Toronto – The whole scene Sunday felt just a little too familiar to A.J. Allmendinger. Fortunately for the only American-born driver in the Champ Car World Series, it didn’t turn out that way – and he captured his third race win in a row.
Headed for an easy victory at the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto, a late caution flag bunched the leaders and gave teammate Paul Tracy and series leader Sebastien Bourdais one last shot at Allmendinger.
Almost exactly a year ago, in Edmonton, Allmendinger was on his way to a win when a late caution waved. Then-teammate Justin Wilson, right behind Allmendinger, crashed on the restart, but Allmendinger also made a mistake on the slick track and hit the wall with eight laps to go, giving Bourdais an unlikely win.
Asked what was going through his mind when Nelson Philippe and Oriol Servia crashed with 10 laps to go Sunday, bringing out the third yellow flag of the race, Allmendinger, who lives in Thornton, gritted his teeth and replied, “Edmonton, last year.”
The difference this time, though, is that Allmendinger is no longer a driver feeling the pressure to get his first Champ Car win and finding all kinds of ways to fail in that quest.
This time, Allmendinger pulled away from Tracy after the green flag waved with four laps remaining, becoming the first American driver to win three races in a row since Al Unser Jr. in 1994.
It took getting fired by Loveland-based RuSport last month after a fourth-place finish at Milwaukee and being hired a few days later by Gerald Forsythe’s team to get the 24-year-old to the victory podium.
“If somebody had asked me heading to Portland for my first race with Forsythe if I could win three in a row, I’d have said no,” Allmendinger said. “But, after the first practice, feeling the energy of the team, seeing how well they work together and knowing how comfortable I felt in the car right away, it’s no surprise.”
Allmendinger, who led a race-high 38 laps, drove nearly a perfect race, conserving fuel and running hard at the end to keep Tracy at bay.
