Just one week after the 'rock and roll' antics of the Grand Prix of Cleveland, the Champ Car World Series heads into another streak of back-to-back races, beginning with Canada Day weekend at historic Mont-Tremblant.
The venue replaces Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on the schedule, returning to the Champ Car calendar for the first time since 1968, when Mario Andretti won from pole position. The only other visit was the previous year, when a double-header event was held - with both races run on the same day! Andretti proved successful then as well, taking both races to add to one of the pole positions on offer.
The circuit, a fast 15-turn mix of hills and blind corners, is regarded as one of the most demanding in the world, and comes highly rated by those Champ Car drivers who tested there in May. It is, therefore, very different to the Burke Lakefront Airport circuit that hosted the series last week, but will have to go some to match the plethora of passes, spins, yellow flags and close competition that 'graced' round five.
Of the current crop of Champ Car drivers, only two have competed at Mont-Tremblant in the past, fittingly both of whom had a shot at winning last time out. While Graham Rahal ultimately came up short in his bid, veteran Paul Tracy - who raced at Le Circuit some 20 years ago, before Rahal was even born - went on to clinch his first series win in two years.
“I can't wait to get to Canada," Tracy said, "Circuit Mont Tremblant is a spectacular track - I really think it's one of the best circuits in North America - and it really suits this new DP01 Chassis. We are going to put on quite a show there, and there's no better way to head into your three home races than with a win.
"It has been a really tough year for us, but all that just made the Cleveland victory taste even better. We've finally managed to pick up some momentum and now we just have to carry it through the next few races and try to keep getting those wins. We still have a lot of work to do, but we are getting closer and the cars are getting better every time.”
The 38-year old Forsythe Championship Racing pilot wouldn't mind repeating his Cleveland performance this weekend but in order to do that he will have to fight off Dutchman Robert Doornbos who, after an up-and-down race in Cleveland, still managed to make the podium for a fourth time in five races. The rookie's performance put him only three points behind Sebastien Bourdais - who suffered a rare retirement - in the overall championship standings.
“I am looking forward to Mont-Tremblant a lot, because it's very similar to my favourite track, Spa-Francorchamps, and like being in the Ardennes mountains," the Minardi Team USA driver commented, "We did one day of testing there in May and we were fastest on the first day. We had another good result last weekend, and the team is highly motivated. I'm looking forward to the race for sure.”
The battle for points will get even more intense this weekend as both Newman/Haas/Lanigan drivers - Bourdais and Rahal - and Minardi Team USA's Doornbos and Dan Clarke featured at the top of the timesheets during the Mont-Tremblant test. Like Doornbos, Bourdais showed that he is a driver that adapts to new tracks very quickly, jumping from third on day one to head the times on day two, running up the quickest lap of the test at 1min 16.41secs. The three-time reigning champion has also won five of the last seven inaugural events, and is confident of adding another this weekend.
