CLEVELAND — Paul Tracy won for the first time in 27 races Sunday at the Cleveland Grand Prix at Burke Lakefront Airport.
The 38-year-old Canadian fell to last place during the race but worked his way back to the front despite pitting five times. His last Champ Car victory came at Cleveland in 2005.
Tracy started seventh only to run into the back of Graham Rahal on lap four, causing both cars to slip off course. Tracy pitted for his first front- wing replacement. Then three laps later in a similar incident, Tracy ran into the back of Bruno Junqueira and pitted for his second front-wing replacement.
His Forsythe Championship team skillfully guided him through the race with great fuel strategy to earn a 0.513-second victory.
“It was anything but spectacular, needing two new front wings,” Tracy said about his 31st series victory. “This series pays me to create some excitement. This was by no means a nice, easy, comfortable, pretty win. It was ugly. It is very satisfying because I had to really fight. I’m still in shock how the race went.
“Graham went wide into turn three. To avoid a spin, he almost stopped in the middle of the corner where I ran into the back of him. Then Bruno tried to cross under Oriol Servia in turn one but slowed on the straight. I hit him in the rear,” Tracy continued. “That was the second wing. My spirits were down for the next six or seven laps, but the team rallied. I passed five cars and then was running with Rahal and (Justin) Wilson. The rest was just strategy. We had the fuel at the end of the race that the others didn’t.” 
Polesitter Sebastien Bourdais led from the standing start into the first turn and pulled away from the field. After leading the first 27 laps, Bourdais pitted. But Will Power stayed out for another lap, light on fuel, and managed to come out on track ahead of Bourdais. Power had Bourdais in his mirrors until Bourdais’s engine failed on lap 67.
When Power pitted under yellow, Tracy, who had made his final pit stop already, took the lead on lap 70.
“I’m not sure exactly what the failure is on the engine; all of a sudden it just let go,” Bourdais said. “Before the failure, I got beat. I didn’t make the extra lap (conserving fuel), and for once I got beat by my own game.”
Tracy had to fight off Rahal, less than half his age at 18, for 15 laps until Rahal had to pit for a splash of fuel five laps from the end. The Newman-Haas-Lanigan team apologized to Rahal, saying their mistake was short filling him by five gallons.
Robert Doornbos, who recovered from a drive-through penalty for blocking on lap 11, hounded Tracy for the lead in the final five laps. Finishing second, he earned his fourth podium for Team Minardi in five races, placing him second in the championship on consistency with 114 points, just three behind Bourdais.
“I couldn’t believe I had a penalty,” said Doornbos, who was called for blocking Rahal. “In Europe we race tougher than in the States. I feel I did nothing wrong. I went to the back of the field and pushed really hard. My engineer, Michael Cannon, told me not to make any mistakes. The Minardi team gave me great stops.”
Following the Dutch driver was fellow rookie Neel Jani, who has shown a fast pace in testing but has been unable to get comparable results in the races.
“We’ve had a tough beginning to the season, especially in Las Vegas and Houston,” Jani explained. “We were fighting for a podium until something happened, technical or a shunt. This weekend began well but then we had a bad qualifying. In the race we were at the back, to the front, to the back, and then again at the front. It ended well.”
Fighting up front were Aussie Vineyard drivers Will Power and Simon Pagenaud. Pagenaud finished fifth behind Wilson. But Power, who led the most laps with 32, finished 10th after pitting late in the race. 
With race-day attendance estimated at 65,000, the three-day crowd was said to be 151,426.