Although the Frenchman later tried to blame his Belgian rival for the contact, replays clearly showed the PKV car cutting the second part of the final right-left chicane before spearing off right - straight into the luckless Heylen, who was trying to make his way around the errant blue-and-white machine.
The contact was hard, with both cars spinning off onto the infield, fortunately without injury to either driver, but ended a couple of promising runs for the European duo.
When Power made his second stop, it was Tracy who took over at the front, the rest of the leaders having either followed or pre-empted the Team Australia car's move. Quick work from Derrick Walker's squad, however, had Power back in position to retake the lead when Tracy pitted, again with Bourdais in his mirrors.
The sight of the red-and-yellow McDonalds machine was fleeting, however, for, on lap 68, Bourdais was out, the victim of a rare mechanical problem for the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing team as his engine went sick. Once again, Cleveland proved to be an unhappy hunting ground for the reigning champion, who was left to watch as his points lead faced being whittled away.
Bourdais had barely had time to get his helmet off and begin discussing the problem with his crew when his luck received its first boost. Power, having been comfortably leading, was now motoring decidedly more slowly, initial fears for his engine giving way to the sight of a tyre trying desperately to work its way off the rim. The Australian barely made it back to the pits with rubber on all four corners, but his hopes of winning had gone, the Team Australia car dropping to an unrepresentative tenth by the flag.
With Bourdais out of the role of chief pursuer, it was once again Tracy who took over at the front, but with Rahal hot on his heels and eager to exact some measure of payback for the pair's earlier clash.
