After the excitement of a podium finish in last weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix, Minardi Team USA was reminded of the speed with which fortunes can change in racing at today's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, second round of the 2007 Champ Car World Series. source: minarditeamusa.com 'Speedy' Dan Clarke started 13th after struggling in qualifying, and after a brief excursion down an escape road during the race, produced a solid, 12th-place finish. Pit strategy resulted in him climbing as high as fourth position prior to the incident. Despite then falling back to 15th, Dan kept his head down, and turned his fastest lap in the closing stages of the race. 'Speedy' Dan Clarke 12th 1 min 09.908 secs/101.345 mph "After all of the difficulties we've had this weekend, I'm just glad we went the race distance. Had I not made a mistake, we could have had a much stronger finish, but I am glad we are on the pace now, and I feel like testing is finally over. "We can go to Houston with much more confidence, and give the team the result it deserves. That's one of the things I have learned during my time in America - the importance of teamwork - and I thank all the guys for their loyalty and effort." Robert Doornbos started sixth, and finished just behind his team mate, in 13th place. He made a clean start, tucking in behind Graham Rahal, and quickly established a competitive pace. The first scheduled pit stop, on lap 29, took significantly longer than planned, after the engine stalled. The Minardi Team USA crew was quick to re-start the car, but valuable seconds had been lost, and Doornbos dropped eight positions. "He remained focused, though, and continued to drive quickly and consistently. Unfortunately, while running in 11th place, he encountered a gearbox problem. This could not be resolved in the time remaining, and after checking the car over, the team elected to send Robert back out in order to finish the race and collect potentially valuable championship points.
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