Rookie Doornbos Tames Quebec

MONT-TREMBLANT, Quebec — Robert Doornbos mastered changing weather conditions to claim his first Champ Car World Series victory at the spectacular Circuit Mont-Tremblant north of Montreal.
Doornbos’s Team Minardi USA entry was at its best in the wettest part of the 62-lap contest — in other words, the very end, as the 25-year- old Dutchman beat three-time series champion Sebastien Bourdais by 2.889 seconds. Will Power was third, recovering well after stalling at the start from the outside of the front row.
However, Doornbos came in for heavy criticism after the race from Bourdais, who accused the rookie of using unfair blocking tactics.
“I fully think I deserve the victory,” said Doornbos, who averaged 92.245 miles per hour in a race that alternated between dry and wet conditions. “I know the rules in the U.S. are different. In Europe, in F-1, we race hard, but it is still a sport. At the end of the day, you have to be selfish. You are fighting for your own position.”

NAVIGATION DEMONSTRATION: Robert Doornbos’s victory tied the rookie with Sebastien Bourdais atop the Champ Car point standings. Bourdais finished second, 2.889 seconds behind Doornbos. (Champ Car Photo)

The front row of the grid eliminated itself before the start. Pole-sitter Tristan Gommendy’s PKV Racing machine refused to fire for the warm-up, while second qualifier Power had to be push-started after the field accelerated away. Two other drivers also stalled, prompting the first of six caution periods that totaled 15 laps.
Doornbos qualified fifth, but he moved into the lead on the 28th lap when early leader Bourdais slid into a gravel trap at the Namerow hairpin approaching a restart. The Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing driver continued in 13th place.
When Doornbos made a routine pit stop on lap 38, rookie Graham Rahal took over at the front. But Rahal’s turn in the lead lasted just seven laps because his car refused to select a gear after a pit stop. The second-generation star eventually resumed and finished seventh.
Justin Wilson inherited the top spot, but the RSports DP01 was not set up for the wet, and the Englishman slid off course during the 48th lap, elevating rookie Simon Pagenaud to the point.
The Frenchman pulled away for a couple of laps before Doornbos started to eat into his advantage. On the 53rd tour, Pagenaud repeated his countryman Bourdais’s error by veering into the gravel trap at the Namerow hairpin, dropping to third place.
Back up to second place, Bourdais made a couple of aborted passing attempts for the lead and later claimed that Doornbos twice tried to push him onto the grass at high speed. But after a final two-lap caution period for Alex Figge’s spin, Bourdais appeared content to settle for second place.
“He had the faster car,” Bourdais admitted. “He seemed to do a great job. It’s just a shame that as good a driver as he is, he had to do it this way.”

FIRST-TIMER: Rookie Robert Doornbos shows off a stylish trophy after  his first Champ Car victory Sunday at Circuit Mont-Tremblant. (Al Munger Photo

Doornbos refused to back down to Bourdais’s post-race badgering. “I am for sure respecting the rules of racing in the U.S.,” he said. “In these conditions, you cannot predict what happens because you’re all over the place looking for grip.
 “If Sebastien feels that he could have passed me, he should have done it. I felt I was quicker.”
Power was pleased to recover from his start-line stall to finish third, immediately ahead of his Team Australia teammate Pagenaud. Wilson took fifth ahead of Neel Jani.
The result created a tie for the lead of the Champ Car World Series standings between Bourdais and Doornbos with 145 points each, though the Frenchman would win a tie-breaker based on his greater number of race victories this year.