August 10, 2007 – Will Power has put Team Australia on the provisional front row of the grid for the Generac Grand Prix of Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin today.
Power drove the #5 Aussie Vineyards Team Australia DP01 to second fastest behind championship rival Sebastien Bourdais around the 4.048-mile (6.515 kilometre) road course in today's opening qualifying session.
The Queenslander will have another chance to topple Bourdais tomorrow when final qualifying is held for Round 10 of the Champ Car World Series.
Power's team-mate, French rookie Simon Pagenaud, did not come to grips with the tricky conditions as well as the Australian and finished the day eighth fastest in the #15 Aussie Vineyards Team Australia DP01.
Many different categories of open-wheel and Sportscars are racing on varying brands and compounds of tyre this weekend at Road America, making the circuit surface a tricky one to set-up for with such varying grip levels.
Power, Pagenaud and the Aussie Vineyards team will work hard overnight at optimising the set-up of the team's car before final qualifying at the classic circuit tomorrow.
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WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY...
Will Power – "I think everyone was a little bit confused with their cars because the different compounds of rubber from all the category of cars that's here this weekend," said Power. "I went out in prequalifying, I thought the car felt really weird. I didn't really know what to do with it, so I didn't make many changes. I just went out, tried to put together the best lap possible. In the last session, I sort of worked out where we'd gone wrong. I think we'll be stronger tomorrow."
Simon Pagenaud – "It was a tough session for us today," said Pagenaud. "I don't really know at the moment because I haven't analysed what happened yet, but on the first set of tyres I was three seconds off, which is kind of a joke, because I just wasn't able to drive the Aussie Vineyards car. I think we had an issue on one set of tyres, but I'm not certain, and when we put the other set on the car was fine. We still need to improve it and we still have lots of work to do to improve it for tomorrow. We'll work hard and be back up there tomorrow."
Derrick Walker – "I think towards the end of it we got the Aussie Vineyards car just right and Will put in a cracker of a lap and P2 was well deserved," said Walker. "If we hadn't of gone a little bit off there we would have been P1. As for Simon, the car was too inconsistent for him. We are really puzzled as to why it's not behaving the way it did at the test, so we have some work to do overnight, but sometimes just a tweak or two can changes these things quick so we were not cutting our risks with Simon just yet. We will tweak it tonight and be alright for tomorrow."
Craig Gore – "Great start from Will and the boys today," said Gore. "Road America is one of the greatest challenges the series has to offer so this weekend will be a top chance for Will and Sebastien to fight it out. Simon was not as quick as he should have been but despite being a rookie he is a very smart driver when it comes to sorting a car out, so look for him to study hard with the Team Australia engineers overnight to pick up some time and be up there with Will."
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RESULTS: Provisional Qualifying
1. #1 Sebastien Bourdais 1:42.385
2. #5 Will Power 1:43.116
3. #21 Neel Jani 1:43.417
4. #4 Dan Clarke 1:43.439
5. #9 Justin Wilson 1:43.525
6. #28 Ryan Dalziel 1:43.611
7. #14 Robert Doornbos 1:43.619
8. #15 Simon Pagenaud 1:43.637
9. #8 Alex Tagliani 1:43.689
10. #7 Oriol Servia 1:43.710
2007 Champ Car World Series Points Standings - After Round 9 of 16
1. #1 Sebastien Bourdais 217
2. #14 Robert Doornbos 206
3. #5 Will Power 192
4. #9 Justin Wilson 175
5. #21 Neel Jani 156
6. #15 Simon Pagenaud 154
7. #3 Oriol Servia 146
8. #2 Graham Rahal 145
9. #8 Alex Tagliani 140
10. #19 Bruno Junqueira 125
2007 Roshfrans Champ Car Rookie of the Year - After Round 9 of 16
1. #14 Robert Doornbos 206
2. #21 Neel Jani 156
3. #15 Simon Pagenaud 154
4. #2 Graham Rahal 145
5. #28 Ryan Dalziel 95
6. #22 Tristan Gommendy 95
7. #29 Alex Figge 57
8. #42 Matt Halliday 18
RACE SCHEDULE
Local Wisconsin (US Central) Times
Practice 2
Saturday 11 August 2007
8:45am – 9:45am
Qualifying 1
Saturday 11 August 2007
2:10pm – 3:10pm
Warm-Up
Sunday 12 August 2007
9:45am – 10:15am
Race
Sunday 12 August 2007
2:00pm – 4:00pm
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UNITED STATES TV SCHEDULE
Sunday 12 August 2007
ABC
3:00pm US Eastern
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ABOUT ROAD AMERICA
Location: Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, USA
Circuit Type: Permanent Road Course
First Champ Car Event: 1982
Track Length: 4.048 miles (6.515 kilometres)
CHAMP CAR RECORD BOOK
Defending Champ Car Race Winner: AJ Allmendinger
Defending Champ Car Polesitter: Dan Clarke
2006 RESULTS
Will Power – #5 Aussie Vineyards Team Australia Champ Car
Qualified: Seventh
Finished: 13th
Simon Pagenaud – #15 Aussie Vineyards Team Australia Champ Car Atlantic
Qualified: Second
Finished: 17t |
