parking lot circuit with lingering back pain resulting from a crash at Long Beach the previous week.

Grid
Row Inside Outside
1 5 Will Power 1 Sébastien Bourdais
2 9 Justin Wilson 21 Neel Jani
3 3 Oriol Servia 2 Graham Rahal
4 15 Simon Pagenaud 22 Tristan Gommendy
5 7 Mario Dominguez 19 Bruno Junqueira
6 8 Alex Tagliani 4 Dan Clarke
7 14 Robert Doornbos 42 Matt Halliday
8 28 Ryan Dalziel 29 Roberto Moreno
9 11 Katherine Legge
Cars stream into turn 1 on lap 1

Race
The race was won by Sébastien Bourdais, which moved him into the lead of the championship.

Pole sitter Will Power was passed by Sébastien Bourdais and Justin Wilson at the drop of the green flag. Bourdais short cut a chicane and was forced to drop back into 2nd behind Wilson. On lap 14 Bourdais regained the lead and built a long lead over Wilson. The first round of pit stops were done under a yellow caused by debris. Oriol Servia, substituting again for the injured Paul Tracy, left the pits in 2nd, while Bourdais' teammate Graham Rahal got out in 3rd. The top three remained static until lap 66 when Oriol Servia's green flag pit stop was balked by his teammate Mario Dominguez, dropping him all the way to 7th. When Bourdais pitted on lap 68, Tristan Gommendy took the lead by staying out, gambling on a long-shot fuel strategy win. When Gommendy's race ended at the entrance of pit lane with minutes remaining in the 1 hour, 45 minute timed race (all Champ Car races in the season were held as timed races that ran 1 hour, 45 minutes), Bourdais retook the lead and led the remainder of the race in front of teammate Rahal, who did not provide an undue amount of pressure. Robert Doornbos solidified his lead in the rookie standings with a 3rd-place finish, while Oriol Servia fought back from the pit stop mishap to a solid 4th-place finish.

Results
PosNoDriverTeamLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 1 Sébastien Bourdais N/H/L Racing 93 1:45:32.136 2 33
2 2 Graham Rahal N/H/L Racing 93 +4.8 secs 6 27
3 14 Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 93 +7.1 secs 13 26
4 3 Oriol Servia Forsythe Racing 93 +8.7 secs 5 23
5 15 Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 93 +9.5 secs 7 21
6 7 Mario Dominguez Forsythe Racing 93 +19.1 secs 9 19
7 19 Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 93 +19.1 secs 10 17
8 28 Ryan Dalziel Pacific Coast Motorsports 93 +20.3 secs 15 15
9 8 Alex Tagliani RSPORTS 93 +25.1 secs 11 13
10 9 Justin Wilson RSPORTS 93 +28.5 secs 3 11
11 5 Will Power Team Australia 92 + 1 Lap 1 11
12 29 Roberto Moreno Pacific Coast Motorsports 90 + 3 Laps 16 9
13 22 Tristan Gommendy PKV Racing 86 Mechanical 8 8
14 42 Matt Halliday Conquest Racing 77 + 16 Laps 14 7
15 21 Neel Jani PKV Racing 67 Contact 4 6
16 11 Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 67 Contact 17 5
17 4 Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 67 Contact 12 4

Caution flags
LapsCause
1Yellow flag start
28-32Debris
47-51Moreno spin/stall
69-74Jani/Legge/Clarke crash & Power/Dominguez crash

Notes
LapsLeader
1Will Power
2-13Justin Wilson
14-29Sébastien Bourdais
30Tristan Gommendy
31-68Sébastien Bourdais
69-86Tristan Gommendy
86-93Sébastien Bourdais
  
DriverLaps led
Sébastien Bourdais62
Tristan Gommendy18
Justin Wilson12
Will Power1

Championship standings after the race
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.