Remarkably, the entire field had made it through the notorious opening corner unscathed - perhaps as a result of the standing start - but it wasn't long before it was reduced in number, Alex Figge's pulling out with mechanical gremlins on lap four.
Junqueira was the next to go, nerfed into retirement by the over-eager Tracy, while Dale Coyne team-mate Katherine Legge didn't last much longer, the Briton succumbing to a sick handling car. Heylen, Gommendy and Bourdais completed the retirement list.
All of which left Tracy fending off Doornbos around the last lap, the Dutchman not finding the right moment to use his last batch of boost, although Tracy was down to two seconds having ramped up his power to hold off the Minardi Team USA car at the start of the lap.
It is exactly two years since the Canadian last won, triumphing over future team-mates AJ Allmendinger and Servia at the 2005 Grand Prix of Cleveland. Win number 31 - moving him into a tie with Al Unser Jr on the all-time list - did not come quite the way Tracy wanted, but he will certainly hope that it signals lift off for his hopes of catching old nemesis Bourdais.
For the record, the Frenchman held on to his championship lead, but now has a scant three-point advantage over Doornbos, with Power having dropped to third, a further nine adrift. Tracy, meanwhile, eases himself back into the top ten....
