November 11, 200 – Will Power has capped a strong season in the Champ Car World Series with his fifth podium finish for the year with second place in the Gran Premio Tecate in Mexico City, Mexico today.
Power started from pole position for the 14th and final event of the season, his fifth pole this year in the #5 Aussie Vineyards Team Australia DP01.
On lap 24 Sebastien Bourdais passed Power entering Turn One at the end of the front straight, Power saving much of his Power-To-Pass allocation for the final parts of the race.
A late-race restart after a caution period gave Power one last opportunity to retake the lead, but in the end Bourdais was too strong and Power brought the green and gold Aussie Vineyards car home in second.
The result confirmed Power's fourth place in the 2007 Champ Car World Series standings after finishing in sixth in his rookie season last year.
Simon Pagenaud was sixth in the season finale today, jumping one place in the Rookie of the Year standings with the result to end the year third in the rookie points.
Pagenaud clipped the pit wall at the start of the race while avoiding a stalled car at the start but continued on, fighting for his seventh top five finish for the season only to narrowly miss out in the final stages to grab sixth place.
Bourdais won today's final race of the season ahead of Power and Spaniard Oriol Servia.
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WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY...
Will Power – "It would have been nice to win the last race of the season, considering we had pretty good pace in qualifying," said Power. "The car was a little bit too loose coming down the straight. But as the season goes, we've had the pace all year, we've just had really bad luck in the races with mechanical failure and a couple other things. I think that we'll be strong next year. I think we learned a lot in how to win a championship this year and what not to do. I look forward to it, good result the last race. It's about time we finished on the podium. I'm really looking forward to next year."
Simon Pagenaud – "This was the best race I have had all year, honestly," said Pagenaud. "We finally got the Aussie Vineyards car right in the race. On the second stint we went out on blacks and the car was really nice and I came back and passed Tracy. It was a great race. I think the Cosworth Power-to-Pass did really well. It made it hard to save fuel, but then it made for interesting racing. It's a shame that there was a shootout in the end because we were P4 and ended up P6. It's all about learning and it was a good rookie season. We will see for next year now. I have learned from all my mistakes that I have made this year and hopefully next year I will be up there fighting for the championship."
Derrick Walker – "It was a very interesting race all the way around, I'm sure it kept everyone on the edges of their seats until the end," said Walker. "I think we had a fantastic Aussie Vineyards car, the team did a fantastic job, both crews did really well. The Cosworth Power-to-Pass changed the final outcome there and made it quite exciting. It was just a matter of who had enough Power-to-Pass by the end of the day and when you get those kind of results, it isn't necessarily the best car, but we had the best team out there all day and we did a great job all the way around. It was a good end to the season."
Craig Gore – "It's definitely a positive result to finish the season on the podium," said Gore. "Will has been fast all season but with his run of poor luck he has not been on the podium for a while now, so we are all pleased that we have that behind us now. He drove very well this weekend, even with his injury, and did us all proud. It's good to head into the off-season with a podium finish fresh in our minds. Simon could not get that illusive first podium but drove a good race. He has been very impressive all season and today was no exception. We have some more hard work ahead of us now, because the championship is what we have our sights set on in 2008, so it's going to be a big season next year for Team Australia."
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Will Power – Post-Race Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: A couple questions for Will. Congratulations, Will, great race. You came up a little bit short. Tell us how you feel and talk about how you think the season went for you overall.
WILL POWER: Yeah, it would have been nice to win the last race of the season, considering we had pretty good pace in qualifying. The car was a little bit too loose coming down the straight. But as the season goes, we've had the pace all year, we've just had really bad luck in the races with mechanical failure and a couple other things.
I think that we'll be strong next year. I think we learned a lot in how to win a championship this year and what not to do. I look forward to it, good result the last race. It's about time we finished on the podium. Yeah, looking forward to next year.
THE MODERATOR: Obviously you had several great races with Sebastien this year. You've raced against him now for two straight seasons. Put in perspective his career from your perspective.
WILL POWER: Yeah, he's the best and most complete race driver I've ever raced against. He's always working at it, and he's just looking at every single aspect. He's not just a really quick driver, he's very technical and very good on the engineering side of things. He's been the pacesetter for four years in Champ Car, and he really deserves a Formula 1 chance, and I think he's going to do a really good job there.
Q. You seem to have been saving the Push to Pass power toward the end. Why do you think you weren't able to gain much when you were finally able to use that?
WILL POWER: Yeah, in the last five or six laps, everyone was using it. Maybe that's due to the selected red tire because it wasn't a complete spin. If you had red tires, there was only a five lap stretch at the end, and he had an advantage. I could see Oriol wascatching me and he was on reds. I think if we were on reds there might have been a shot at passing Sebastien, but he was very quick. They were very quick, and his car lasted through all the stints, maybe even off a little bit at the end. He just kept the pace up.
Q. Will, could you take us through those last five or six laps? You were using the Push to Pass on the straightaway and you were gaining on him on the straightaway but then with two or three laps left it sort of equalized. You had the Push to Pass power advantage at the start of the race, but - at the start of that last yellow. Did you think that that - were you pretty confident at that point that you'd get him?
WILL POWER: Well, my problem was coming down the straight I was very loose so I couldn't get a good run, so I wasn't able to use it to the maximum. Sebastien had 30 seconds left, so five laps to go he just hit it down the straight. Like I said, I think if I had reds we would have had a better shot at getting him. He was really quick. It's good for racing if everyone pushes to the maximum limit at the end of a race, especially if there's a bit of racing. There wasn't today.
Q. Will, early in the race when Sebastien passed you, he was using the Push to Pass. Any thoughts on you had extra power given the situation at the start of the race. Was there any thought in your mind to use it to defend yourself?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I did actually. I used it too late. Otherwise I would have held the position. It's pretty tough to pass around here, and knowing that he had less Push to Pass than me, I should have defended a lot earlier. But that's how it went, unfortunately.
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RESULTS: Gran Premio Tecate at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez - Round 14 in the 2007 Champ Car World Series
1. #1 Sebastien Bourdais 64 laps
2. #5 Will Power
3. #22 Oriol Servia
4. #2 Graham Rahal
5. #3 Paul Tracy
6. #15 Simon Pagenaud
7. #28 Mario Dominguez
8. #19 Bruno Junqueira
9. #21 Neel Jani
10. #9 Justin Wilson
RESULTS: Final Qualifying (Combined)
1. #5 Will Power 1:23.558
2. #1 Sebastien Bourdais 1:24.698 *
3. #14 Robert Doornbos 1:24.152
4. #22 Oriol Servia 1:24.324
5. #9 Justin Wilson 1:24.365
6. #15 Simon Pagenaud 1:24.394
7. #2 Graham Rahal 1:24.515
8. #3 Paul Tracy 1:24.608
9. #4 Dan Clarke 1:24.794
10. #7 David Martinez 1:24.888
* Bourdais started second as a result of being the fastest qualifier in Friday's provisional qualifying session.
2007 Champ Car World Series Points Standings
Final Standings After 14 Rounds
1. #1 Sebastien Bourdais 363
2. #9 Justin Wilson 281
3. #14 Robert Doornbos 268
4. #5 Will Power 261
5. #2 Graham Rahal 243
6. #3 Oriol Servia 237
7. #19 Bruno Junqueira 233
8. #15 Simon Pagenaud 232
9. #21 Neel Jani 231
10. #8 Alex Tagliani 205
2007 Roshfrans Champ Car Rookie of the Year - Final Standings After 14 Rounds
1. #14 Robert Doornbos 268
2. #2 Graham Rahal 243
3. #15 Simon Pagenaud 232
4. #21 Neel Jani 231
5. #22 Tristan Gommendy 140
6. #28 Ryan Dalziel 116
7. #29 Alex Figge 95
8. #7 David Martinez 18
9. #42 Matt Halliday 18
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ABOUT AUTODROMO HERMANOS RODRIGUEZ
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Circuit Type: Permanent Road Course
First Champ Car Event: 1980
Track Length: 2.774 miles (4.464 kilometres) |
