The past two drivers to hoist the Vanderbilt Cup as champion of the Champ Car World Series will start from the front row in today’s Grand Prix of Denver.
Familiar front-runners Paul Tracy and Sebastien Bourdais on Saturday traded track-record laps on the 1.65-mile street course around the Pepsi Center before Tracy, who claimed the provisional pole Friday, clinched the top spot with the quickest lap in race history.
Under threatening but dry skies, the 2003 series champion from Canada produced a time of 59.432 seconds (100.37 mph) to knock Bourdais, the defending series champion who won this race a year ago, to second. The Frenchman (59.541, 100.18 mph) was the second of six drivers to qualify in less than one minute.
Tracy’s teammate Mario Dominguez will start third and Colorado-based teammates A.J. Allmendinger and Justin Wilson, who drive for Loveland-based RuSport, will begin fourth and fifth, respectively.
Tracy, 36, woke up Saturday morning to rain and a decision to make. Given that he had already secured a front-row starting spot Friday, he mulled sitting out of second session, hoping his time of 59.759 seconds would remain No. 1.
Bourdais made the decision for him by turning a lap of 59.3 seconds in the morning practice. Each day’s fast qualifier gets a point, and Tracy, who trails Bourdais in the standings by 26 points (216-188), couldn’t watch Bourdais pick up a point without a fight.
“We knew the track was better. We knew we had to improve. We knew we had to step up,” Tracy said. “We were able to do that today. So it was great.”
Bourdais, last year’s pole winner at Denver, was disappointed he didn’t win the pole this time around. But he said he has a good car on long runs and is excited about the possibility of winning for the third consecutive time in Denver for Newman/Haas Racing.
“There’s no grip out there (but) we end up going faster with a significant amount of laps on the tires,” said Bourdais, 26. “So I guess there’s some good in it and some bad. The bad was today. The good should be tomorrow.”
RuSport should also be in good shape for its home race. Allmendinger, who lives in Thornton, called fourth “a great result” after his crew made significant chassis adjustments after practice.
He added: “I think (my) Western Union car is solid for (today) and Justin is going to have to settle for second.”
Wilson, third in the standings, called his qualifying effort just “OK.”
“I’m all right with it because we’re going to tweak a few more things and the Intel car will be ready to race,” Wilson said. “I’m looking forward to bringing back our first win in our hometown.”
Tracy and Bourdais will be tough to beat. When the two sat beside each other at the post-qualifying news conference, Tracy sounded as if it’s Bourdais’ race to lose.
A year ago, Bourdais went from worst to first after spinning out on the first turn.
When asked where the best passing opportunities are, Tracy said: “I think Sebastien could tell you. He passed everybody in the field last year. I didn’t pass anybody. Him and Bruno (Junqueira) got into each other. I got into the lead. I didn’t pass a car all day. He passed everybody in the field. He could probably answer that better than me.”
Bourdais, playing along, said: “I don’t know. I passed someone every single corner, so I can’t tell you.”
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
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Grand Prix of Denver lineup
After Saturday’s qualifying. Lap length: 1.657 miles. All cars are Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone.
Pos. No. Driver Time Speed Comment 1. 3 Paul Tracy 59.432 100.370 Finished second here in 2004 and was No. 1 in both qualifying sessions.
2. 1 Sebastien Bourdais 59.541 100.186 Isn’t as dominant here as a year ago, but still a leading contender.
3. 7 Mario Dominguez 59.644 100.013 His best qualifying effort since the season opener.
4. 10 A.J. Allmendinger 59.838 99.523 Thornton driver has been accident-prone lately.
5. 9 Justin Wilson 59.962 99.483 The second of two fast drivers for Loveland-based RuSport.
6. 12 Jimmy Vasser 59.995 99.428 The American veteran was surprisingly fast late in Saturday’s qualifying.
7. 15 Alex Tagliani 1:00.156 99.162 Making his 100th career Champ Car start.
8. 2 Oriol Servia 1:00.331 98.875 Disappointing qualifying effort for the man who replaced Bruno Junqueira.
9. 21 Cristiano da Matta 1:00.493 98.610 The 2002 champion is getting average results from PKV Racing.
10. 8 Timo Glock 1:00.529 98.551 He’s the highest-qualifying rookie.
11. 27 Andrew Ranger 1:00.704 98.267 Rookie has finished just three of eight races.
12. 11 Ricardo Sperafico 1:00.732 98.222 Rookie’s best finish so far is ninth.
13. 55 Rodolfo Lavin 1:00.766 98.167 Making his second start of the season.
14. 4 Bjorn Wirdheim 1:00.863 98.010 Rookie has finished in just half of his eight races.
15. 34 Nelson Philippe 1:00.915 97.927 Looking to lead for the third time this season.
16. 19 Ronnie Bremer 1:01.093 97.641 Stands second in the rookie of the year chase with Timo Glock.
17. 31 Ryan Hunter-Reay 1:01.342 97.245 Crashed into tires late in Saturday’s qualifying round.
18. 5 Marcus Marshall 1:02.064 96.114 Rookie is nearly 3 seconds off the pole pace.
Source: The Associated Press COMMENTS BY MIKE CHAMBERS, THE DENVER POST
