Queenslander Will Power achieved his best ever Champ Car finish in taking sixth place for Team Australia at Round 8 of the Champ Car World Series in Edmonton, Canada today.

Power, driving a spare chassis after a heavy crash in Friday practice, finished sixth on the demanding circuit and further extended his lead in the Roshfrans Rookie of the Year standings.

The young Queenslander, who will contest the Lexmark Indy 300 in front of his home crowd on October 19-22, managed to race with some of the stars of Champ Car in only his 10th Champ Car start, finishing one place behind former champion Paul Tracy.

"I just want to thank my team again. If it weren't for them I wouldn't have had such a solid finish," said Power

"We had a really good start, it was event free for me because there were no instances and then there were two yellows and restarts, which were fine."

"I saved a lot of fuel in the first stint and in the second stint we didn't have the pace that we wanted so we didn't really gain any positions. The guys made a really good call on the second stop to come in just before a yellow which was ideal for us. Overall it was a good ending and I'm really happy with my position."

RuSport's Justin Wilson claimed his first race win of the year ahead of fellow championship front-runners Sebastien Bourdais and A.J. Allmendinger. This result further compresses the top of the championship standings with Wilson, Bourdais and Allmendinger all capable of winning the championship and all showing impressive car speed.

Bourdais led the way early from pole, but couldn't hold off a fast finishing Wilson who took the lead with 21 laps to run. Wilson then sprinted away from the field on a late race restart (lap 72), before setting the fastest lap of the race on the fourth last lap to claim the win.

Bourdais finished second to maintain his series lead while A.J. Allmendinger's third place kept him in the title hunt but wasn't enough to stop former team-mate Wilson from leapfrogging him into second place in the standings.

"My car was working really well. You know, we just got quicker and quicker as laps went on," said Wilson.

"It was a fantastic day. I've really got to thank my whole crew, who did some fantastic pit stops, and my engineers who did a great job with the strategy and also with the car setup. I'm very pleased that we made this one happen."

The next round of the Champ Car World Series is scheduled for San Jose on July 30. 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.

Round 8 - Edmonton - Race Results

1 - Justin Wilson (RuSport) 85 laps Active
2 - Sebastien Bourdais (Newman Haas Racing) 85 laps Active
3 - A.J. Allmendinger (Forsythe Championship Racing) 85 laps Active
4 - Oriol Servia (PKV Racing) 85 laps Active
5 - Paul Tracy (Forsythe Championship Racing) 85 laps Active
6 - Will Power (Team Australia) 85 laps Active
7 - Andrew Ranger (Mi-Jack Conquest Racing) 84 laps Active
8 - Mario Dominguez (Dale Coyne Racing) 84 laps Active
9 - Dan Clarke (CTE Racing - HVM) 84 laps Active
10 - Charles Zwolsman (Mi-Jack Conquest Racing) 82 laps Active
11 - Tonis Kasemets (Rocketsports Racing) 82 laps Active
12 - Alex Tagliani (Team Australia) 78 laps Contact
13 - Katherine Legge (PKV Racing) 73 laps Active
14 - Nelson Philippe (CTE Racing - HVM) 69 laps Contact
15 - Bruno Junqueira (Newman Haas Racing) 54 laps Mechanical
16 - Jan Heylen (Dale Coyne Racing) 10 laps Contact
17 - N Pastorelli (Rocketsports Racing) 4 laps Contact
18 - Cristiano da Matta (RuSPORT) 0 laps Contact


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