Canadian Champ Car drivers are akin to rock stars any time the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford heads north of the border, and this weekend will be no different as the series hits the halfway point by breaking in a new event, the West Edmonton Mall Grand Prix of Edmonton
source: ChampCarWorldSeries But while Paul Tracy (#3 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone), Alex Tagliani (#15 Aussie Vineyards Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) and Andrew Ranger (#27 Tide/Mi-Jack Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) might garner the kind of attention usually reserved for the likes of Rush's Getty Lee, they will still be chasing the series' top draw once the green flag flies in the Alberta skies. Last week in Toronto, Champ Car World Series points leader Sebastien Bourdais (#1 McDonald's Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) showed the same sort of resiliency that earned him the series championship a year ago, battling back from contact that might have ruined his day. Bourdais fell back to 10th after contact with Tracy left him with a flat tire, but fought back through the pack to earn a fifth-place finish. That resolve not only gave him a top-five finish, it propelled him back to the top of the point standings, giving him a 15-point bulge as the series heads to the seventh round of the 14-race 2005 schedule. The battle to catch Bourdais will take place in what is unfamiliar territory for Champ Car's finest as the series welcomes a new venue to the schedule. Much like the course in Cleveland, the 1.973-mile Finning International Speedway is set up on airport runways, this time transforming the Edmonton City Centre Airport into a haven for 750 hp turbocharged race cars. The 14-turn race course features an opening corner that is remarkably similar to the one that has caused so much calamity in 24 years of Cleveland battles, and carries several other turns that are rife with passing opportunities.
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