2007 Grand Prix of Cleveland

Last updated

Flag of the United States.svg 2007 Grand Prix of Cleveland
Race details
Race 5 of 14 in the 2007 Champ Car season
Cleveland Street Course at Burke Lakefront Airport.svg
Burke Lakefront Airport Track Layout
DateJune 24, 2007
Official name Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by LaSalle Bank
Location Burke Lakefront Airport
Cleveland, Ohio, United States
CourseTemporary Airport Course
2.106 mi / 3.389 km
Distance89 laps
187.434 mi / 301.621 km
WeatherSunny/Cloudy
Pole position
Driver Flag of France.svg Sébastien Bourdais  (N/H/L Racing)
Time56.363
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of France.svg Sébastien Bourdais  (N/H/L Racing)
Time57.601 (on lap 56 of 89)
Podium
First Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Paul Tracy  (Forsythe Racing)
Second Flag of the Netherlands.svg Robert Doornbos  (Minardi Team USA)
Third Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Neel Jani  (PKV Racing)

The 2007 Grand Prix of Cleveland is the fifth round of the 2007 Champ Car World Series Season. It was held on June 24 at the Burke Lakefront Airport, in Cleveland, Ohio. As of 2025 this is the last race held in the city.

Contents

Qualifying results

PosNatNameTeamQual 1Qual 2Best
1 Flag of France.svg Sébastien Bourdais N/H/L Racing 56.96156.36356.363
2 Flag of France.svg Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 57.33856.38856.388
3 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Will Power Team Australia 57.30156.47356.473
4 Flag of the United States.svg Graham Rahal N/H/L Racing 57.65856.58856.588
5 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 57.74556.75156.751
6 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 57.85557.00157.001
7 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Paul Tracy Forsythe Racing 57.78257.06557.065
8 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Justin Wilson RSPORTS 57.42757.07957.079
9 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Alex Tagliani RSPORTS 57.65257.19957.199
10 Flag of Spain.svg Oriol Servia Forsythe Racing 57.72257.38057.380
11 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Neel Jani PKV Racing 57.53557.40057.400
12 Flag of France.svg Tristan Gommendy PKV Racing 57.97857.51657.516
13 Flag of the United States.svg Alex Figge Pacific Coast Motorsports 59.11757.62657.626
14 Flag of Brazil.svg Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 57.81157.75857.758
15 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 58.68157.81157.811
16 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ryan Dalziel Pacific Coast Motorsports 58.23857.92857.928
17 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Jan Heylen Conquest Racing 58.25958.11658.116

Sébastien Bourdais lead both Friday and Saturday's qualification sessions. Rookie Simon Pagenaud missed the pole by .025 of a second to score his first Champ Car front row starting position next to Bourdais. Bourdais chose to start from the left side of the track, opposite the traditional inside position leading to Cleveland's often frantic first turn.

Race

PosNoDriverTeamLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
17 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Paul Tracy Forsythe Racing 891:45:10.860731
214 Flag of the Netherlands.svg Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 89+0.5 secs527
321 Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Neel Jani PKV Racing 89+5.4 secs1126
49 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Justin Wilson RSPORTS 89+5.9 secs823
515 Flag of France.svg Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 89+6.3 secs221
68 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Alex Tagliani RSPORTS 89+17.8 secs919
73 Flag of Spain.svg Oriol Servia Forsythe Racing 89+23.7 secs1017
82 Flag of the United States.svg Graham Rahal N/H/L Racing 89+24.7 secs415
928 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ryan Dalziel Pacific Coast Motorsports 89+27.8 secs1613
105 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Will Power Team Australia 89+55.2 secs311
114 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 88+ 1 Lap610
121 Flag of France.svg Sébastien Bourdais N/H/L Racing 67Mechanical112
1322 Flag of France.svg Tristan Gommendy PKV Racing 34Contact128
1442 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Jan Heylen Conquest Racing 34Contact177
1511 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 32Mechanical156
1619 Flag of Brazil.svg Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 6Contact145
1729 Flag of the United States.svg Alex Figge Pacific Coast Motorsports 3Mechanical134

An incident-filled race ended with a surprise winner in Paul Tracy, his first victory since the 2005 Cleveland Grand Prix and 31st overall. Despite two early crashes which forced him to pit and have his crew replace his nose cone twice, Tracy managed to stay on the lead lap. Tracy found himself in lead on lap 70 during the last yellow flag period. The extra fuel he gained by his two early pit stops allowed him to gamble on fuel strategy. Robert Doornbos, recovering from an early setback of his own after he was black-flagged for blocking, was catching up to him quickly in the final laps but was unable to pass Tracy before the checkered flag after 89 laps.

Early in the race it looked as if the race would come down to a showdown between Will Power and Sébastien Bourdais as they raced nose to tail, with Bourdais leading from the standing start. Power, following the script Bourdais ran to in the Portland race, passed Bourdais after the first round of pit stops by staying out an extra lap. But the battle was aborted when Bourdais' car broke down on lap 67. Not long later, Power was forced to pit under green on lap 75 to change a tire that failed because of a broken valve.

Caution flags

LapsCause
4-6 Rahal/Tracy crash
7-10 Junqueira/Tracy crash
36-41 Heylen/Gommendy crash
68-72 Bourdais/Clarke off course

Notes

LapsLeader
1-27 Sébastien Bourdais
28-29 Will Power
30-33 Graham Rahal
34 Paul Tracy
35-57 Will Power
58-62 Paul Tracy
63-69 Will Power
70-89 Paul Tracy
 
DriverLaps led
Will Power 32
Sébastien Bourdais 27
Paul Tracy 26
Graham Rahal 4

Championship standings after the race

Attendance

Attendance at the 3 day race weekend was 151,426 people with over 65,000 fans attending the Champ Car raceday main event. This represented a 28% increase over 2006. [1]

References

  1. "2008 Grand Prix of Cleveland :: Media: News". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved August 13, 2007.
Previous race:
2007 Mazda Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland
Champ Car World Series
2007 season
Next race:
Champ Car Mont-Tremblant 07

Previous race:
2006 Grand Prix of Cleveland
Grand Prix of Cleveland Next race:
2008 Grand Prix of Cleveland
canceled by IndyCar/Champ Car merger

41°31′2.3″N81°40′58.5″W / 41.517306°N 81.682917°W / 41.517306; -81.682917