2007 Lexmark Indy 300

The 2007 Lexmark Indy 300 was the thirteenth and penultimate round of the 2007 Champ Car World Series Season. It was held on 21 October 2007 on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Queensland, Australia. The race was won by Sébastien Bourdais, who also claimed his fourth consecutive Champ Car title, becoming the first man to achieve that distinction.

2007 Surfers Paradise
Race details
Race 13 of 14 in the 2007 Champ Car season
Track map of the Surfers Paradise street circuit at Surfers Paradise, Australia.
Date21 October, 2007
Official nameLexmark Indy 300
LocationSurfers Paradise Street Circuit
Queensland, Australia
CourseTemporary Street Circuit
2.795 mi / 4.498 km
Distance61 laps
170.495 mi / 274.378 km
WeatherDry and sunny with temperatures reaching up to 26.2 °C (79.2 °F)[1]
Pole position
DriverWill Power (Team Australia)
Time1:30.054
Fastest lap
DriverGraham Rahal (N/H/L Racing)
Time1:31.093 (on lap 59 of 61)
Podium
FirstSébastien Bourdais (N/H/L Racing)
SecondJustin Wilson (RuSPORT)
ThirdBruno Junqueira (Dale Coyne Racing)

Qualifying results
Pos Nat Name Team Qual 1 Qual 2 Best
1 Will Power Team Australia 1:30.895 1:30.054 1:30.054
2 Oriol Servià PKV Racing 1:30.862 1:30.693 1:30.693
3 Paul Tracy Forsythe Racing 1:31.820 1:30.426 1:30.426
4 Sébastien Bourdais N/H/L Racing 1:32.883 1:30.438 1:30.438
5 Justin Wilson RuSPORT 1:31.365 1:30.586 1:30.586
6 Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 1:33.018 1:31.038 1:31.038
7 Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 1:32.875 1:31.212 1:31.212
8 Neel Jani PKV Racing 1:32.520 1:31.281 1:31.281
9 Graham Rahal N/H/L Racing 1:34.049 1:31.347 1:31.347
10 Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 1:33.866 1:31.413 1:31.413
11 Alex Tagliani Rocketsports Racing 3:20.825 1:31.664 1:31.664
12 Mario Domínguez Pacific Coast Motorsports 4:27.161 1:31.746 1:31.746
13 Nelson Philippe Conquest Racing 1:33.187 1:31.842 1:31.842
14 Robert Doornbos PKV Racing 1:32.675 1:31.969 1:31.969
15 Alex Figge Pacific Coast Motorsports 1:44.381 1:32.458 1:32.458
16 Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 1:33.986 1:32.694 1:32.694
17 David Martínez Forsythe Racing 1:35.578 1:33.892 1:33.892

Oriol Servià, driving a car for PKV this weekend, nipped local hero Will Power on Friday, snagging the provisional pole position by .033 seconds and locking in a front row starting spot for Sunday's race. Power got revenge on Saturday when he broke the Surfers Paradise track record in winning his fourth pole position of the season by .372 seconds.

Race

Will Power led away from the standing start, continuing to show the unmatched speed he showed in qualifying on Saturday. But the Australian's race would quickly end in tears. After debris brought out a caution flag on lap 9, Power led the front-runners into the pits for the first stop of the day. The lollipop man released Power back into the pit lane just as David Martínez was entering the pit stall in front of him. Power ran into the back of Martínez's car, damaging his right front suspension. Power was forced to return to the pits for repairs, leaving him at the back of the field. Power's day ended for good on lap 19 when he clouted Katherine Legge while trying to pass her, leaving him with a broken car and a very sore wrist.

As is often the case in Champ Car races, the early debris caution led to three drivers rolling the dice on strategy. Paul Tracy (who spun on lap 1), Bruno Junqueira (who had stalled on the grid), and Robert Doornbos (who had a lousy qualifying) stayed out rather than pit. Doornbos led until he pitted on lap 18, with Paul Tracy leading for a lap until he drove for the pits on lap 19.

Sébastien Bourdais inherited the lead from Tracy. Bourdais had jumped around Oriol Servià in the first pit stop. Servià took the lead when Bourdais pitted on lap 32, who in turn gave up the lead on lap later to Paul Tracy, who was now leading the alternate strategy cars.

Bourdais was running in second behind Tracy until a rare event happened on lap 39, he was passed on the track by Justin Wilson. So when Tracy pitted on lap 40 Wilson took over the lead. Both Wilson and Bourdais had one more pit stop to make. Wilson stopped first on lap 44, but Bourdais extended his stop until lap 48, setting down some scorching laps on low tanks in the meantime. Bourdais easily came out in front of Wilson after completing his final pit stop.

With first and second places pretty much decided, an interesting battle was shaping up between alternate strategy runners Tracy and Junqueira for the final podium spot. Tracy was looking to redeem a rough patch of races while Junqueira was looking for his third consecutive podium finish. Unfortunately for Tracy, he used too much fuel to stay ahead and had to dive to the pits for fuel on the white flag lap. To add insult to injury he stalled the car and ended the race in ninth, the last lead lap runner.

With the victory, Bourdais clinched his fourth consecutive Champ Car title, a feat that has never been done before. He also became the first man to repeat as winner in the 17-year history of the Surfers Paradise event.

Race result
PosNoDriverTeamLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 1 Sébastien Bourdais N/H/L Racing 61 1:45:49.318 4 31
2 9 Justin Wilson RuSPORT 61 +6.776 5 27
3 19 Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 61 +50.896 7 25
4 14 Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 61 +1:02.641 14 24
5 15 Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 61 +1:03.411 6 21
6 34 Nelson Philippe Conquest Racing 61 +1:09.011 13 19
7 8 Alex Tagliani Rocketsports Racing 61 +1:12.291 11 17
8 21 Neel Jani PKV Racing 61 +1:29.789 8 15
9 3 Paul Tracy Forsythe Racing 61 +1:48.614 3 13
10 7 David Martínez Forsythe Racing 60 + 1 lap 17 11
11 2 Graham Rahal N/H/L Racing 60 + 1 lap 9 11
12 28 Mario Domínguez Pacific Coast Motorsports 59 + 2 laps 12 9
13 29 Alex Figge Pacific Coast Motorsports 59 + 2 laps 15 8
14 22 Oriol Servià PKV Racing 58 + 3 laps 2 8
15 11 Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 57 Engine 16 6
16 5 Will Power Team Australia 18 Collision 1 6
17 4 Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 12 Accident 10 4

Caution flags
LapsCause
9-11Debris
13-15Figge (29) spin/stall
19-22Power (5) & Legge (11) contact

Notes
LapsLeader
1-10Will Power
11-18Robert Doornbos
19Paul Tracy
20-31Sébastien Bourdais
32-33Oriol Servià
34-39Paul Tracy
40-43Justin Wilson
44-61Sébastien Bourdais
  
DriverLaps led
Sébastien Bourdais30
Will Power10
Robert Doornbos8
Paul Tracy7
Justin Wilson4
Oriol Servià2

Championship standings after the race
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