Houston Race Weekend Thread (includes race Spoliers)

[luke]

Race 2 of 15 Grand Prix of Houston Reliant Park - Houston, TX, USA








www.grandprixofhouston.com


Weekend schedule:

Practice 1
May 11, 4:45 pm ET

Practice 2
May 11, 9:15 pm ET

Qualifying 1
May 11, 9:40 pm ET

Practice 3
May 12, 1:30 pm ET Race Director video/audio available for this session

Practice 4
May 12, 5:00 pm ET Race Director video/audio available for this session

Qualifying 2
May 12, 5:25 pm ET Race Director video/audio available for this session

Warm-Up
May 13, 5:00 pm ET

Race
May 13, 9:00 pm ET Race Director video/audio available for this session



Weekend weather forcast:

Thursday
82°F (28°C) | 63°F (17°C) Sunny

Friday
85°F (29°C) | 65°F (18°C) Sunny

Saturday
87°F (31°C) | 68°F (20°C) Part Could



Television:

U.S. Race Live: May 13th at 9:00 pm ET on Speed Channel

U.K. Race Live May 14th at 2:00 am BST on British Eurosport 1



Live timming



Support Series:

Champ Car Atlantic
American LeMans
Star Mazda
Formula Drift



Track length/ Type: 1.615 mile street course

First Champ Car race: 1998 (2006 is first year of new layout)

Total Champ Car races: 4

Defending champion: N/A

[Trox]

What is this track like in terms of being a good circuit for racing, overtaking opportunities etc...? or is it a bit narrow and too many right-angle turns?

[luke]

Apparently the hairpin which is turn 3 will be pretty slow...some where around 35mph I think....

[Kevin_K]

Originally Posted by Trox

What is this track like in terms of being a good circuit for racing, overtaking opportunities etc...? or is it a bit narrow and too many right-angle turns?

Varying widths. Some 90 deg corners but not all. Looks to be faster than the last version downtown. More to follow when I get back from tomarrow.

[rustyfan]

Would have been nice if it had been a bit longer, but that said, I think the new layout looks quite promising and a lot better than the old one.

It's not often I look forward to street circuits, but I do look forward to this one - will be interesting to see what it's like.

[luke]

Well we have 17 drivers confirmed for the race on the entry list and that will not likely change for odvious reasons... http://www.champcarworldseries.com/C...1PDFR_0002.pdf

Open wheel racin' in north america seems to lose even further ground each race weekend...

[2112]

I`m hearing reports that the drivers are getting jolted by the bumps

[luke]

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/R...ts.asp?ID=1535

Session times from qualifying 1, Bourdais who was on provisonal pole was disqualified and all times taken away from today...so Bruno and Tracy are on the front row for now...

[luke]

The best images so far today from CCWS.com:









here is the full 7 pages from day one: http://www.champcarworldseries.com/E...&PageMode=RACE enjoy!

[luke]

According to the ALMS:

Note: A change to the entrance to turn 2 was completed at 4:15 am this morning. A new chicane has been added to slow the cars near the end of the front straight. The chicane is a quick left, right and was put in because the run-off area in turn two was not sufficient for the speeds the cars were carrying into the corner during test runs. This lengthens the course slightly to 1.69 miles.

According to fans at the track it's totaly slowed down the action and made the viewing poor and reuined a chance for overtaking, similar to San Jose in terms of adding a chicane but only in that way but u'd think they would have learned after SJ.
Wonder what it's like when I see the next practice session and then qualifying...

[luke]

Think of a carbon copy of the new variente alta. PT locks a wheel under braking and totaly misses it!

[marcus]

STARTING GRID

1. Mario Dominguez 58.026 1ST CAREER POLE
Forsythe Championship Racing
66th Career Start
CAREER BEST QUALIFYING

2. Bruno Junqueira 58.918 (15th time starting 2nd)
Newman Hass
76th Career Start


3. Paul Tracy 58.426 (21st time starting 3rd)
Forsythe Championship Racing
237th Career Start


4. A.J. Allmendinger 58.572 (8th time starting 4th)
Rusport
29th Career Start


5. Sebastien Bourdais 58.627 (4th time starting 5th)
Newman Haas
47th Career Start


6. Alex Tagliani 58.765 (5th time starting 6th)
Team Australia Racing
106th Career Start


7. Justin Wilson 58.829 (4th time starting 7th)
Rusport
29th Career Start


8. Oriol Servia 59.062 (8th time starting 8th)
PKV Racing
101st Career Start


9. Nelson Philippe 59.232 (1st time starting 9th)
CTE Racing - HVM
26th Career Start


10. Will Power 59.302 (1st time starting 10th)
Team Australia Racing
4th Career Start


11. Charles Zwolsman 59.385 (1st time starting 11th)
Mi-Jack Conquest Racing
3rd Career Start
CAREER BEST QUALIFYING

12. Dan Clarke 59.550 (1st time starting 12th)
CTE Racing - HVM
2nd Career Start
CAREER BEST QUALIFYING

13. Andrew Ranger 59.740 (2nd time starting 13th)
Mi-Jack Conquest Racing
15th Career Start


14. Cristiano da Matta 1:00.195 (6th time starting 14th)
Dale Coyne Racing
94th Career Start


15. Katherine Legge 1:00.265 (1st time starting 15th)
PKV Racing
2nd Career Start
CAREER BEST QUALIFYING

16. Nicky Pastorelli 1:00.269 (1st time starting 16th)
Rocketsports
DEBUT RACE


17. Jan Heylen 1:00.839 (1st time starting 18th)
Dale Coyne Racing
2nd Career Start

[D.R.T.]

Well Done to Dominguez, and as PT said "he cant hit anyone starting from 1st"

Bourdais will be strong from 5th, but I am liking AJ from 4th.

[luke]

Hopefully Mario Dominguez can get his first win for Forsythe, it's been very long and over due and he also deserves it.
Bruno got 2nd because of his time yesterday...i wouldn't be suprised to see him play good pit stratergy and find himself in the lead and win...
Go Tracy!
Well done to AJ on out qualifying JW. He could be in for a solid podium finish tonight.
Bourdais, well he will probably be on the podium, maybe they will save fuel and pit the latest? Maybe he'll charge through the pack like he did at Denver 2004?
Tags looks to be in for a solid points finish and a dark horse contender, especially if there is carnage and attrition...
Look for Power to climb through, he could take a potential top 5...and then there's Servia who's the highest PKV car in what seems to be a disapointing session for then and also Dale Coyne with da Matta 4th...

I had my doubts about this race as there is only 17 cars, and also the fact that it's musical chairs at Rocketsports and we could have around 19 cars which is in the healthy region I guess....then there was the silly safety chicane added but all in we are set for what looks to be an exciting night spectacle, lets enjoy it!

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by luke

According to the ALMS:

According to fans at the track it's totaly slowed down the action and made the viewing poor and reuined a chance for overtaking, similar to San Jose in terms of adding a chicane but only in that way but u'd think they would have learned after SJ.
Wonder what it's like when I see the next practice session and then qualifying...

Bummer

[Tenoch]

Does anyone know why Sebass got disqualified on day 1 qualifying?

[luke]

His car failed post-qualifying technical inspection.

[Snrub]

After a lackluster 2005 for Dominguez, it's easy to forget how fast he was in 2004. If he can get his stuff together he has the talent to start chalking up more wins.

[luke]

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/champcar/auto/24019/

Whoever makes it through the first turn tomorrow night will “only” have to run 100 laps rather than the originally scheduled 115 laps. Organizers opted to reduce the race distance in deference to the pounding the bumpy Reliant Field circuit is meting out to man and
machine.

[luke]

This is weird, I remember for the San Jose thread last year there was several hundred posts where as this weekend seems only a dozen...everyone gone off Champ Car? lol...

[Knowlesy]

There is nothing to talk about really....

The track seems "interesting" as I watch ALMS now.....very bumpy and fairly fast.

I don't know how good it will be for Champcars however.

[astinus4]

Originally Posted by luke

His car failed post-qualifying technical inspection.

Car was found to be 3 pounds underweight I believe?

[luke]

Yup. The race seems quite good to be honest, I hope PT can pass Bourdais for 2nd...overall this has been a good race so far imo. Go Domingeuz! 36 laps to go and there has been some fabulous racing, should be tense untill the end..

[Trox]

It's not like there's been a leader who's pulled away into the distance, hopefully it'll stay that way and there'll be some real hustling for position in the closing laps.

[Trox]

Well, that one last lap under green flags seemed like a bit of an anti-climax to me. Seems a bit strange really, as if the race didn't have proper closure.

I can't be the only one either, the crew for Bourdais didn't seem to me to be experiencing the supposed 'pandamonium' that the bloke on the telly claimed they were undergoing when they were round his car as he got out.