Driver of the race - Long Beach

[Knowlesy]

Pretty stupid question maybe, but who was your driver of the race for Long Beach?

I vote Bourdais, he was too good. And it hurts to say it!

I thought Legge did well and Dan Clarke was quick if somewhat troubled!

I can't vote Dominguez...

Da Matta drove quietly to a solid finish.

And lets not forget Wilson and Tags either, podiums both.

Who was your driver of the race?

[Muzza]

Bourdais for driver of the race.

And Domínguez for fool of the weekend.

[luke]

The vote has to go to Bourdais else your stonned....

[IronLion]

you should have made this a "driver of the race besides Bourdais" seeing he just white washed it. Legge did very well too. Power was looking strong till his mistake. Infact alot of drivers were looking very strong. Good sign for the season i think.

[Hazard]

I often shy away from giving the dotd award to drivers who just take pole and run with it, as apart from the getting pole part, the job is easy. But his pace today, and the lack of movement (apart from backwards) elsewhere in the pack clearly makes him the man.

Dan Clarke showed amazing promise in that race. Was suffering a little bit of Danica syndrome with Legge there, that wasn't that special a rookie performance considering Power & Clarke's pace...and Pizzonia though he's a little over-experienced for a rookie.

[Dutton]

Has to be Bourdais.

On another level entirely.

[Raven]

Would've voted for Katherine had it not been for the spin, but ultimately it probably only cost her a position or two.

Bourdais though - just too good. Race win never looked in doubt.

It's a shame really that he's not getting the credit he deserves, due to the current state of American open wheel racing. Look at his stats, the man really should be considered to be up there with the greats, but there just doesn't seem to be enough quality drivers, let alone teams, for people to justify it.

[JeremySmith]

Well this is interesting for me...I have not watched ChampCar for several years..I used to attend the Long Beach Grand Prix every year..I will choose Katherine as my driver of the race, because to finish that race in one piece on her first outing is commendable to say the least...The overall level of driving in ChampCar appears to me to have dropped a little.. having said that SB is the class of the field, strange that F1 has not shown interest in his talents? I thought the coverage from NBC was nothing short of *shocking* to be honest...

[luke]

I can't agree with you more there Raven. I'm not Bouradis' biggest fan but he certainly is a very good driver and a shame he's over looked by F1 as I'm sure he could do well there. Only time will tell, I was told about the update of a merger and its quite possible, it would be very interesting to see if Bouradis and how he would mix it with more big names to go up against.
But he was certainly the driver of the race. Its not his fault he had no one to challenge him.

Kathrine did quite well for her first race, the spin yes, but everyone spins, although she has done quite a bit this weekend. A good solid result though for her first outing that she is no doubt happy with. It'll be very interesting to see how she progresses.

I think Will Power deserves a mention. He did very well keeping up with Tagliani and was in 4th I believe before his over shoots which was according to him down to front brake problems...

[Jordi]

Bourdais... he simply dominated completely. At times he was running 1.5 s quicker than anyone else. It's been long since anyone dominated so much in a Champ Car race, and it's true that 4 contenders went out in the first corner, but I don't think anyone would have lived with him today.

[kingfloopy]

Voted for Katherine Legge. I thought she did pretty well despite spinning and she managed to get it to the finish. Then again I might kinda have a crush on her and my opinion is biased...

J.D.

[Seoigh]

I CAN'T WAIT to see Legge and Patrick on the same track!

[Michael Edick]

Originally Posted by Muzza

...And DomÃ*nguez for fool of the weekend.

usually, foul ups like that first turn punting are reserved for Dominguez's teammate Tracy!

If Dominguez keeps it up, he'll make the transition to NASCAR better than Paul!

[Silk Cut Jaguar]

Has to be Bourdais. I'm almost reluctant to admit it as he just drove serenely off into the distance never to be challenged by anyone, but my hat goes off to him for being so much faster while making it all look easy.

[luke]

Well there's nothing worse then taking out your team mate who's a title contender, and you have a point to prove and then 3 other big names in the chain reaction in the first turn of a first race of the new season....

[macdaddy]

Everybody's a "title contender" in Round-One, luke!

Bourdais... 'Nuff said.
But a nod has to go to Will Power. Great drive indeed.

[blueflagger]

Bourdais hands down.

I was very impressed with Power during qualifying. Legge looked very competitive on Friday, but seemed to have less power on Sat & Sun. Just before her race spin, I noticed that she (and a couple of others) seemed quite tired. This would have been a longer race than many of the rookies are used to running, no?

[Dutton]

Out of interest, how were you able to tell said drivers were tired?

[racerkeke]

She started to make small mistakes, not holding her line, etc., about lap 50 (Atlantic races are 32 laps). Plus you can usually see a tired driver's head starting to lean more thru the corners, altho I can think of a few drivers (not current Champ Car) who keep the belts looser and always look that way.

keke

[Dutton]

I was figuring it was probably going with those sorts of markers.

However, strictly speaking, it is INFERING that those things are a result of tiredness rather than something else when viewing at the time. The only way we would KNOW at the time would be via radio communications.

That is why I thought I would ask, in case there was some audio I didn't hear.

[blueflagger]

Originally Posted by Dutton

Out of interest, how were you able to tell said drivers were tired?

What Keke said. After watching them take the same corner in the same manner all weekend, you notice when the car doesn't seem to be diving into the turn quite as quickly or is a fraction of a second slower and the driver's head isn't in its usual position.

We don't know 100% that our observations/interpretations are correct but once a worker hits a certain level of experience, the probability increases.

[Raven]

Well her laptimes were still strong up until the end of the race. She made up over 10 seconds on Heylen in the final stint.

[Muzza]

Originally Posted by Raven

Well her laptimes were still strong up until the end of the race. She made up over 10 seconds on Heylen in the final stint.

Your point is valid, Raven, but it may also play in favor of the opposite argument (that Legge was tired), since it is possible that Legge just happened to be less tired than Heylen (assuming both cars were on same condition, which is a "big" assumption, a wide unknown). Remember that Heylen has very little mileage on Champ Cars (much less than Legge), and that these cars are very difficult to drive (more than any other major single seater series, I believe), because of their weight and weight distribution. This is made even worse in a street circuit.

[andy_b]

Originally Posted by Dutton

Out of interest, how were you able to tell said drivers were tired?

I suspect he watched NBC's deadful coverage, after the spin while KL was waiting for a tow, Derek Daly kept saying ' Look at her chest, Look at her chest' . Classy!

TBH, she didn't look exhausted after the race in the pics. She did well for a first race as did Clarke (some serious peddling without the wing!)

I voted Tags (I'm not Canadian),,mainly because I thought everyone else would have voted Seb (and they did). He did well considering Team Walker aren't one of the big three.

Thought all the rookies did a good job really

[blueflagger]

She was plenty alert after her spin. It's behavior that I see in many series where the races that last more than 40 minutes. Legge was not the only one I observed that seemed a bit tired; da Matta looked a bit off on my turn (Turn 8) at the same time. Then again, it could all be in my head.