Source: Rocketsports
It is unfortunate that there are only three days in a race weekend, as Rocketsports Racing and Alex Tagliani learned this weekend because they just didn't have enough time to find a race car that could do the job in Mexico City, Mexico for the 2007 Champ Car season finale. Despite trying to make as many changes as possible on the car last night and this morning, it was still giving Tagliani problems on track. So the strategy for the race this afternoon was to do the best he could possibly do out there, knowing that the car was not going to be competitive enough for him to be able to put up a fight from starting 14th on the grid. And if things could not get any worse for Tagliani, he stalled during the 14th Champ Car standing start of the season. He was not the only car that stalled, as two others did as well causing Champ Car to throw the yellow flag on the first lap. Tagliani was able to catch up to the field, and took advantage of the open pits under yellow to fill up on fuel and move back into the 14th spot. On the restart to officially kick off Champ Car racing in Mexico City, Tagliani was able to get around Alex Figge to move into the 13th spot. Tagliani worked his way up to 11th by Lap 6, marking the highest position he would hold during the Gran Premio Tecate Presented by Banamex. The rest of the race, he was just trying to hold on. Tires were wearing fast and his car had a lot of understeer, but Tagliani did a good job keeping the car out of trouble to take the checkered flag on Lap 64. Alex Tagliani: "It is definitely not the way that we wanted to end the season. For our last race together, it is definitively something that makes me sad, but we have been struggling with the #8 Rocketsports car all weekend. We have destroyed every set of tires that we put on the car during the race, because we never got the set up. The boys worked very hard in the pits, as everyone has been trying real hard. This is the type of track where everything needs to be perfect and it wasn't. So, it is a season filled with great potential, but with a couple of bad lucks that kept us from finishing on the podium and higher up in the championship. Overall, the team has been trying very hard all season, and I would like to thank them for all their hard work and dedication. Now we just have to look at the future. For me, I am already going to be looking for what I am going to be doing next year and Champ Car is definitely my choice." On a more positive note, this weekend's result locked Tagliani and the Rocketsports team in the top-ten of the 2007 Champ Car World Series championship.
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