Newman Haas driver, Bruno Junqueira took his first win of the year at the 2.709-mile Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve track in Montreal on Sunday. The Brazilian also significantly closed the gap on his team mate Sebastien Bourdais in the title chase after the Frenchman was forced to retire. It was the 150th ChampCar win in Lola’s history.
Junqueira beat hometown favourite Patrick Carpentier’s Forsythe Lola by six seconds in front of over 50,000 fans to reduce the points deficit from 58 to 34 points in the points table. The Newman Haas driver led the final 25 laps after a canny race that saw him track his pole sitting team mate – Bourdais and Herdez’s Mario Dominguez. When Bourdais was forced to stop after contact with RuSPORTS’s AJ Allmendinger, who in turn put himself out of contention after serving a stop/go penalty for the collision, Bruno was in position to capitalise and bring his Lola home for maximum points.
Junqueira celebrates his first win of the season
“I think the luck came to my side for once, and I'm quite happy for that,” said the jubilant Brazilian after the race. It now gives me a good position in the championship. I'm never going to give up; I'll keep working very hard to try to catch Sebastien for the championship. I think I can reverse it. Like four races ago, I was leading. I had three bad races and he had three good ones, and he passed me and opened a big gap. I hope I can get another three good races.”
Bourdais was naturally disappointed and aggrieved after his elimination from the race and was stinging in his criticism of Allmendinger, saying: “I am here to win the championship; I'm not playing a game. This race was very important for the whole team. To put the car on pole and lead the race only to be a victim of what happened is a huge shame. I gave him room. He was obviously very angry to act that way. This is the third time in four races we've been hit by somebody. “
Carpentier was delighted with 2nd place for Forsythe and commented: “It worked out well for us. The car was fast in the race. I know some guys had some bad luck, but I've had a but of bad luck in the last few races. So I'll take this one.”
Completing the podium was Mexican driver Mario Dominguez who had run in a spirited 2nd place earlier in the event. He brought his Herdez Lola home just behind Carpentier but was still slightly disgruntled to have not been challenging for victory at flagfall. “I never thought I'd be disappointed finishing third but I got to the pits and had a problem with the wheel gun. I think I lost something like 20 something seconds, so that's where we lost the race. That was too bad, but we managed to bring it back home on the podium.”
Paul Tracy takes to the grass at the start of the race as Dominguez and Junqueira go wheel to wheel
The only full course yellow of the race came on lap 20 when Ryan Hunter Reay crashed at Turn 9. “I hit the turn nine curbing at the wrong angle, which sent the car to the wall.” said the unfortunate American.
Paul Tracy ultimately did well to finish in 4th position in his Forsythe Lola after a first corner incident with Alex Tagliani’s Rocketsports car. "Tagliani had me off on the first corner and my front suspension was badly damaged,” said the reigning champion. “It was driveable and we decided to drive it rather than lose laps in the pits changing the front. It was crazy, the steering was wild one way but not the other and it was a really physical race! I just did the best I could.”
British rookie Justin Wilson once again showed well and was running in 5th place with the leading group when a gearbox problem halted him on lap 55. “I'm obviously disappointed with how my race ended. We were having a very competitive race, and the car was fast. My crew did a good job on the pit-stops, and we were definitely in position to score our first podium finish. Unfortunately it was not meant to be just yet."
Taking 5th place was the tenacious Allmendinger who came from the back from the incident with Bourdais and an early race puncture to build further on his lead in the rookie of the year standings. “It's too bad how things went and the end result won't show how good our performance was today,” said AJ after an eventful race. “I will gladly take my top-five and look forward to Laguna Seca."
Lola Cars first ChampCar win came in 1983 at Elkhart Lake when Mario Andretti won, fittingly in a Newman Haas Lola. Commenting on another landmark for the Huntingdon constructor, Lola Cars International Chairman, Martin Birrane said; “We are delighted to reach the significant landmark of 150 ChampCar wins as it re-emphasises the Lola philosophy of continuing excellence and technical achievement in one of the worlds most exciting single seater Championships.”
“Lola have been staunch supporters of the series since its inception and from the first race win by Mario Andretti in 1983 to this latest victory at Montreal, we would like to congratulate Newman Haas and Bruno on their success today and indeed to all our customers for their on-going commitment to winning. We can ensure them that Lola’s extensive technical capabilities will be ensuring a continuation of this winning trend for many years to come.”
The next race on the schedule is at Laguna Seca in California on September 12.
