Minardi Team USA wrapped up the third round of the 2007 Champ Car World Series today in Houston, Texas with another podium finish. source: minarditeamusa.com Despite starting from 13th on the grid, Robert Doornbos drove impressively to claim third place in what was an exciting race to the very end. His team mate, Dan Clarke, was not so fortunate, eventually being classified 17th. It seems Robert has quickly come to grips with rolling starts. He passed several cars heading into turn one, then settled in and concentrated on conserving fuel. He drove a clean, consistent race, improving his lap times and picking up places until the checkered flag flew. Today's result means Robert moves to third place in the Championship standings, 13 points behind leader, Bourdais. He also leads the Rookie of the Year standings after his second podium in three races. Robert Doornbos (No 14) 3rd 59.384 secs/102.027 mph "The race was amazing, and I am thrilled with our result! I made the biggest gain of the race at the very beginning, I think, as I passed five or six cars going into turn one. I took a lot of risks at the start, but that's what you have to do sometimes. I knew there were slower cars on the grid ahead of me, and I had to get around them some time. "I was very happy with the car, and every lap was like qualifying - I was really pushing it. My team was great, and the engineers' pit strategy played out perfectly. I'm learning about this whole 'saving fuel' strategy, and I did a better job at it today than in Vegas. I'm pleased we showed once again that we have the speed to be Championship contenders." Dan Clarke (No 4) DNF 1 min 0.365 secs/100.369 mph "We had software problems right at the beginning of the race, which were not the fault of the team. After that, and as the race settled down, we just tried to pull back as much as we could. The tires were good, the car was good, and I just pushed as hard as possible while watching the fuel numbers. "Towards the end of the race, Jani and Katherine Legge had some sort of incident, and Katherine got into the wall. I came around the turn, found her car blocking the track, and with nowhere to go, hit it with the left front corner of my car. I managed to get back to the pits, but there was just too much damage to continue. It's obviously a disappointing result personally, but I'm pleased for both Robert and the team that we scored another podium today."
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