Tagliani takes first
ChampCar win at Elkhart Lake
source:
lola-group.com
Alex Tagliani won his first ever ChampCar race in dramatic circumstances at a
hot and sunny Elkhart Lake track in Wisconsin last night. In his 85th race start
the Canadian put behind him a large accident in qualifying and a late race
gearbox problem to beat Forsythe driver Rodolfo Lavin to the flag by 1.85
seconds in his Rocketsports Lola.
Some slick work by Tagliani's crew during a race which saw five caution periods,
helped Tagliani gain an emotional first win."I made the team work really hard
this weekend and this win is for them," he said. "I've had misfortune many times
in my career but not today!"
The Rocketsports team
brought Tagliani into the pits for his first green flag stop on lap 14 when he
was running eighth, just before the second caution took place and many of the
front-runners had to pit for fuel, leaving many with the need to pit three
times. "I think today honestly we got a little bit lucky with the way the
yellows turned out in the race. I think it takes a really fast car, good
strategy and a little bit of luck to be able to win in this series and all the
ingredients were there," he declared.
Rodolfo Lavin earned his first Champ Car podium, second place and his best
finish with the third Forsythe entered Lola. He rose from 10th on the grid and
said; "My team have given me a great Lola car, great tools to fight out there.
We knew it was coming and it was just a case of keeping out of trouble all day
and making consistent lap times."
![](http://www.msomail.co.uk/siteimages/users/Lola/20040808P_0005.jpg)