|
LAS VEGAS (AP) _ Sebastien Bourdais thought it might be his day after all when he found himself running third Sunday despite having two flat tires in the first 23 laps of the inaugural Vegas Grand Prix.
Unfortunately, for the three-time defending champion of the Champ Car World Series, another flat tire knocked him back to the pack and then a collision with one of the concrete barriers lining the ...
|
|
|
|
Bridgestone Firestone pulled its presenting sponsorship of the Champ Car World Series but will remain the sole tire supplier for the open-wheel racing series.
Bridgestone Firestone announced Saturday night it agreed to a multiyear extension of its contract to provide tires for the series.
``While the restructured contract does not include provisions for the Bridgestone brand to remain presenting sponsor ... our ongoing commitment to design, develop, produce and deliver ...
|
|
|
|
The Champ Car World Series will air on ESPN beginning in 2007, returning to the network that used to broadcast its races.
ESPN announced the multi-year agreement with the open-wheel racing series on Thursday. At least 11 Champ Car races in 2007 and the full series in 2008 will be aired on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC.
ESPN's schedule will start with the April 22 race in Houston.
The first race ...
|
|
|
|
Sebastien Bourdais won his
third straight Champ Car drivers' championship Sunday when A.J.
Allmendinger crashed out of the Indy 300.
Bourdais had a 58-point lead over second-place Allmendinger going
into the Surfers Paradise race. The French driver needed to finish
ninth or better, assuming that the American picked up the maximum
number of points in Australia, including 31 for a win.
Allmendinger hit the wall on the 19th lap of the scheduled 59-lap
race, giving the title to ...
|
|
|
|
As the Indy 300 welcomed its 4
millionth spectator Sunday, plans were under way to keep the event
in Australia until at least 2013.
The current contract between race organizers and Champ Car
expires in 2008, but race chairman Terry Mackenroth said Sunday that
meetings have already taken place to extend that another five years.
``That's subject to negotiation, but the Premier (Peter Beattie)
and the government are committed,'' Mackenroth said.
The Queensland state government has heavily subsidized ...
|
|
|
|
A year ago, Sebastien Bourdais
needed only to finish Australia's Indy 300 to win his second
straight Champ Car series title.
The French driver started from the front row and finished first
to take home the Vanderbilt Trophy as series champion.
On Sunday, Bourdais again will start from the front row, needing
only to finish ninth or better to win the title. He can join Ted
Horn (1946-48) as the only drivers in the 97-year history of ...
|
|
|
|
Sebastien Bourdais might have
to clinch the Champ Car series championship in his backup car after
a nasty crash Saturday during qualifying for Sunday's Indy 300.
Bourdais, who needs to finish ninth or better to win his third
straight championship, hit a tire barrier with about 15 minutes to
go in qualifying and smashed hard into the wall.
He wiped out the left side of his car and his front tire
separated and caught fire. Although stunned ...
|
|
|
|
Champ Car series co-owner
Kevin Kalkhoven has played down suggestions that his circuit and the
Indy Racing League are even remotely close to a merger.
In June, following a meeting between Kalkhoven and IRL founder
Tony George, there were optimistic reports from Indianapolis that
the two American-based open-wheel circuits might finally end their
decade-long differences.
``That whole thing (meeting) got blown out of proportion,''
Kalkhoven said Saturday at the Indy 300. ``Tony and I talked, but
there was nothing ...
|
|
|
|
Paul Tracy and Sebastien Bourdais have a long history of animosity, both on and off the track. But the veteran Canadian driver is wishing Bourdais all the best with his stated interest to be in Formula One, and says the Frenchman would be a big loss to the Champ Car circuit.
``I know he wants to get to Formula One and I think he deserves the chance to be there,'' ...
|
|
|
|
When A.J. Allmendinger won the last Champ Car race three weeks ago, the American driver proudly declared that he had prevented series leader Sebastien Bourdais from clinching the championship on his turf.
``I'm not letting a French guy clinch on American soil,'' Allmendinger said in victory lane at Elkhart Lake, Wisc.
Well, both drivers are on neutral ground this week _ the tricky 2.8-mile oceanside street course around resort hotels ...
|
|
|
|
