The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, also spelled Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, is a 4.361 km (2.710 mi) motor racing circuit on Notre Dame Island in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the venue for the FIA Formula One Canadian Grand Prix. It has previously hosted the World Sportscar Championship, the Champ Car World Series, the NASCAR Pinty’s Series, the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series.
Sébastien Olivier Bourdais is a French professional racing driver who currently races in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing in the GTP category. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships in the Open-Wheel Racing Series-sanctioned Champ Car World Series from 2004 to 2007. Later he competed at the IndyCar Series from 2011 to 2021. He also entered 27 races in Formula One for the Toro Rosso team during 2008 and the start of 2009.
The San Jose Grand Prix was an annual street circuit race in the Champ Car World Series in San Jose, California. The race had three different title sponsors over the course of its three-year existence, being known as the Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San Jose in 2005, Canary Foundation Grand Prix of San Jose Presented by Taylor Woodrow in 2006, and the San Jose Grand Prix at Redback Raceway in 2007.
The Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston Presented by the Greater Houston Honda Dealers was an annual auto race on the IndyCar Series circuit. It was held in a street circuit located in downtown Houston for four years, then returned after a four-year hiatus for two years on a course laid out in the parking lot of the Reliant/NRG Park complex. Before resuming in 2013, the last race was held on April 22, 2007,.
The 2006 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was the first round of the 2006 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season, held on April 9, 2006, on the streets of Long Beach, California. The pole and race win were both captured by the two-time running Champ Car champion, Sébastien Bourdais. The race was billed at the time as Jimmy Vasser's final Champ Car race, ending a 15-year career that featured 10 wins and the series championship in 1996, though he would later make a come out of retirement to drive in the 2008 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, the final race run under Champ Car sanction.
The 2006 Grand Prix of Houston was the second round of the 2006 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season, held on May 13, 2006, on the streets around Reliant Park in Houston, Texas. It was the first event in Houston since a race on a downtown circuit in 2001. Mario Domínguez won the pole, his first and only of his career, but Sébastien Bourdais came from fifth on the grid to win his second consecutive race of the season.
The Grand Prix of Cleveland was an Indy car event in the CART series, held annually at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The race was most recently held in 2007. After the 2008 open wheel unification, the 2008 race was cancelled. Attempts to revive the race have not yet come to fruition.
The Indy Japan 300 presented by Bridgestone was an Indy Racing League IndyCar Series race held at Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, Japan. The 2008 race marked the historic first ever win for a woman driver in American open wheel racing when Danica Patrick of Andretti-Green Racing took the checkered flag.
The 2007 Champ Car World Series season was the fourth and final season of the Champ Car World Series. It began on April 8, 2007 and ended on November 11 after 14 races. Unbeknownst at the time, this would end up being the final contested season of Champ Car, as the following February, the series unified with the Indy Racing League (IRL), marking the end of the Champ Car World Series for good.
The Grand Prix of Denver was a Champ Car race last held on a street circuit in Denver, Colorado, United States. A Champ Car race was first held in Denver in 1909 on a 14.5-mile (23.3-km) road circuit in nearby Brighton. Racing returned to the Centennial Park dirt oval in 1951 and 1952 under AAA sanctioning. In 1990, Champ Cars returned to Denver with a CART-sanctioned event downtown near the Civic Center. However, like the previous incarnation, that race also lasted only two years. CART returned to Denver in 2002 with a race on a 1.64-mile (2.64-km) temporary circuit around the then-named Pepsi Center. The final race was held in 2006. Champ Car initially put the race on its 2007 schedule but removed it after conflicts with other events could not be reconciled.
The 2006 Canary Foundation Grand Prix of San Jose was the ninth round of the 2006 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season, held on July 30, 2006 on the streets of San Jose, California. Sébastien Bourdais dominated the weekend, taking the pole, fastest lap and race win. Finishing second was 2002 CART champion Cristiano da Matta in what turned out to be his final Champ Car event. On August 3 da Matta was severely injured while testing at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin when he collided with a deer on the track. While da Matta recovered to return to racing in 2008, competing in the Rolex Sports Car Series, he has not competed in open wheel racing since. The race is also notable for a shoving match between Canadians Paul Tracy and Alex Tagliani in the pits after Tracy crashed into Tagliani while trying to return to the race course from an escape road, ending both their races.
The 2006 Grand Prix of Denver was the tenth round of the 2006 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season, held on August 13, 2006 on the streets of Denver, Colorado. Sébastien Bourdais took the pole while the race was won by A. J. Allmendinger. Bourdais' race ended when he and Paul Tracy crashed in the final turn of the final lap of the race as Tracy attempted to pass Bourdais to take second place. Tracy and Bourdais got into a confrontation outside their cars (pictured). Tracy was subsequently fined and penalized three championship points for avoidable contact for the incident.
The 2005 Tecate/Telmex Monterrey Grand Prix was the second round of the 2005 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season, held on May 22, 2005 on the streets of Fundidora Park in Monterrey, Mexico. Sébastien Bourdais was the polesitter and the race winner was Bruno Junqueira. The race was Junqueria's eighth and last victory in an American open wheel racing event. Junqueria was seriously injured in a crash at the 2005 Indianapolis 500 the following weekend and missed the rest of the Champ Car season.
The 2005 Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver was the ninth round of the 2005 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season, held on August 14, 2005 on the streets of Denver, Colorado near the Pepsi Center. Paul Tracy sat on the pole and Sébastien Bourdais won the race.
The 2004 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was the first round of the 2004 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season, held on April 18, 2004 on the streets of Long Beach, California. It was the first event for the new Champ Car World Series which was created when Gerald Forsythe, Kevin Kalkhoven, Paul Gentilozzi and Dan Petit purchased the bankrupt CART series' liquidated assets in an Indianapolis courtroom the previous January. Bruno Junqueira won the first Champ Car-era pole while Paul Tracy took the first win.
The 2004 Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver was the ninth round of the 2004 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season, held on August 15, 2004 on the streets of Denver, Colorado near the Pepsi Center. Sébastien Bourdais swept the pole and the race win.
The 2002 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was the second round of the 2002 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series season, held on April 14, 2002, on the streets of Long Beach, California. Michael Andretti won the race, his 42nd and final victory of his career as a driver in CART and IndyCar.
The 2002 CART Grand Prix of Chicago was the seventh round of the 2002 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series season, held on June 30, 2002 at the Chicago Motor Speedway in Cicero, Illinois, this was the fourth and final running of the event. 26,000 attended the race. Cristiano da Matta of Newman/Haas Racing, the championship leader going into the event, won the race from the third position. Chip Ganassi Racing's Bruno Junqueira finished in second and Team Green driver Dario Franchitti came in third after winning the eleventh pole position of his career in qualifying.
The 2002 Molson Indy Montreal was the thirteenth round of the 2002 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series season, held on August 25, 2002 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was the first Champ Car event to take place on the circuit best known for hosting the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix.
The 2002 Grand Prix Americas was the sixteenth round of the 2002 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series season, held on October 6, 2002, on the Bayfront Park street circuit in Miami, Florida. Cristiano da Matta won the race and clinched the season championship.
