San Mateo, CA (July 28, 2005): On Sunday July 31, 2005, Race Number 8 of the 2005 Champ Car World Series will roar through nearby San Jose on a wild, twisty 1.5-mile temporary street circuit with 11 tight downtown turns. This weekend's inaugural San Jose event marks the first time that Champ Car has run inaugural events back-to-back since Montreal and Denver stops were added in 2002. The last time Champ Car raced near the Bay Area was in 1970 at Sears Point when Dan Gurney took the checkered flag, so hundreds of thousands of Bay Area residents will turn out watch.
With the uncertainty of this new track, set up in the Bay Area's largest city in the heart of Silicon Valley, plus with the pressure of the points standings, Champ Car's hottest drivers will be reduced to rookies as they together learn the local pavement's grip and bumps, which make things very challenging in a open-wheel car going 180mph. The next event is August 14, when the series returns to Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver in Colorado.
Will series leader Sebastien Bourdais (#1 McDonald's Ford - Cosworth / Lola / Bridgestone) continue to have a tough time qualifying, like in Edmonton, where he started from the 10th spot, the farthest back he had ever gridded on a Champ Car street course? Even though he made amends on Race Day, when he came back to win the event and extend his lead in the standings to 21 points over Paul Tracy, the pressure is on to maintain his series lead for the second half with seven races still to go.
In today's release, Sebastien admits "our season has been kind of difficult so far but the McDonald's team is leading the championship and maybe after the win in Edmonton things have begun to turn around. Hopefully we can keep the lead leaving San Jose and move forward for the rest of the races. We have had some frustrations in many of the events and have not had the kind of finishes we would have liked to have but we'll see how it goes in the second half of the season. There is a lot of guessing for a new track." Bourdais starts San Jose with questions.
How about the chances of Mario Dominguez (#7 Forsythe Championship Racing) for a symbolic win in front of the large Hispanic community of San Jose? In 2004, the Mexican-born put together the best overall finish of his 3 years racing the Champ Car series. Making his countrymen proud, he put his car on the outside of row one for the start of the race in Monterrey with a podium finish. He matched his season-best run of third in Montreal and Australia, earning a total of three podium finishes for his Herdez squad. Finishing 11 out of 14 races in the top 10, including 6 top-fives, was enough to earn him a career-best 5th-place in the season standings.
Dominguez predicts "the San Jose race is going to be big for us. I hear the Hispanic community is very big there, so hopefully we'll see some Mexican flags in the stands and the people will come out to support our team. The track is going to be challenging since none of us have seen it before. You always wonder about things like the amount of grip and the bumps in the pavement that you don't notice in a street car but which can make things very challenging in a Champ Car at 180mph." Watch him.
Will local-boy A.J. Allmendinger (#10 RuSPORT Ford - Cosworth / Lola / Bridgestone) make good? He comes to San Jose fresh off of winning the first pole of his Champ Car career and leading a race-high 40 laps in Edmonton. He set the fastest lap of the race and was in position to claim that elusive first series victory before "contact" ended his day. The young American prodigy remains in the top-five in points as the second half of the season begins. The Los Gatos native can't wait to start Sunday.
"I've really been looking forward to this race all season. It's been my dream to drive Champ Cars and now I am and through the streets I grew up around! It doesn't get much cooler than that," Allmendinger proclaims. "I was pretty gutted over the outcome of the Edmonton race, but if I could get my first win here, that would awesome. I have so many family members and friends coming that they will probably take a whole grandstand themselves!"
How about local veteran Jimmy Vasser (#12 PKV Racing)? Will team ownership be a distraction for Vasser, now that he is driving for and is part-owner of PKV Racing with Kevin Kalkhoven and Dan Pettit? Vasser managed to keep things balanced in 2004, when he finished 8th in the series standings as part-owner, marking the 8th time he has finished in the top 10 overall. Vasser also scored the 31st podium finish of his career with a 2nd-place run in Toronto and earned a front-row start in Las Vegas. Vasser ended 2004 on with a 5th-place run in Mexico City, boosting him from 10th to 8th in the final standings. This year, Vasser is in the thick of things, currently standing in 6th place overall in the series. Will the Morgan Hill native give local fans a podium finish to celebrate?
Check out my coverage of the event this weekend on CarREVIEW.com:
http://gallery.carreview.com/showgal...&ppuser=241688
Official Event Website:
http://www.sanjosegrandprix.com/
Champ Car Website:
http://www.champcarworldseries.com/
Highlights I'll Be Covering:
Champ Car Comes to San Jose
The Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San Jose is this city's inaugural Champ Car event, drawing over 100,000 spectators and generating $20 million for the City of San Jose.
Wild Downtown Street Course
A 1.5-mile temporary street circuit twists clockwise through 11 tight turns, with straight-away speeds of 192mph down Almaden Boulevard before the biggest deceleration in Champ Car, as cars slow to 42mph before entering the hairpin on Turn 3.
Leader Sebastien Bourdais #1
Holds a 21-point lead heading into San José¬*off an Edmonton victory where he came from 10th on the starting grid to finish with the win. Bourdais' ability to keep his car in one piece is one of the reasons for his success this year as he leads the series in total laps and miles; Sebastien is the only driver to finish every race so far this season.
Mexican Mario Dominquez #7
"The San Jose race is going to be big. I hear the Hispanic community is very big there, so hopefully we'll see Mexican flags in the stands and people will come support our team." One a career best 5th-place finish in the 2004 Series Championship.
Local Star A.J. Allmendinger #10
Allmendinger scored the first pole of his series career by leading both Edmonton qualifying sessions, and has "been looking forward to this race all season. It's been my dream to drive Champ Cars and now I am through the streets I grew up around! It doesn't get much cooler than that."
Local Veteran Jimmy Vasser #12
Morgan Hill native Jimmy Vasser will race in front of his home fans for the first time in his series career as the former series champion finds himself in the thick of the series title hunt again, standing in sixth spot on the strength of five top-10 finishes. Jimmy's qualifying efforts have been factors, usually starting 8th or better.
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