It was definitely a bittersweet day for RSPORTS as driver Justin Wilson did not finish the first Champ Car race in 2007 due to a mechanical failure, while teammate Alex Tagliani rounded out a solid top-five performance in today's inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix. source: Rsports Concerns began to return on the #9 CDW Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone after this morning's warm up session. Wilson finished the session in the tenth spot, and was not very happy with how the car had been behaving on track. The CDW crew worked hard to solve those issues, and they were content with car before starting the race and had hopes of a solid performance throughout the afternoon. After starting eighth on today's grid, the 2006 Champ Car running-up drove the #9 CDW/RSPORTS Champ Car hard for as long as he could before a broken gearbox would end his day on Lap 20. It has been a tough weekend for the #9 crew, as they had been dealing with multiple issues that just were not resolved in time for Wilson to make a stronger 2007 debut. Tagliani and the #8 LXN2 crew made some changes overnight which they thought would help them in today's race. However, during the morning warm up session, Tagliani decided that he did not prefer the changes, despite finishing second quickest in the 30-minute session. The team went back on the changes and made some other small adjustments to have a race ready car for this afternoon's event. Tagliani, who started in the fourth spot, fought hard throughout the one hour and forty-five minute timed race. Completing 68 laps during that time period, the Las Vegas resident made a strong showing on the familiar streets and gave the local residents something to cheer about when he took the lead on Lap 28. The RSPORTS #8 LXN2 team decided to take a gamble with their race strategy, but it did not pay off for the team in their first event in 2007. However, there was some payback, as Tagliani took the checkered flag in the fourth spot and was able to earn 23 championship points during the first of 16 races on the 2007 Champ Car World Series schedule. The next stop on the three-races-in-a-row Champ Car season kick off tour is Long Beach, California. Champ Car and RSPORTS will return to the familiar 1.968-mile temporary street course on April 13-15.
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