Las Vegas, Nevada—Sunday, April 8, 2007—Paul Tracy and the Forsythe Team proved today that they will be a force to be reckoned with during the 2007 Champ Car World Series Season by finishing third at the inaugural Vegas Grand Prix.
Starting from the front row, Tracy took the lead when the green flag dropped and held it for nine laps until Will Power managed to squeeze through at the braking zone for Turn 1. Tracy said, “It went really well today. I was able to get a really good start and get by Will (Power) on the first lap."
Entering the season opening Champ Car World Series weekend in Las Vegas this week, Will Power (#5 Aussie Vineyards) divulged his plan for the first three races, laying out a plan where he would carry a 15-point lead in the standings to Round Four at Portland. And now after today's Vegas Grand Prix lit the lamp on the 2007 Champ Car season, Power is halfway to his goal, having gotten the jump on the field with his first Champ Car victory. Power dominated Sunday's season opener, setting the fastest lap of the race on his way to a 16.787-second margin of victory for not only his first win, but the first Champ Car win ever for an Australian-born driver. Power led 38 of the day's 68 laps, and benefited from a fuel problem that befell early-race leader Paul Tracy (#3 Indeck) to roll to his first win.
Robert Doornbos (#14 Muermans/Jumbo Supermarkten/Mediamall) had a comfortable margin ahead of Tracy as his second-place finish gave the new Minardi Team USA a podium.
The series will pack up and roll to Southern California for next week's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, which will be the second of three races in three weeks.
Paul Tracy found himself in mid-pack running 9th fastest in today's qualifying and only very slightly improving on his time from Friday. Because of his performance yesterday he will start tomorrows race on the front row along side todays Pole winner Will Power. Team Australia's Power, born and bred in Toowoomba Queensland, beat his nearest rival today by an amazing 0.886 of a second. Today's result supports Power's maiden pole at his home race at the Lexmark Indy 300 on the streets of Queensland's Gold Coast last October. Power then went on to claim his first podium in the final race of the year in Mexico and clinch the "Rookie of the Year" title as a result.
Will Power #5 Aussie Vineyards Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone -"I think it's going to be important for everybody to get through the first corner and go racing. I think this is the start of a new era for Champ Car. You've got a bunch of new young drivers that are in the series, obviously showing that they're quick. It's not the scenario that everybody thought it was going to be where everybody was saying in the off-season, Sebastien is going to run away with everything. He's starting near the back.
Paul Tracy #3 INDECK Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone - "It was a little tougher for us today. Obviously we made some changes from yesterday. But it just seemed like my car suited going over that big jump in the chicane. We just never really got a chance to capitalize on the tires. We seemed to either catch a red at the end of the first set of tires, then the second set of tires I had some traffic with Pagenaud, which didn't help. That kind of just killed our qualifying effort.
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