The second rookie made his mark when it mattered most, during the race. Last year's Toyota Atlantic championship winner A.J. Allmendinger was all smiles as he was walking from his parked car to the victory podium at the end of the race.
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| Champ Car rookie A.J. Allmendinger, who won the Toyota Atlantic series last year, was showered with champagne after his first podium finish. (Photo: Shawn Pisio, Canadian Auto Press) |
"I am physically spent, tired, and very happy," said Allmendinger. "It was an awesome race. I paced myself to save some energy because I knew that Bruno (Junqueira) was closing in. I wanted to have enough energy to keep him off and I pushed my hardest during the last laps of the race. In terms of the Rookie-of-the-Year battle, it is good to earn these points. I wasn't too worried about that before, but knowing I am in a close battle with a terrific driver Justin (Wilson) who is not in any way a rookie, it is a battle I would like to win because it would be a great accomplishment for me this season."
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| A.J. Allmendinger's 3rd place finish gives him valuable points in his close Rookie-of-the-Year battle with Justin Wilson. (Photo: Shawn Pisio, Canadian Auto Press) |
Wilson, while a rookie in Champ Car is a previous winner of the Formula 3000 series, the chief feeder program of Formula 1. He then moved to Formula 1, in the back-running Minardi team. Jaguar was obviously intrigued enough by the tall Brit that the team offered him a test drive, towards the end of last season. When a full contract didn't materialize for the following year Wilson chose to test his mettle in what many consider to be the most competitive open-wheel racing series' in the world.