Race
Pos | Nat | Name | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sébastien Bourdais | N/H/L Racing | 71 | 1:45:21.997 | 1 | 33 | |
2 | Bruno Junqueira | Dale Coyne Racing | 71 | +13.7 secs | 4 | 27 | |
3 | Graham Rahal | N/H/L Racing | 71 | +14.5 secs | 13 | 26 | |
4 | Will Power | Team Australia | 71 | +15.1 secs | 2 | 24 | |
5 | Justin Wilson | RSPORTS | 71 | +16.0 secs | 5 | 21 | |
6 | Oriol Servià | Forsythe Racing | 71 | +17.2 secs | 10 | 19 | |
7 | Robert Doornbos | Minardi Team USA | 71 | +18.4 secs | 3 | 17 | |
8 | Neel Jani | PKV Racing | 71 | +19.1 secs | 9 | 15 | |
9 | Alex Tagliani | RSPORTS | 71 | +23.8 secs | 6 | 13 | |
10 | Paul Tracy | Forsythe Racing | 71 | +24.5 secs | 7 | 11 | |
11 | Katherine Legge | Dale Coyne Racing | 71 | +28.8 secs | 14 | 10 | |
12 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Australia | 71 | +33.2 secs | 8 | 9 | |
13 | Jan Heylen | Conquest Racing | 71 | +1:12.1 | 11 | 8 | |
14 | Alex Figge | Pacific Coast Motorsports | 70 | + 1 Lap | 17 | 7 | |
15 | Ryan Dalziel | Pacific Coast Motorsports | 67 | + 4 Laps | 16 | 6 | |
16 | Tristan Gommendy | PKV Racing | 60 | Mechanical | 15 | 5 | |
17 | Mario Domínguez | Minardi Team USA | 47 | Tyre | 12 | 4 |
What began as another Sébastien Bourdais walkover took an interesting turn in the last thirty laps. Bourdais led away from the starting grid and held the lead until his second pit stop lap 40. On that lap, Bourdais lost the lead to a pack of alternate strategy cars who had pitted for the second time during a caution period on lap 27. Included in this pack were his teammate Graham Rahal who took the lead until he ducked into the pits on lap 47, relinquishing the lead to Bourdais.
Things got "really interesting" on lap 50 when a caution came out. Most drivers pitted a final pitstop but four drivers stayed out: Bruno Junqueira, Simon Pagenaud, local driver Jan Heylen, and Tristan Gommendy. Of the four drivers, Junqueira's gambit was the most dangerous to Bourdais, as he had stopped on lap 49. The other drivers only real hope for success was a lot of full course caution laps.
When the green flag came out again, the order was Pagenaud, Heylen, Gommendy, Junqueira, and Bourdais. After two hard fought laps, Junqueira gave up fourth place to Bourdais. Five laps later Gommendy gave up third spot shortly before pitting and then retiring with an oil leak.
Heylen gave up his gambit on lap 59 and while Pagenaud gamely hung on to the lead until lap 63, he never had any reasonable chance to make the end of the race. With that stop, Bourdais re-inherited the lead, while behind him Junqueira gamely clung to second place while saving fuel at the same time. Rahal did not have fuel concerns but was not able to find his way around the veteran driver.
That was the way the race ended, with Bourdais in front by more than 13 seconds. Junqueira's 2nd place was a historic achievement for the Dale Coyne Racing team, its best ever finish. Rahal settled for the fourth podium finish of his rookie season. Bourdais leads the season championship by 53 points over Robert Doornbos. Not an insurmountable lead, but one that leaves his challengers little hope of preventing the capture of his fourth straight Champ Car title.
Read more about this topic: 2007 Belgian Champ Car Grand Prix
Famous quotes containing the word race:
“Butif you cannot give us ease
Last of the race of them who grieve
Here leave us to die out with these
Last of the people who believe!
Silent, while years engrave the brow;
Silentthe best are silent now.”
—Matthew Arnold (18221888)
“Weve become a race of Peeping Toms. What people oughta do is get outside their own house and look in for a change.”
—John Michael Hayes (b. 1919)
“It is always dangerous to generalise, but the American people, while infinitely generous, are a hard and strong race and, but for the few cemeteries I have seen, I am inclined to think they never die.”
—Margot Asquith (18641945)