US driver AJ Allmendinger ended the four race winning streak of French rival Sebastien Bourdais when he took out the Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland overnight.

It was a successful debut by Allmendinger for his new team Forsythe Championship Racing after being released by former team RuSPORT after the previous round in Milwaukee.

Ironically Allmendinger led home his former RuSPORT team mate Englishman Justin Wilson by more than five seconds with reigning series champion and current points leader Bourdais (Newman/Haas Racing) finishing third.

The win capped off a great week for the US 24-year-old who picked up the drive with Forsythe Championship Racing, got engaged and then led 101 of the 105 laps to record his first ever Champ Car win.

“This is absolutely amazing,” said Allmendinger. “I still don't think I really understand it and believe that it happened.

“I know with like seven or eight laps to go, I started tearing up. I told myself to stop being a sissy and finish the race because I hadn't won anything yet.

“I can't thank Forsythe and the whole team enough for everything they've done for me this weekend. I can't thank them enough for what they made me feel like when I got here and how comfortable I was to get in the car, out of the car, how much fun they made this weekend go.”

It wasn’t a great Round 5 of the Champ Car World Series for Team Australia.

Although Tagliani returned to the top 10 in the championship standings with an 11th placing, Toowoomba rookie Will Power encountered mechanical dramas early in the race before battling on to finish 18th.

The 25-year-old Queenslander had earlier impressed with his speed in practice and qualifying and also clocked the fastest race lap of the day (59.259s) on lap 70.

The result dropped Power back to 14th in the overall standings and third in the rookie standings behind Englishman Dan Clarke and Englishwoman Katherine Legge.

“After we fixed the brake problem the team made a change for the better and the car was really good,” said Power.

“It’s very disappointing to come away with another mechanical problem, but we were able to get some good lap times in, we practiced fuel saving, and we were able to come away with the fastest lap time.

“In the end the car felt really good after all the changes so now we can use that to our advantage in Cleveland.”

After five rounds of the Champ Car World Series, Bourdais has 162 points and leads the standings by 30 points from Wilson with Allmeninger another 30 points back in third place. Canadian duo Andrew Ranger (Mi-Jack Conquest Racing) and Paul Tracy (Forsythe Championship Racing) sit fourth and fifth on 89 and 76 points repectively.

Tracy is joined by three other drivers – Mario Dominguez (Dale Coyne Racing), Nelson Philippe (CTE Racing – HVM) and Cristiano da Matta (RuSPORT) on the same number of points. Tagliani is ninth on 66 points with Power 14th on 54 points.

The next round of the Champ Car World Series is scheduled for Cleveland on June 25. 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 5 – Portland - Race Results

1 - A.J. Allmendinger (Forsythe Championship Racing) 105 laps Active

2 - Justin Wilson (RuSPORT) 105 laps Active

3 - Sebastien Bourdais (Newman Haas Racing) 105 laps Active

4 – Bruno Junqueira (Newman Haas Racing) 105 laps Active

5 - Cristiano da Matta (RuSPORT) 105 laps Active

6 – Dan Clarke (CTE Racing – HVM) 105 laps Active

7 - Paul Tracy (Forsythe Championship Racing) 105 laps Active

8 - Nelson Philippe (CTE Racing – HVM) 105 laps Active

9 - Andrew Ranger (Mi-Jack Conquest Racing) 104 laps Active

10 - Oriol Servia (PKV Racing) 104 laps Active

11 - Alex Tagliani (Team Australia) 104 laps Active

12 – Charles Zwolsman (Mi-Jack Conquest Racing) 103 laps Active

13 – Katherine Legge (PKV Racing) 103 laps Active

14 - Mario Dominguez (Dale Coyne Racing) 103 laps Active

15 – Jan Heylen (Dale Coyne Racing) 103 laps Active

16 – Tonis Kasemets (Rocketsports Racing) 102 laps Active

17 – Nicky Pastorelli (Rocketsports Racing) 101 laps Active

18 – Will Power (Team Australia) 92 laps Active


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