Las Vegas Race Results

[marcus]

STARTING GRID FOR LAS VEGAS 400


1. Patrick Carpentier 26.190 (5th Career Pole) (1st pole of 2004) Forsythe Championship Racing
138th Career start


2. Jimmy Vasser 26.278 (15th time starting 2nd)
PKV Racing
216th Career start



3. Sebastien Bourdais 26.300 (5th time starting 3rd)
Newman/Haas Racing
30th Career start


4. Bruno Junqueira 26.310 (5th time starting 4th)
Newman/Haas Racing
69th career start


5. Michel Jourdain Jr. 26.324 (5th time starting 5th)
RuSPORT
150th Career start


6. Rodolfo Lavin 26.350 (2nd time starting 6th)
Forsythe Championship Racing
30th Career start


7. A.J. Allmendinger 26.362 (3rd time starting 7th)
RuSPORT
12th Career start


8. Ryan Hunter-Reay 26.402 (4th time starting 8th)
Herdez Competition
30th career start


9. Mario Dominguez 26.488 (3rd time starting 9th)
Herdez Competition
49th Career start


10. Roberto Gonzalez 26.579 (1st time starting 10th) CAREER BEST QUALIFYING
PKV Racing
14th Career start


11. Paul Tracy 26.644 (10th time starting 11th)
Forsythe Championship Racing
221st Career start


12. Alex Tagliani 26.713 (3rd time starting 12th)
Rocketsports Racing
89th Career start


13. Nelson Phillipe 26.814 (2nd time starting 13th) EQUAL CAREER BEST QUALIFYING
Mi-Jack Conquest Racing
9th Career start


14. Guy Smith 26.885 (2nd time starting 14th) EQUAL CAREER BEST QUALIFYING
Rocketsports Racing
5th Career start


15. Justin Wilson 27.080 (2nd time starting 15th)
Mi-Jack Conquest Racing
12th Career start


16. Gaston Mazzacane 27.082 (4th time starting 16th) EQUAL CAREER BEST QUALIFYING
Dale Coyne Racing
10th Career start


17. Mario Haberfeld 27.232 (2nd time starting 17th)
Walker Racing
30th Career start


18. Oriol Servia DID NOT TAKE PART IN QUALIFYING (7th time starting 18th)
Dale Coyne Racing
84th Career start





FAST FACTS

Michel Jourdain Jnr will be starting his 150th Champcar race this weekend

This is the First time the Champcar World Series has competed at Las Vegas

By Taking Pole Position for this event Patrick Carpentier has won a $10,000 bonus from Bridgestone set up for this event , check the full story Here


RACE RESULTS

1. Sebastien Bourdais
9th Career Victory

2. Bruno Junqueira


3. Patrick Carpentier


4. Rodolfo Lavin


5. Jimmy Vasser


6. AJ Allmendinger


7. Mario Dominguez


8. Justin Wilson


9. Nelson Phillipe
CAREER BEST RESULT

10. Roberto Gonzalez


11. Michel Jourdain Jnr


12. Oriol Servia


13. Ryan Hunter-Reay


14. Mario Haberfeld


15. Gaston Mazzacane


16. Alex Tagliani



DNF’S

Paul Tracy differential Lap 1
Guy Smith Mechanical Lap 123


Fastest lap was set by Bruno Junqueira with a time of 26.166 on lap 72



CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS


1. Sebastien Bourdais 307
2. Bruno Junqueira 280
3. Patrick Carpentier 241 (+1)
4. Paul Tracy 215 (-1)
5. Alex Tagliani 206
6. Mario Dominguez 203
7. A.J. Allmendinger (R) 184 (+1)
8. Ryan Hunter-Reay 176 (-1)
9. Oriol Servia 174
10. Jimmy Vasser 171 (+1)
11. Michel Jourdain Jnr 168 (-1)
12. Justin Wilson (R) 150 (+1)
13. Mario Haberfeld 144 (-1)
14. Rodolfo Lavin 142
15. Roberto Gonzalez (R) 117
16. Nelson Philippe (R) 73 (+1)
17. Gaston Mazzacane (R) 73 (-1)
18. Alex Sperafico (R) 47
19. Guy Smith 36
20.. Memo Gidley 15
21. Tarso Marques 6


NATIONS CUP POINTS

1 Canada 334
2. France 298 (+1)
3. Brazil 294 (-1)
4. USA 264
5. Mexico 255
6. Catalonia 170
7. England 157
8. Argentina 73


CONSTRUCTORS CUP POINTS

1 Lola 396
2 Reynard 144


ROOKIE OF THE YEAR POINTS


1. AJ Allmendinger 184
2. Justin Wilson 150
3. Roberto Gonzalez 117
4. Nelson Phillipe 73
5. Gaston Mazzacane 73
6. Alex Sperafico 47
7. Guy Smith 36





PREVIOUS ROUND RESULTS
Rnd 1 Long Beach
Rnd 2 Monterrey
Rnd 3 Milwaukee
Rnd 4 Portland
Rnd 5 Cleveland
Rnd 6 Toronto
Rnd 7 Vancouver
Rnd 8 Road America
Rnd 9 Denver
Rnd 10 Montreal
Rnd 11 Laguna Seca



WHATS NEXT?

Rnd 13 Surfers Paradise October 24

All pictures from www.champcarworldseries.com

[marcus]

The race has been run and won.

Thread now open for Discussion.

the Champcar site have been pretty slow in updating the Championship points , and I have to log off now , so I will add them when I get back on later

[Kicking-back]

Some decent action - but I'd leave the ovals to IndyCar, to be honest.

Well done Bourdais.

[O'Schumacher]

Shame to see Tag so far down. What does Bourdais need to do on the Gold Coast to take the title there?

[Hazard]

Was a nice change though. Ceefax already stating Wilson had a bad race - however, I think he was running very well - 3rd to 8th was pretty close.

I think that just shows that Chamocar boys can do ovals better - I don't remember anyone hitting the wall! Even Nelson managed to get a good result.

Good to see Carpentier solifying his third. Bruno was beyond whining today - he was crying because he hadn't won.

It really spoils a great fight when the other man can't appreciate it was one, and always feels hard done by. Sebastian used the same tactic Bruno used on Patrick at the beginning of the race - but when Bourdais wins with it, it's unfair?

Lavin is good on ovals - I'm serious about looking at an IRL drive for him!

[BootsOntheSide]

Impressive acheivement for 18 cars to complete such a close race with no contact, and 16 cars running at the end.

[luke]

Although I only caught the last hour it was a great race and I hoped Junky would win but it was great with the two Newman/Haas cars running side by side in the late stages of the race.

Welldone to Justin on his climb back up.

I'm looking forward to the re-run.

[Kicking-back]

There were no crashes because the cars were completely "over winged" for the circuit and could drive on any line just as quickly.

[MLM]

Originally posted by Hazard
Good to see Carpentier solifying his third. Bruno was beyond whining today - he was crying because he hadn't won.

It really spoils a great fight when the other man can't appreciate it was one, and always feels hard done by. Sebastian used the same tactic Bruno used on Patrick at the beginning of the race - but when Bourdais wins with it, it's unfair?

EXCUSE ME!? Bruno, IMO, had a right to be POd after that stupid call by the officials, waving the field past the pace care, putting them behind Tag...and for nothing!

On top of that, Bourdais pulled off a couple of, well let's just say they were "breathtaking" moves. I'm glad there wasn't an accident....it might have been serious!

So please, give me a break about Bruno whining. I'm not exactly thrilled the way CART handled that "pace car" deal, either!

BTW, great job, IMO, by Bruno!

[evo]

That was the fastest parade I have ever seen. If they don't have a wing package where it takes some skill to drive around the track at full throttle, there is really no point in them "racing" on ovals. Hopefully they will figure out before they go back there that the track is pretty wide and it would be nice if they had to use it all.

[enemy-ace]

I think maybe Bruno was trying more to deflect attention from his feelings toward Bourdais in those last few laps, with his complaints of having his lead taken away by the oficials. I watched the race on 'race director' and listened to Bruno's radio and he was complaining quite strongly that Bourdais was pushing him up the track. Which to me is quite a ridiculous arguement considering he was doing his best to pin Bourdais to the bottom. The racing was fair if not a little frustrating to watch. It was like an IRL race, side by side, no lifting, no shifting and no braking. Hopefully they'll modify the aero package for next year to allow the drivers to determine the outcome. The last great speedway race I saw was at Fontana when Vasser won in the 'Shell Rahal' car. That was a good aero package.
Bring on Surfers, there's a race to get excited about.

[Speedworx]

They need to change the oval package back to what they used to run. That gave great drafting races on tracks like this.

This race was a dull as dish water.

[MLM]

DULL!?
Those last 20-30 laps DULL!?
I beg to differ. I found the duel between SB and BJ very exciting (if not, perhaps, a tad foolhardy on SB's part).
BTW, SB held that low line most of the race...long before Bruno got near him. You can't say Bruno was pushing him low, IMO

[Hazard]

Nope, you're right.

Bourdais had the inside, Junqeira had the outside.
Also, Bourdais had the lead, Junqeira didn't.

I don't recall Bourdais doing anything untoward in that race, it was just a straight out fair race. Most of the ones without Tracy in usually are.

[enemy-ace]

Originally posted by MLM
BTW, SB held that low line most of the race...long before Bruno got near him. You can't say Bruno was pushing him low, IMO

Being able to hold the inside line at speed is always advantageous in any form of racing. However if you get to low on an oval you run the fear of getting your wheels on the apron and losing a ton of momentum. Also if you have a car directly on the outside of you, you don't have the room to maneuvre in you case you wash out mid corner and thus have no recourse but to back out of the throttle. So I do think you can say that Bruno was holding his particular line for more than one reason. IMO!

[djb]

all comments true, but my thoughts were simply that Bruno had bad luck with the traffic and couldn't take advantage of his slight car adrvantage -or it seemed to me, especially the way he could catch up to SB after the first lapped car momentum loss.

If not for the lapped cars, it really seemed to be going Brunos way, dont blame him for being mad, I mean all these guys are competitive racers and for Bruno, a lapped car or two or three made a huge difference for his run championship wise on SB. Just like SB was ****ed off like hell when he got punted out in the last race (or the one before)

and yes, the fact that they are all flat chat kinda makes it seem too easy (not that running around at 200+ is mickey mouse if you get my drift)

[Mosport67]

Like racing go-cart with that wing package. I don't like to see oval racing dumbed down like this.

It may have been great for the spectators but it was frustating to watch with the way the cars could be driven.

Drivers did a good job with what they had but it seemed to easy. I know there were complaints about the Hanford device too but the racing seemed more exciting then.

[marcus]

Ok so sorry for the lateness folks but i have now added the Championship standings and made a change for Sebastien Bourdais , this in fact was his 9th Career Victory not his 10th as I had previously posted

[Redracer77]

another poor weekend for Wilson....

he realy has gone off the boil....

[Kicking-back]

I thought Wilson did a solid job - clearly the package he's got to drive isn't exceptional.

[Amar7605]

I was actually at the race, and I thought that it was a great venue for Champ Cars to race on. I hope that they go back to the speedway in the future!

That battle between Seb and Bruno was great to watch. And there ended up being 3 races going on with 3 different groups. Great watching!

[Dov]

CCWS announces results of Las Vegas protest

From WhoWon.com

[Snrub]

Glad that some people finally see it my way regarding running flat out all of the way around. Lousy race, but I hope the guys who were there live enjoyed it.

Interestingly it seemed to take a the drivers a while to figure out the correct statagy that the IRL drivers have used for a long time. Also, despite there being a mere 8mph difference between straight line and corner speed (and less than that on the other side of the track, it was interesting to see that Junky and Pat were able to pull a small advantage over the other guys. In the IRL you see Hornish with that advantage. Bourdais did not deserve to win from a talent standpoint, although I think Junky could have done a little better with the traffic. I hope people will be more likely to believe me when I critisize both series over this kind of racing. There's something wrong when a driver admits after qualifying that they aren't good that track and that their position was due to setup. It's even worse when that driver wins the race.

While there were few yellows each period was quiet prolonged. It was quiet painful although some of it might have been because of the officials argueing with Rocketsports.

[x_dt]

Originally posted by O'Schumacher
What does Bourdais need to do on the Gold Coast to take the title there?

Current standings:
1) Bourdais - 307 (6 wins)
2) Junqueira - 280 (1 win)
3) Carpentier - 241
4) Tracy - 218 (cannot win title)
etc...

Under the complex points system the maximum number of points a driver can score in a single race weekend is 35 (31 for the win + both pole points, leading a lap and fastest lap). Suffice to say that if SB scores 8 more points than Bruno in Australia then he wins the championship there and then.

As to the permutations and the ways that this can be done; answers on a postcard please. Even if Sebastien took maximum points in Australia Bruno could prevent him sealing the championship (until at least the first qualifying session in Mexico) by finishing 2nd and leading at least 1 lap.

[marcus]

Thanks to Dov for pointing out the tagliani situation.

I have editted the race results and Championship points to reflect this