2007 Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton

  2007 Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton

Race details
Race 8 of 14 in the 2007 Champ Car season
Date	July 22, 2007
Official name	Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton
Location	Rexall Speedway, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Course	Temporary Airport Course 1.973 mi / 3.175 km
Distance	96 laps, 189.408 mi / 304.800 km
Weather	Mostly Cloudy (28.0°C / 82.4°F)
Pole position
Driver	Will Power	Team Australia
Time	58.403
Fastest lap
Driver	Sébastien Bourdais	N/H/L Racing
Time	58.653 (on lap 93 of 96)
Podium
First	Sébastien Bourdais	N/H/L Racing
Second	Justin Wilson	RSPORTS
Third	Graham Rahal	N/H/L Racing

The 2007 Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton was the eighth round of the 2007 Champ Car World Series Season, and was held on July 22, 2007 at Rexall Speedway in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The race was won by Sébastien Bourdais followed by Justin Wilson and Graham Rahal.

Qualifying results

Pos	Nat	Name	Team	Qual 1	Qual 2	Best
1		Will Power	Team Australia	59.155	58.403	58.403
2		Sébastien Bourdais	N/H/L Racing	58.709	58.596	58.596
3		Justin Wilson	RSPORTS	59.174	58.410	58.410
4		Graham Rahal	N/H/L Racing	59.112	58.485	58.485
5		Neel Jani (R)	PKV Racing	59.465	58.762	58.762
6		Bruno Junqueira	Dale Coyne Racing	59.127	58.846	58.846
7		Simon Pagenaud (R)	Team Australia	58.974	58.868	58.868
8		Ryan Dalziel	Pacific Coast Motorsports	1:01.055	59.256	59.256
9		Alex Tagliani	RSPORTS	59.483	59.549	59.483
10		Dan Clarke	Minardi Team USA	no time	59.503	59.503
11		Robert Doornbos (R)	Minardi Team USA	59.941	59.553	59.553
12		Jan Heylen	Conquest Racing	1:00.470	59.561	59.561
13		Oriol Servia	Forsythe Racing	59.582	59.695	59.582
14		Paul Tracy	Forsythe Racing	1:01.840	1:00.107	1:00.107
15		Katherine Legge	Dale Coyne Racing	1:00.222	1:00.850	1:00.222
16		Alex Figge (R)	Pacific Coast Motorsports	1:00.937	1:01.996	1:00.937

Will Power won his fourth career pole position by nipping Justin Wilson by .007 of a second. Power knocked the front wing off his car while going off course during his final lap, but Wilson was unable to better Power's earlier best lap. Sébastien Bourdais was only fourth fastest on Saturday but his top time from Friday secured him a front row beside his championship rival Power. Tristan Gommendy will not take part in the race after suffering a back injury when he contacted the wall in Friday's qualification session. He was replaced by Mario Dominguez, who is searching for a full-time ride in the series and was in Edmonton driving the Minardi two-seater.

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Sébastien Bourdais	N/H/L Racing	96	1:45:41.953	2	33
2	9	Justin Wilson	RSPORTS	96	+3.9 secs	3	27
3	2	Graham Rahal	N/H/L Racing	96	+6.6 secs	4	25
4	15	Simon Pagenaud (R)	Team Australia	96	+24.8 secs	7	23
5	3	Paul Tracy	Forsythe Racing	96	+28.1 secs	14	22
6	7	Oriol Servia	Forsythe Racing	96	+30.0 secs	13	19
7	19	Bruno Junqueira	Dale Coyne Racing	96	+30.7 secs	6	17
8	4	Dan Clarke	Minardi Team USA	96	+35.3 secs	10	15
9	21	Neel Jani (R)	PKV Racing	96	+37.8 secs	5	13
10	34	Jan Heylen	Conquest Racing	96	+58.7 secs	12	11
11	14	Robert Doornbos (R)	Minardi Team USA	95	+ 1 Lap	11	10
12	28	Ryan Dalziel	Pacific Coast Motorsports	95	+ 1 Lap	8	9
13	29	Alex Figge (R)	Pacific Coast Motorsports	95	+ 1 Lap	16	8
14	8	Alex Tagliani	RSPORTS	69	Contact	9	7
15	5	Will Power	Team Australia	69	Mechanical	1	7
16	11	Katherine Legge	Dale Coyne Racing	36	Mechanical	15	5
17	22	Mario Dominguez	PKV Racing	32	Mechanical	17	4

Going into the race Sebastien Bourdais found himself in an unusual position: third place in the season points standings behind Robert Doornbos and Will Power. Starting from second on the grid next to Power, Bourdais swept around the pole-sitter on the outside through Edmonton's wide first turn. Bourdais led the race until his first pit stop on lap 21. Bourdais was forced to wait critical seconds for Katherine Legge to enter her pit stall and lost two positions.

Power now led the race in front of Justin Wilson and Bourdais. He led until his second pit stop on lap 49. Wilson stayed out an extra lap, coming in on lap 50, but Bourdais stayed out until lap 52, which proved to be the critical strategic move of the race. Bourdais came out in the lead after his stop. Bourdais now led in front of Wilson and Graham Rahal, with Power back in fourth place.

Disaster hit Power on lap 66 when the steering rack on his Panoz broke. Meanwhile Robert Doornbos', who spent the early stages of the race stuck deep in the field unable to improve much on his 11th place grid position, tangled with the lapped car of Alex Tagliani on lap 69. Tagliani was knocked out of the race, while Doornbos was able to continue, but a lap down.

Bourdais cruised to his fourth victory of the year, followed by Justin Wilson and teammate Graham Rahal. Even more impressive was the turnaround in the season points championship. At the end of the race Bourdais led Doornbos by 20 and Will Power by 25 in his drive for an unprecedented fourth consecutive Champ Car title.

Caution flags

Notes

• Fastest Lap Sébastien Bourdais: 58.653 (Lap 93)
• New Race Record Sébastien Bourdais : 1:45:41.953
• Average Speed 107.517 mph

Attendance

Race weekend attendance was 167,152. This was down slightly from the 171,391 who attended in 2006.^[1]

References

1. ↑ Story not found - NJ.com

External links

• Edmonton Grand Prix (Official Site)
• Full Weekend Times & Results

Coordinates: 53°34′32″N 113°31′22.5″W / 53.57556°N 113.522917°W / 53.57556; -113.522917