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
2006 San Jose Grand Prix
Round 9 of 14
As was the case in Edmonton, 2006 is the second
year for the San Jose Grand Prix. The 2005 version
of the event was extremely well-attended, but
certain issues with the
track’s layout caused some
concerns among the Champ
Car drivers and teams.
However, the promoters
of the race had spent a
tremendous amount of time
and effort improving the track, the facilities and
the overall experience not just for the participants,
but for the fans as well.
RuSPORT arrived in San Jose with mixed emotions.
Justin Wilson’s victory during the previous race in
Edmonton was certainly a boost for his CDW No.
9 car team, but Cristiano da Matta’s crash on lap
one in Edmonton was a reason for his RuSPORT No.
10 car team to re-focus their efforts and work to
get Cristiano onto the podium in San Jose.
Since the San Jose area is home to some of
RuSPORT’s partners and their customers, the
weekend was a busy one right from the start.
Justin began the weekend on Thursday morning
by visiting Plantronics, a partner on his No. 9 car, at
their offices in Santa Cruz. Justin had the privilege
of meeting with employees (many of whom are
avid race fans), taking a brief tour and signing
autographs. The event was well-attended, and
Justin enjoyed his time there.
The next item on the agenda was the pre-event
press conference, at the track in San Jose. As
usual, plenty of reporters and photographers were
on-hand to ask Justin and several other drivers
about their strategies for the race, their feelings on
the track improvements and their thoughts on the
Champ Car season, so far. From there, it was on
to preparations for Friday’s practice session and
Provisional Qualifying.
The sun rose in San Jose on Friday, and as the
drivers and teams arrived at the track, many fans
“San Jose proved again
today that the smartest
drivers come to the front.”
arrived in the grandstands. In addition, RuSPORT
Hospitality quickly became a hotbed of activity
as many guests arrived to kick the weekend
off. At total of nearly 600
guests were expected to
enjoy themselves at the best
hospitality center in Champ
Car throughout the weekend
in San Jose.
-Carl Russo
From the start of Friday morning’s practice session,
it was clear that the track had been dramatically
improved since 2005. The infamous railroad track
crossings were much smoother, the front straight
was much faster without the chicanes that were
present a year ago, and much of the track was
wider and more suitable for passing.
However, it became clear later that day that
RuSPORT had some work to do. In Friday
afternoon’s Provisional Qualifying session, Justin
took eighth place, recording a best lap time of
50.504 seconds. Cristiano posted a best lap time
of 50.734 seconds to qualify two spots behind
Justin in tenth. The challenges of the newlyimproved
track were apparent.
“I’m a little bit disappointed
with today,” said Justin. “The
car didn’t feel too bad, but we
ended up in eighth position.
So, we’ve got a little bit of
work to do to give ourselves an
opportunity on Sunday. We’ll
work on things tonight and get
it right tomorrow. On a track
like this, it’s critical to brake
well, get the power down and
turn in well in the corners. All
of the corners are very similar,
so if you fix the problem in one
corner, you’ll fix it in all of them
and pick up quite a bit of time.
Hopefully, it’s just a couple of
clicks away and we’ll be there.”