Las Vegas, Nevada – April 6th, 2007 – In the very first qualifying session of 2007, the very first qualifying session with the new DP01 cars, Paul went out and handed everyone a Vegas style smackdown grabbing Provisional Pole and scoring the first points of the season. PT moved into P1 with 12 minutes left in the 30 minute session and he stayed there until the checkered. A year-round resident of Las Vegas, Tracy (#3 Indeck Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) has traveled the streets of his adopted hometown on many occasions, but never at the speeds he approached today in pacing first-round qualifying for the 3 Indeck Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone. Tracy took the first official championship point of the 2007 Champ Car World Series season, setting a track record with a best time of 1:19.784 (110.097 mph) around the 2.44-mile street course. His performance earned him a front-row start for Sunday's season opener as well as the vital championship point for leading the session, as he came in .214 seconds ahead of rookie Simon Pagenaud (#15 Aussie Vineyards Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone).
The first qualifying run of the year was dominated by Vegas residents in its early stages as Tracy chased and eventually caught RSPORTS veteran Alex Tagliani (#8 LNX2 Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone), who led through the first 25 minutes of the session. Tracy spun his top time with less than four minutes left on the qualifying clock, sparking a furious final thrust that saw four drivers swap the top three spots in the space of 120 seconds. Pagenaud showed that his $2 million prize for winning last year's Champ Car Atlantic title was money well earned as he came out in his very first Champ Car qualifying session and snared the second spot on the dais, carding a top time of 1:19.998 (109.803 mph). His time was the best among the eight rookies in the field on a day where four of the rookies ended up in the top 10.
Three-time and defending series champion Sebastien Bourdais (#1 McDonald's Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) rebounded from early-session mechanical trouble to take the third spot on the speed sheets, stopping the clocks at 1:20.197 (109.530 mph). Bourdais ran just two laps in the first 25 minutes of the session before going out with eight minutes left on the clock, posting his best time on the last of his eight laps of the day.
I'm not a huge racing guy Falcon, but I can say for certain that Paul Tracy can flat-out drive. We get coverage on him here in Canada because he's from a town near where I live.
I saw your name in my email and immediately went the Canadian got Dan's attention. Paul is one of the top drivers in the world definitely. I would really like to see him try another series more seriously though to prove that. I wish he would run IRL and see what he could do given the current competition over there which I see as tougher than CART.
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