race report 2006 San Jose Grand Prix/Round 9 of 14 - Targus
race report 2006 San Jose Grand Prix/Round 9 of 14 - Targus
race report 2006 San Jose Grand Prix/Round 9 of 14 - Targus
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r a c e r e p o rt<br />
<strong>2006</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong> <strong>Grand</strong> <strong>Prix</strong>/<strong>Round</strong> 9 <strong>of</strong> <strong>14</strong><br />
The <strong>2006</strong> Champ Car World Series made its second<br />
visit to the Golden State as the streets <strong>of</strong> Downtown<br />
<strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong> came alive for a three day festival <strong>of</strong> speed.
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<strong>2006</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong> <strong>Grand</strong> <strong>Prix</strong><br />
<strong>Round</strong> 9 <strong>of</strong> <strong>14</strong><br />
As was the case in Edmonton, <strong>2006</strong> is the second<br />
year for the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong> <strong>Grand</strong> <strong>Prix</strong>. The 2005 version<br />
<strong>of</strong> the event was extremely well-attended, but<br />
certain issues with the<br />
track’s layout caused some<br />
concerns among the Champ<br />
Car drivers and teams.<br />
However, the promoters<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>race</strong> had spent a<br />
tremendous amount <strong>of</strong> time<br />
and effort improving the track, the facilities and<br />
the overall experience not just for the participants,<br />
but for the fans as well.<br />
RuSPORT arrived in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong> with mixed emotions.<br />
Justin Wilson’s victory during the previous <strong>race</strong> in<br />
Edmonton was certainly a boost for his CDW No.<br />
9 car team, but Cristiano da Matta’s crash on lap<br />
one in Edmonton was a reason for his RuSPORT No.<br />
10 car team to re-focus their efforts and work to<br />
get Cristiano onto the podium in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong>.<br />
Since the <strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong> area is home to some <strong>of</strong><br />
RuSPORT’s partners and their customers, the<br />
weekend was a busy one right from the start.<br />
Justin began the weekend on Thursday morning<br />
by visiting Plantronics, a partner on his No. 9 car, at<br />
their <strong>of</strong>fices in <strong>San</strong>ta Cruz. Justin had the privilege<br />
<strong>of</strong> meeting with employees (many <strong>of</strong> whom are<br />
avid <strong>race</strong> fans), taking a brief tour and signing<br />
autographs. The event was well-attended, and<br />
Justin enjoyed his time there.<br />
The next item on the agenda was the pre-event<br />
press conference, at the track in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong>. As<br />
usual, plenty <strong>of</strong> <strong>report</strong>ers and photographers were<br />
on-hand to ask Justin and several other drivers<br />
about their strategies for the <strong>race</strong>, their feelings on<br />
the track improvements and their thoughts on the<br />
Champ Car season, so far. From there, it was on<br />
to preparations for Friday’s practice session and<br />
Provisional Qualifying.<br />
The sun rose in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong> on Friday, and as the<br />
drivers and teams arrived at the track, many fans<br />
“<strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong> proved again<br />
today that the smartest<br />
drivers come to the front.”<br />
arrived in the grandstands. In addition, RuSPORT<br />
Hospitality quickly became a hotbed <strong>of</strong> activity<br />
as many guests arrived to kick the weekend<br />
<strong>of</strong>f. At total <strong>of</strong> nearly 600<br />
guests were expected to<br />
enjoy themselves at the best<br />
hospitality center in Champ<br />
Car throughout the weekend<br />
in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong>.<br />
-Carl Russo<br />
From the start <strong>of</strong> Friday morning’s practice session,<br />
it was clear that the track had been dramatically<br />
improved since 2005. The infamous railroad track<br />
crossings were much smoother, the front straight<br />
was much faster without the chicanes that were<br />
present a year ago, and much <strong>of</strong> the track was<br />
wider and more suitable for passing.<br />
However, it became clear later that day that<br />
RuSPORT had some work to do. In Friday<br />
afternoon’s Provisional Qualifying session, Justin<br />
took eighth place, recording a best lap time <strong>of</strong><br />
50.504 seconds. Cristiano posted a best lap time<br />
<strong>of</strong> 50.734 seconds to qualify two spots behind<br />
Justin in tenth. The challenges <strong>of</strong> the newlyimproved<br />
track were apparent.<br />
“I’m a little bit disappointed<br />
with today,” said Justin. “The<br />
car didn’t feel too bad, but we<br />
ended up in eighth position.<br />
So, we’ve got a little bit <strong>of</strong><br />
work to do to give ourselves an<br />
opportunity on Sunday. We’ll<br />
work on things tonight and get<br />
it right tomorrow. On a track<br />
like this, it’s critical to brake<br />
well, get the power down and<br />
turn in well in the corners. All<br />
<strong>of</strong> the corners are very similar,<br />
so if you fix the problem in one<br />
corner, you’ll fix it in all <strong>of</strong> them<br />
and pick up quite a bit <strong>of</strong> time.<br />
Hopefully, it’s just a couple <strong>of</strong><br />
clicks away and we’ll be there.”
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r a c e r e p o rt<br />
<strong>2006</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong> <strong>Grand</strong> <strong>Prix</strong><br />
<strong>Round</strong> 9 <strong>of</strong> <strong>14</strong><br />
On Saturday, Cristiano and his car 10 team<br />
showed some improvement, while Justin and his<br />
CDW car 9 team concentrated on some technical<br />
issues with the new circuit. In the afternoon, all<br />
looked good as RuSPORT warmed up for Final<br />
Qualifying, but for Justin, it suddenly went awry.<br />
As he exited Turn 2 with just a few minutes to<br />
go in the pre-qualifying warm-up session, Justin<br />
unexpectedly slid into the outside tire barrier.<br />
While he was unharmed in the incident, his<br />
No. 9 CDW car sustained severe damage to its<br />
front wing and right-front suspension. The Final<br />
Qualifying session would start without Justin on<br />
the track, but he would eventually qualify in 12th<br />
place with a time <strong>of</strong> 50.341 seconds in his backup<br />
car, which was prepared in a matter <strong>of</strong> minutes<br />
thanks to some heroic effort by the CDW crew.<br />
Meanwhile, Cristiano improved six spots on the<br />
starting grid, jumping from tenth to fourth position<br />
with a time <strong>of</strong> 49.549 seconds. He and his car 10<br />
team seemed confident that things were coming<br />
together nicely.<br />
“I’m very pleased with fourth<br />
place, especially coming from<br />
where we were yesterday,”<br />
said Cristiano. “We’ve made<br />
some improvements on the<br />
car, especially in this morning’s<br />
practice session, and it looks<br />
like we’ve found a good route<br />
to pursue. We will try to see<br />
if we can make it a little bit<br />
better yet again, for the <strong>race</strong><br />
tomorrow. My engineers and<br />
crew have been pushing very<br />
hard, and we have definitely<br />
improved. We found a couple<br />
<strong>of</strong> small things on the car that<br />
have helped make it better<br />
suited to the way I like to drive,<br />
so I’m happy overall.”<br />
Race day arrived in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong>, and the<br />
grandstands were filled. The <strong>race</strong> started, and<br />
almost immediately, the famous Turn One hairpin<br />
produced some excitement. On the second<br />
lap, Cristiano was able to take advantage <strong>of</strong><br />
some contact between A.J. Allmendinger and<br />
Sebastien Bourdais, and move up to third place.<br />
Justin didn’t waste any time in trying to improve<br />
his position, and had already moved from 12th to<br />
eighth by the second lap. A few laps later, Justin<br />
passed Nelson Philippe for sixth place.<br />
On lap 16, Paul Tracy spun in Turn Six, and once<br />
again, Cristiano was able to capitalize and move<br />
up a spot into second place. Justin continued<br />
to work his way through the field, passing Charles<br />
Zwolsman two laps later.<br />
After the first round <strong>of</strong> pit stops, Justin and Cristiano<br />
both found themselves in the middle <strong>of</strong> the<br />
pack. However, thanks to some hard work and<br />
great pit strategy by both RuSPORT pit crews,<br />
both drivers were able to jump back towards the<br />
front <strong>of</strong> the field. As the rest <strong>of</strong> the field cycled<br />
through its necessary pit stops, Cristiano and Justin<br />
found themselves in second and third place,<br />
respectively.<br />
The entire day was filled with spins, crashes, and<br />
the occasional emotional outburst by other<br />
Champ Car drivers, but when it was over, Cristiano<br />
captured second place in the <strong>2006</strong> <strong>Grand</strong> <strong>Prix</strong><br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong>, his first podium finish <strong>of</strong> the <strong>2006</strong><br />
Champ Car World Series season and the 20th <strong>of</strong><br />
his Champ Car career. Justin improved from 12th<br />
on the starting grid to third place at the finish, and<br />
captured his sixth podium finish <strong>of</strong> <strong>2006</strong> and the<br />
ninth <strong>of</strong> his Champ Car career.<br />
For Cristiano, the result allows him to move up<br />
from tenth to seventh in the Champ Car Driver’s<br />
Championship, while Justin’s finish keeps him in<br />
second place behind points leader, Sebastien<br />
Bourdais. Justin also earned an additional<br />
championship point for improving the most places<br />
in the <strong>race</strong>.
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r a c e r e p o rt<br />
<strong>2006</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong> <strong>Grand</strong> <strong>Prix</strong><br />
<strong>Round</strong> 9 <strong>of</strong> <strong>14</strong><br />
“I’m very happy with the result,” said Cristiano.<br />
“It’s my first podium with RuSPORT, and I’m not<br />
only happy with the result, but happy with how we<br />
progressed throughout the weekend, and happy<br />
how we found speed in the car. I hope we’re able<br />
to apply the things we’ve learned here to some<br />
other tracks, and enable us to be consistently<br />
fast.”<br />
“I’m very pleased with how today went, especially<br />
since life was pretty difficult after qualifying,” said<br />
Justin. “The CDW crew did a fantastic job, and I<br />
managed to avoid all <strong>of</strong> the incidents and stay<br />
out <strong>of</strong> trouble. I’m really pleased that we kept the<br />
championship alive, and that we were able to<br />
keep fighting.”<br />
“<strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong> proved again today that the smartest<br />
drivers come to the front,” said RuSPORT owner<br />
Carl Russo. “Just like last year, a mistake-free<br />
run yielded a good result. After having a tough<br />
qualifying session and qualifying fourth and 12th,<br />
both gentlemen made great decisions and ended<br />
up second and third on the podium. It was an<br />
outstanding drive by both Cristiano and Justin.<br />
For Cristiano, on his first podium with the team, a<br />
double congratulations.”<br />
The <strong>2006</strong> Champ Car World Series continues with<br />
RuSPORT’s hometown <strong>race</strong>, the <strong>Grand</strong> <strong>Prix</strong> <strong>of</strong><br />
Denver, on Sunday, August 13th. The <strong>race</strong> will be<br />
broadcast live on SPEED Channel, starting at 3:30<br />
pm EDT.
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r a c e r e p o rt<br />
<strong>2006</strong> <strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong> <strong>Grand</strong> <strong>Prix</strong><br />
<strong>Round</strong> 9 <strong>of</strong> <strong>14</strong><br />
r e s u lt s<br />
<strong>2006</strong> SAN JOSE GRAND PRIX<br />
WEEKEND RESULTS<br />
Position Qualifying Finish<br />
01 Bourdais Bourdais<br />
02 Tracy Da Matta<br />
03 Allmendinger Wilson<br />
04 Da Matta Philippe<br />
05 Servia Dominguez<br />
06 Power Power<br />
07 Junqueira Allmendinger<br />
08 Ranger Servia<br />
09 Clarke Zwolsman<br />
10 Dominguez Pastorelli<br />
NEXT UP /<br />
GRAND PRIX OF DENVER<br />
Location Date Time TV Schedule<br />
Denver, CO August 13 3:45 PM ET<br />
SPEED (Live)<br />
3:30 PM ET<br />
For more information, please visit:<br />
www.rusport.com, www.champcarworldseries.com<br />
www.gpdenver.com<br />
2005 Season Driver Time MPH<br />
Defending<br />
Champion<br />
Defending<br />
Polesitter<br />
Bourdais 1:49:45.135 87.338<br />
Tracy 59.432 100.370<br />
12 Wilson<br />
<strong>2006</strong> SEASON AT A GLANCE<br />
da MATTA #10 WILSON #9<br />
<strong>Round</strong> Location Qualifying Finish Rank Qualifying Finish Rank<br />
01 Long Beach 10* 5* 5* 2 2 2<br />
02 Houston <strong>14</strong>* 9* 6* 7 5 3<br />
03 Monterey, MEXICO 12* 9* 7* 2 2 2<br />
04 Milwaukee 17* 13* 9* 4 2 2<br />
05 Portland 5 5 5 4 2 2<br />
06 Cleveland 10 <strong>14</strong> 10 3 13 2<br />
07 Toronto, CANADA 8 5 8 1 4 3<br />
08 Edmonton, CANADA <strong>14</strong> 18 10 3 1 2<br />
09 <strong>San</strong> <strong>Jose</strong> 4 2 7 12 3 2<br />
10 Denver<br />
11 Montreal, CANADA<br />
12 Elkhart Lake<br />
13 Surfers Paradise, AUSTRALIA<br />
<strong>14</strong> Mexico City, MEXICO<br />
*Dale Coyne Racing