But, after I was going out of the pits, the yellow came, and Mario and Sebastien just were going out of the pits. So I get some guys, slowing down in the middle of the track, so they passed me, so I went to fourth. Then, I don't know, I guess I passed Mario again at some stage, and I was going behind Tracy, and again Mario passed me in the pit-stop. There was Jimmy and another guy in front of me, as well.
So when I had a free track in the end of the race, the car was good - not good as has been throughout the weekend, I had too much understeer. But I was able to finish the race on the podium, and I was able to pass Mario when I had a chance. Today, I think the strategy worked better for Sebastien who was able to pass PT, so well done to him. I think it was a great race, great race for the fans, and I hope we come back here in Long Beach next year.
Q:
Thank you, Bruno. A couple of notes before we open it up to questions. We had seven leaders in today's race, the first time since the Fontana event in November of 2002 where we have had seven different leaders in a Champ Car race.
SB:
And that's a street course...
Q:
Ronnie Bremer led a couple of laps in his Champ Car debut. He's the first driver since Sebastien, when he debuted at St Petersburg in 2003, to lead laps in his Champ Car debut. And
Timo Glock finished sixth, the highest finish for a Champ Car driver making his series debut since Justin Wilson finished sixth here a year ago.
Q:
Paul, Marshall seemed to hold you up on the last restart? Did that bother you?
PT:
The chief steward had given him the signal -- they told me on the radio that he was supposed to drive through the pits and be out of the way of the leaders. The lap before we were going to go green, he didn't do that, he stayed out, and then it went green. You know, Sebastien just waited on the pace car a little bit to get away, built his speed up around turn ten, and he [Marshall] didn't really go. Sebastien got away from me probably a couple seconds right there, then he pulled in. That pretty much decided the race. It was really the only legitimate shot I had to get by Sebastien again, but it would have been hard. His car was fast. I don't think we had the pace that it would have taken at the end of the race to out-race him. And, after that, I just settled in and decided to take what we could get from him.
Q:
Sebastien, did your tyre strategy play out the way you planned?
SB:
Actually, we had that planned, to use the alternate tyres back-to-back. I think it was pretty even, you know, between the alternate tyres. These tyres were scuffed, then we got two sets of brand-new regular tyres. It wasn't a big deal either way, but definitely the fact that we got the alternate tyre for that restart definitely helped me because they were coming a lot faster. That's probably the reason I got around PT.
Q:
You guys put on a great race today, had a huge crowd. What would you tell the people at Dover Entertainment that may want to go another way next year?
PT:
Well, you know, I guess maybe I could comment first because I've been here the longest. I've been here at this race since '91, was my first race here. I saw more excitement this weekend and more enthusiasm from the crowd than I've seen in a long, long time. It's probably one of the best events, in terms of entertainment, that the Long Beach Grand Prix and Champ Car has put on since I've been here.
