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TAGLIANI AND POWER TREK TO TOWNSVILLE ON A HIGH
Monday, 10 July 2006
Team Australia's Alex Tagliani and Will Power will fly into Townsville, Queensland in high spirits this week after recording impressive results overnight at the seventh round of the Champ Car World Series in Toronto, Canada.
Tagliani finished sixth in front of his home country crowd with Queenslander Power one place further back in seventh, as they chased home in-form US driver A.J Allmendinger who made it three wins in a row.
Tagliani and Power will fly out to Australia this week for a fleeting visit to officially launch this year's Lexmark Indy 300 at a free community Roadshow in Townsville this Saturday July 15 from 12 noon to 5pm.
In Toronto, Allmendinger made it a hat trick of round wins since joining his new team Forsythe Championship Racing after leading home team mate Paul Tracy with series champion and current standings leader Sebastien Bourdais filling the podium in third.
Bourdais' lead in the championship has now shrunk to 23 points as Allmendinger's past three wins have closed the gap on Bourdais' first four wins of the season. England's Justin Wilson maintains third position in the standings a further three points back after a solid fourth placing in Toronto.
Tagliani has now vaulted to equal fourth in the standings with his Toronto performance as he prepares for his Australian visit.
"All I have to say right now is what an outstanding job the team did for putting this car together in about two hours," said Tagliani. "The engineers did a great job in giving me a fast car, we had the fastest lap of the race and we never gave up.
"Early on in the race I didn't want to push. I wanted to be safe. Then I felt that the car was good so I was able to stay close to Tracy, Bourdais, and Wilson and to fight with those guys. We had a pretty good car for the whole race, and I'm so happy with the result."
Toowoomba-born-and-bred Power continued his great debut season in the Champ Car World Series by finishing as the leading rookie driver in Toronto (seventh overall). This has catapulted him back into the lead in the Roshfrans Rookie-of-Year stakes and 12th overall.
"Today I got a really good start, and got a good run down the back straight in turn three and passed a few people," said Power. "In the first pit stop we lost a position because the rear tyres went off really badly and I was struggling for pace.
"The last couple of laps were really interesting. I passed Junqueira and unfortunately Zwolsman prevented me from having a chance to attack Alex. Still we had a really good result. I think it put us in really good points in the rookie standings."
Allmendinger's win made him the first American driver in 12 years to win three consecutive Champ Car races, leading a race-high 38 laps to score the victory.
He led Tracy across the line marking the first 1-2 performance for Forsythe Championship Racing since 2003 and matching Tracy's best performance of the year.
"Everything's just falling into place so far during the races," said Allmendinger. "It takes a lot during the Champ Car races to have a lot of luck with timing of the yellows and everything that can happen.
"It's just that we've been fortunate, made the right calls, had the car to beat. We just want to keep doing this."
The next round of the Champ Car World Series is scheduled for Edmonton on July 23. Queensland will host Round 14 of the Champ Car World Series with the Lexmark Indy 300 to be held from October 19 to 22. The annual Lexmark Indy 300 on the Gold Coast is a partnership between the Queensland Government and IMG.
The Lexmark Indy 300 Roadshow will be held in Townsville this Saturday July 15 from 12 noon to 5pm featuring Tagliani and Power in a live Team Australia Champ Car demonstration. This free community event will be outside the Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre to officially launch this year's Lexmark Indy 300.
Round 7 - Toronto - Race Results
1 - A.J. Allmendinger (Forsythe Championship Racing) 86 laps Active
2 - Paul Tracy (Forsythe Championship Racing) 86 laps Active
3 - Sebastien Bourdais (Newman Haas Racing) 86 laps Active
4 - Justin Wilson (RuSPORT) 86 laps Active
5 - Cristiano da Matta (RuSPORT) 86 laps Active
6 - Alex Tagliani (Team Australia) 86 laps Active
7 - Will Power (Team Australia) 86 laps Active
8 - Bruno Junqueira (Newman Haas Racing) 86 laps Active
9 - Charles Zwolsman (Mi-Jack Conquest Racing) 85 laps Active
10 - Andrew Ranger (Mi-Jack Conquest Racing) 85 laps Active
11 - Mario Dominguez (Dale Coyne Racing) 83 laps Active
12 - Oriol Servia (PKV Racing) 76 laps Contact
13 - Nelson Philippe (CTE Racing - HVM) 76 laps Contact
14 - Katherine Legge (PKV Racing) 65 laps Contact
15 - Tonis Kasemets (Rocketsports Racing) 49 laps Mechanical
16 - Jan Heylen (Dale Coyne Racing) 44 laps Mechanical
17 - Dan Clarke (CTE Racing - HVM) 14 laps Contact
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Tagliani finished sixth in front of his home country crowd with Queenslander Power one place further back in seventh, as they chased home in-form US driver A.J Allmendinger who made it three wins in a row.
Tagliani and Power will fly out to Australia this week for a fleeting visit to officially launch this year's Lexmark Indy 300 at a free community Roadshow in Townsville this Saturday July 15 from 12 noon to 5pm.
In Toronto, Allmendinger made it a hat trick of round wins since joining his new team Forsythe Championship Racing after leading home team mate Paul Tracy with series champion and current standings leader Sebastien Bourdais filling the podium in third.
Bourdais' lead in the championship has now shrunk to 23 points as Allmendinger's past three wins have closed the gap on Bourdais' first four wins of the season. England's Justin Wilson maintains third position in the standings a further three points back after a solid fourth placing in Toronto.
Tagliani has now vaulted to equal fourth in the standings with his Toronto performance as he prepares for his Australian visit.
"All I have to say right now is what an outstanding job the team did for putting this car together in about two hours," said Tagliani. "The engineers did a great job in giving me a fast car, we had the fastest lap of the race and we never gave up.
"Early on in the race I didn't want to push. I wanted to be safe. Then I felt that the car was good so I was able to stay close to Tracy, Bourdais, and Wilson and to fight with those guys. We had a pretty good car for the whole race, and I'm so happy with the result."
Toowoomba-born-and-bred Power continued his great debut season in the Champ Car World Series by finishing as the leading rookie driver in Toronto (seventh overall). This has catapulted him back into the lead in the Roshfrans Rookie-of-Year stakes and 12th overall.
"Today I got a really good start, and got a good run down the back straight in turn three and passed a few people," said Power. "In the first pit stop we lost a position because the rear tyres went off really badly and I was struggling for pace.
"The last couple of laps were really interesting. I passed Junqueira and unfortunately Zwolsman prevented me from having a chance to attack Alex. Still we had a really good result. I think it put us in really good points in the rookie standings."
Allmendinger's win made him the first American driver in 12 years to win three consecutive Champ Car races, leading a race-high 38 laps to score the victory.
He led Tracy across the line marking the first 1-2 performance for Forsythe Championship Racing since 2003 and matching Tracy's best performance of the year.
"Everything's just falling into place so far during the races," said Allmendinger. "It takes a lot during the Champ Car races to have a lot of luck with timing of the yellows and everything that can happen.
"It's just that we've been fortunate, made the right calls, had the car to beat. We just want to keep doing this."
The next round of the Champ Car World Series is scheduled for Edmonton on July 23. Queensland will host Round 14 of the Champ Car World Series with the Lexmark Indy 300 to be held from October 19 to 22. The annual Lexmark Indy 300 on the Gold Coast is a partnership between the Queensland Government and IMG.
The Lexmark Indy 300 Roadshow will be held in Townsville this Saturday July 15 from 12 noon to 5pm featuring Tagliani and Power in a live Team Australia Champ Car demonstration. This free community event will be outside the Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre to officially launch this year's Lexmark Indy 300.
Round 7 - Toronto - Race Results
1 - A.J. Allmendinger (Forsythe Championship Racing) 86 laps Active
2 - Paul Tracy (Forsythe Championship Racing) 86 laps Active
3 - Sebastien Bourdais (Newman Haas Racing) 86 laps Active
4 - Justin Wilson (RuSPORT) 86 laps Active
5 - Cristiano da Matta (RuSPORT) 86 laps Active
6 - Alex Tagliani (Team Australia) 86 laps Active
7 - Will Power (Team Australia) 86 laps Active
8 - Bruno Junqueira (Newman Haas Racing) 86 laps Active
9 - Charles Zwolsman (Mi-Jack Conquest Racing) 85 laps Active
10 - Andrew Ranger (Mi-Jack Conquest Racing) 85 laps Active
11 - Mario Dominguez (Dale Coyne Racing) 83 laps Active
12 - Oriol Servia (PKV Racing) 76 laps Contact
13 - Nelson Philippe (CTE Racing - HVM) 76 laps Contact
14 - Katherine Legge (PKV Racing) 65 laps Contact
15 - Tonis Kasemets (Rocketsports Racing) 49 laps Mechanical
16 - Jan Heylen (Dale Coyne Racing) 44 laps Mechanical
17 - Dan Clarke (CTE Racing - HVM) 14 laps Contact
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