Awesome ride by
native son Paul Tracy delivers Team Player's it's first Champ Car Victory on
Canadian Soil In what he described as the
best win of his 13-year career, Paul Tracy returned to a home crowd of 73,255 on
Sunday and dominated the Molson Indy Toronto race from flag to flag, providing
Team Player's with its 18th career Champ Car victory and first on
Canadian soil. Tracy, the only Canadian driver with a previous win in
Canada - he accomplished the feat in Toronto in 1993 - joined Team
Player's prior to the start of the 2003 Champ Car World Series season, and he
produced the team's first home victory in his first Canadian appearance as a
member of Team Player's. Toronto is the first of three Canadian stops in the
19-race series, with Vancouver and Montreal coming up in July and August
respectively. Patrick Carpentier of Team Player's, who was running
fourth well past the midway point of the 112-lap race, had to pit early on his
second pit stop because of looseness with the car and he wound up in seventh
place. Fellow Canadian Alex Tagliani, running second to Tracy through the first
28 laps, had to retire after contact with Brazilian Bruno Junqueira damaged his
suspension. Junqueira finished third in the race, just behind Mexico's Michel
Jourdain Jr. "To win here in Canada for Team Player's is the
defining moment of my career," said Tracy, who has 23 Champ Car victories.
"It's a great day for Canada and for Team Player's. I'm glad that all
the fans were here to see it. A big thanks to the entire team - the guys gave
me a perfect car today." Tracy, who boosted his lead over Junqueira in the drivers' championship to 15 points (139-124), was relentless and flawless in piloting the "perfect" car to the checkered flag. From the pole, he was a man on a mission, building a 35-second lead before an incident involving Jimmy Vasser and Mario Dominguez on lap 77 bunched up the field for the re-start. But Tracy hustled into the pits during the caution to maintain some distance once the green came out and he continually widened the gap over Jourdain Jr. to win by 4.5 seconds.
Recent Articles
|
Racing Multimedia
Recommendations |