July 28, 2007 – Team Australia has struggled on the final day of qualifying for tomorrow's
San Jose Grand Prix in California – round nine of the Champ Car World Series.
Will Power, who sits third in the championship points, was constantly held up in traffic in his Aussie Vineyards entry and could not manage better than 12th when the checkered flag dropped to end the session.
His team mate Simon Pagenaud spun at turn six and lost his best lap which would have placed him in the top three and he will start ninth tomorrow.
Before today, neither Team Australia driver had qualified worse than seventh in the previous eight rounds.
The pole for tomorrow's race has been taken by English driver Justin Wilson ahead of series leader Sebastien Bourdais who keeps his front row starting position after clinching provisional pole yesterday.
Another English driver, Dan Clarke, will start from third and he will be joined on row two by Spaniard Oriol Servia.
Power was enormously frustrated by the traffic congestion and one run in particular where he was constantly held up by Belgium driver Jan Heylen.
Power's frustration was supported by pole sitter Wilson, who had this to say in the media conference – "The second set was working well, but there was somebody ahead of Will Power who just slowed up every lap for no apparent reason. Backed Will up, Will backed me up, I think I was backing Katherine up. It was just a mess. I'm not sure who that guy was, but he was the person causing everyone hassle throughout the session."
Ironically, the driver who sits between Power and Bourdais on the championship points table, Robert Doornbos, also struggled today and will start 15th tomorrow.
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WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY...
Will Power – "Unfortunately we were unable to get a single good lap in," said Power. "The Aussie Vineyards car was great, we were definitely good enough. We were on one real good lap when (Tristan) Gommendy spun off and came straight back in front of me. He stopped and then decided to start his lap on the lap I had left. It's just unfortunate and enormously frustrating. At one stage (Jan) Heylen held us up for lap after lap I just couldn't work it out. Now we just focus on gaining as many positions as we can tomorrow and keep ourselves in the championship hunt."
Simon Pagenaud – "We definitely made good improvements today," said Pagenaud. "We were fighting for P1 all session, but I made a mistake on the first stint of reds and I went off, because I was trying a little bit too hard, but that's what you have to do sometimes to get a pole. Unfortunately I caused a red flag, because I couldn't get back on track because I was facing in the wrong direction. It's a tough one because we have been working and driving well and the mistake was a bad result for us. San Jose is an unusual track so we will see what happens in the race for tomorrow.
Derrick Walker – "It was a very disappointing day when it's all said and done," said Walker. "Both cars were capable of doing front row stuff today and for one reason or another whether it was traffic or Simon's inadvertent spin taking away his quickest lap, it's a disappointment, but tomorrow's another day and we have two excellent race cars. Hopefully we'll get a break tomorrow and be back up there."
Craig Gore – "It looks like we have some work to do tomorrow," said Gore. "I am sure Derrick and guys will produce a strategy that will put us in the hunt."
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RESULTS: Friday Qualifying
1. #9 Justin Wilson 49.039
2. #1 Sebastien Bourdais 49.180
3. #5 Dan Clarke 49.092
4. #7 Oriol Servia 49.106
5. #21 Neel Jani 49.151
6. #2 Graham Rahal 49.178
7. #8 Alex Tagliani 49.183
8. #22 Tristan Gommendy 49.192
9. #15 Simon Pagenaud 49.255
10. #19 Bruno Junqueira 49.255
12. #5 Will Power 49.397
2007 Champ Car World Series Points Standings - After Round 8 of 16
1. #1 Sebastien Bourdais 194
2. #14 Robert Doornbos 174
3. #5 Will Power 169
4. #9 Justin Wilson 165
5. #15 Simon Pagenaud 143
5. #8 Alex Tagliani 134
7. #21 Neel Jani 129
8. #2 Graham Rahal 126
9. #3 Oriol Servia 121
10. #19 Bruno Junqueira 108
2007 Roshfrans Champ Car Rookie of the Year - After Round 8 of 16
1. #14 Robert Doornbos 174
2. #15 Simon Pagenaud 143
3. #21 Neel Jani 129
4. #2 Graham Rahal 126
5. #28 Ryan Dalziel 95
6. #22 Tristan Gommendy 80
7. #29 Alex Figge 50
8. #42 Matt Halliday 18
RACE SCHEDULE
Local San Jose (US Pacific) Times
Warm-Up
Sunday 29 July 2007
11:00am – 11:30am
Race
Sunday 29 July 2007
3:00pm – 5:00pm
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UNITED STATES TV SCHEDULE
Sunday 29 July 2007
ESPN2
6:00pm US Eastern
ABOUT SAN JOSE STREET CIRCUIT
Location: San Jose, California, USA
Circuit Type: Temporary Street Circuit
First Champ Car Event: 2005
Track Length: 1.448 miles (2.33 kilometres)
CHAMP CAR RECORD BOOK
Defending Champ Car Race Winner: Sebastien Bourdais
Defending Champ Car Polesitter: Sebastien Bourdais
2006 RESULTS
Will Power – #5 Aussie Vineyards Team Australia Champ Car
Qualified: Sixth
Finished: Sixth
Simon Pagenaud – #15 Aussie Vineyards Team Australia Champ Car Atlantic
Qualified: Fifth
Finished: Ninth |
