Motorsport: Aussie wins in Champ Car

Monday motorsport reportApril 9, 2007

Power led four times for a total of 38 laps throughout the 68-lap race in scorching heat on the 3.9km circuit through the Glitter Gulch area of Vegas.

While Power is the first Australian winner in the American-based open-wheeler series, Geoff Brabham was second three times -- most recently at Road America in 1987 -- and 1980 Formula 1 world champion Alan Jones also notched a podium in "Indy" racing.

There was more Australian joy in Las Vegas, with Paul Stoddart's Team Minardi USA achieving a podium first up -- something the Italian-based Minardi F1 team couldn't do in more than two decades.

Dutchman Robert Doornbos drove the Minardi to second place, 16.787 seconds behind Power and becoming the first rookie to score a podium on debut in the series since Nigel Mansell won at the Gold Coast in 1993.

Veteran Paul Tracy was the early leader but finished third after his Forsythe team had a problem with its fuel rig which he says "took a lot of fight out of the race".

"I think we could have put a lot of pressure on Will," Tracy says.

All teams in the series are using a new Panoz chassis and there were 11 laps under caution in this opening round of the championship.

Power is the 246th winner in the history of the Champ Car series and its predecessors.

In a dominant weekend, he started from pole position and set the fastest lap of the race.

Power hit a crew member during a pit stop but the crewman was not badly hurt.

Power says it was "a pretty cruisy race really" after the early cautions and getting held up behind Englishwoman Katherine Legge.

"We had a good car. It handled well all day. The only issue I had was a really long brake pedal at the end of the race," Power says.

"But we had an 18-second lead, so we just brought it home and brought (Gore's co-owner) Derrick Walker his second win since 1999. It's his (62nd) birthday, so a pole and a win are a pretty good present for him."

Power's rookie teammate, Frenchman Simon Pagenaud, showed good speed and was a potential podium finisher before engine problems put him out after 47 laps.

France's triple champion Sebastien Bourdais, crashed out on lap 30.

Bourdais started 16th in the 17-car field but charged to third in 23 laps but then hit the wall, suffering a flat tyre, then six laps later he got another two flats.

Paul Stoddart "couldn't be happier" with his entry into Champ Car.

"A fantastic drive by Robert, a fantastic strategy from the team, and a totally professional job by the entire Minardi Team USA crew, both here and back at the factory," Stoddart says.

Minardi's other driver, Englishman Dan Clarke, gained four places on the first lap but crashed 12 laps later.

Bobby Rahal's 18-year-old son Graham was squeezed into the wall by Clarke at the start, while lanky Englishman Justin Wilson was forced into retirement after 20 laps.

New Zealander Matt Halliday was an early retirement in his first outing with Conquest Racing.

The second round of the series is next weekend at Long Beach, California.

Champ Car series after first round -- Will Power 34 points, Robert Doornbos (rookie) 27, Paul Tracy 27, Alex Tagliani 24, Tristan Gommendy (rookie) 21, Katherine Legge 20, Bruno Junqueira 18.

But this time the order was different, with McLaren's Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton first and second, and Ferrari's Melbourne victor Kimi Raikkonen third.

It was McLaren's first victory since the end of 2005, when Raikkonen was its winning driver.

What else did the Malaysian Grand Prix tell us?
• That Alonso is the most complete driver in modern F1, if there were any doubts after he beat Michael Schumacher to the world title the past two years.
• That Hamilton is a phenomenal talent, capable of withstanding the intimidation of Ferraris in his mirrors.
• That BMW is now the No. 3 team in F1, with Nick Heidfeld second for the second time in two GPs.
• That world champion team Renault is not what it was the past two years, perhaps largely because of difficulties adapting to Bridgestone tyres, and that neither of its 2007 drivers, Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen, is a top-flighter.
• That Australia's Mark Webber is doing a creditable job with Red Bull, qualifying 10th and finishing 10th (his first finish at Sepang), consistently outperforming his vastly experienced and well-performed teammate David Coulthard. "We did a much better job than we did in Melbourne." Webber says. "To get a car home on the lead lap is so much further ahead than where we were two months ago. I'm not excited about finishing 10th … (but) I'm excited about the potential we're beginning to tap into and the direction we're moving in."
• That, like Webber, Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) is an excellent qualifier.
• That Honda, a team which barely three years ago was Ferrari's main challenger, has gone a long, long way backwards.
As always in F1, there's a lot happening off the track. More of that later.

Formula 1 drivers championship after two rounds -- Fernando Alonso 18 points, Kimi Raikkonen 16, Lewis Hamilton 14, Nick Heidfeld 10, Giancarlo Fisichella 7; Constructors -- McLaren-Mercedes 32, Ferrari 23, BMW-Sauber 10, Renault 8, Toyota 3, Williams-Toyota 2.

For the record, three manufacturers were represented on the podium -- BMW, Subaru and Mitsubishi.

The winners were Craig Baird, Paul Morris and Garry Holt in a BMW 335i with the Subaru WRX Sti driven by rally stars Chris Atkinson, Cody Crocker and Dean Herridge a little more than a minute behind. The third-placed Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII of Rick Bates, Bob Hughes and Peter Gazzard was four laps further back, ahead of another BMW 335i.

Organisers claim a race-day crowd of 10,266 for a three-day total of 27,348.

The Bathurst 12-hour top 10 -
1. P. Morris, C. Baird, G. Holt (BMW 335i) 257 laps
2. C. Atkinson, D. Heridge, C. Crocker (Subaru WRX sti) 257 laps
3. R. Bates, B. Hughes, P. Gazzard (Mitsubishi Evo) 253 laps
4. C. Pither, B. Lynton, B. Morcom (BMW 335i) 253 laps
5. N. Crompton, G. Denyer, C. Alajajian (Subaru WRX sti) 248 laps
6. A. Moffat, D.Russell, S.Juniper (BMW 130i) 247 laps
7. D.Grant, M.Cini, M.Eddy (BMW 130i) 247 laps
8. L. Searle, P. Kelly (BMW 130i) 247 laps
9. C.Delfsma, J.Elsegood, J.Bowe (Ford XR8) 244 laps
10. M.Trimble, D.Ryan, A.Fawcett, M.Craig (Ford Typhoon) 240 laps

It was only Ambrose's seventh Busch race and he's now sixth in the series, ahead of ex-F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya as well as being the top rookie and the highest-placed Busch driver not to be participating in the premier Nextel Cup as well.

Ambrose ran in the top 10 for the first nine laps of the race but the handling of his car deteriorated and he dropped back through the field.

"The first couple of laps were fine, but we just had an imbalance on the car that we couldn't get rid of," Ambrose says.

The next Busch race is next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

Busch series standings after seven races - Carl Edwards 1200 points, Dave Blaney 879, Kevin Harvick 808, David Reutimann 757, Kyle Busch 757, Marcos Ambrose 754.

Todt says that, while it's "not part of the agenda", he has no objection to Raikkonen's tat and that he would be prepared to dump any sponsor that's not happy with it.

"If Kimi is happy to put a tattoo on his face, it's okay," Todt says.

"If he asks me my opinion, I'd say better put it somewhere else so it is not so disruptive or cause problems for the future.

"There are lots of things, (about Raikkonen) smiling or not smiling, but I don't care.

"If a sponsor would complain about the tattoo, I would prefer to change the sponsor to keep him happy."

McLaren tops spending chart
McLaren is the biggest-spending team in F1 this year, according to the subscription-only magazine BusinessF1 -- which, incidentally, isn't McLaren boss Ron Dennis' favourite reading material.

BusinessF1 -- whose editor, Tom Rubyton, Dennis wants black-balled by F1 teams - says McLaren has overtaken Ferrari and Toyota in the spending stakes, with its budget reportedly up almost US$50 million this year to close to US$500 million.

Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo claims McLaren's figures have risen about 10 per cent because of the signing of Fernando Alonso and the Spanish sponsorships that have followed him.

Size (of the cheque) matters
It's not surprising, but while F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone runs around telling the world he wants to expand the calendar to 20 races a year, McLaren's Ron Dennis wants it contained to 17 or 18 GPs.

Dennis is very much the spokesman for the teams on this matter, and his stance is posturing for a bigger slice of the F1 cake.

Ecclestone needs more races to ensure growth in his F1 empire now that 75 per cent of it is owned by private equity interests, while the teams will ultimately comply with however many races are on the calendar but want to make sure they are handsomely rewarded for doing so.

Dennis claims there is a danger of diluting F1's impact by having too many GPs.

"I think football (soccer) is over-saturated -- a classic example of over-saturating a sport with far too much exposure," he told autosport.com

"F1 needs to have a very clear beginning and a very clear end, and that is achievable at let's say around the 18-race mark.

"I would also say there is a point, and 18 races is right on the cusp, when you need to have two GP teams to accommodate the impact it has on people's private lives."

Dennis says the Australian and Malaysian GPs and next weekend's race in Bahrain will have kept many people in F1 away from home for five weeks.

Ecclestone reckons the F1 calendar can easily be expanded by shortening the off-season.

"What we have to do is extend the championship period. At the moment we have a 4½-month 'off' period, so we can start a bit earlier and end a bit later," he says.

The teams will see it Ecclestone's way when they see enough of his money.

He could be using his talks with Ong Beng Seng, the Singapore hotel and property tycoon who would be the promoter and has the support of the island's government, to rev up the Malaysian GP organisers, who Ecclestone has told need to give Sepang a spruce up because it's looking "a little shabby and a bit tired".

Ecclestone could also be using the Singapore proposal as leverage to force the Victorian government's hand on making Melbourne's GP a night race -- especially if it wants to stage the first night GP.

Concerns seem to be growing within the F1 community about the safety of racing at night.

In any case, the talk now about the Singapore event has reverted to it coming on to the calendar late in 2008 -- at the opposite end of the season from neighboring Malaysia, and Australia.

Trying to sort 'customer' car row
Ecclestone is trying to settle F1's "customer" car row by calling a meeting of team principals in Bahrain.

The issue, over the legality of the Super Aguri and Toro Rosso cars because of their relationships with Honda and Red Bull, has become rather boring, perhaps because now the season is underway there is little interest in the performance of the lesser teams.

Ecclestone has told autosport.com that the matter is important for all 11 teams (12 next year) and that's why he wants it settled -- perhaps because the alternative is a lengthy legal row that could upset other plans.

He says that's what's needed to unearth young drivers from the region capable of graduating to F1.

"I want to make sure we bring that series to Asia in the (northern) winter," Ecclestone says.

Nice idea, but the shine might go off once he tells promoters how much he's going to charge for the show.

Image: Will Power celebrates winning the pole position with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman -- from LAT Photographic 2007 Champ Car World Series, LLC.

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