Mexico Race Thread (includes RACE spoilers)

[marcus]

Here we go with the final race of 2006.

Mexico City



PREVIOUS WINNERS

2002 : Kenny Brack
2003 : Paul Tracy
2004 : Sebastien Bourdais
2005 : Justin Wilson

Qualifying Lap record is held by Sebastien Bourdais with a time of 116.7332 mph (or 1:25.919 ) set in 2004

Race Lap record is held By Shinji Nakano (wow) with a time of 114.9551 mph (or 1:27.248 ) set in 2002

who will take the win in 2006 ?

DRIVER ADJUSTMENTS


*Paul Tracy will not race this weekend in Mexico due an injury
*Justin Wilson may not race due to an injury
*Buddy Rice will Make his Champcar debut with Forsythe
*David Martinez will make his Champcar debut with Forsthye
*Adam Carroll is on stand by in case Justin Wilson cannot start for Rusport
*No other driver changes have been announced as of yet , Andreas Wirth made his debut with Coyne last meeting unsure if he will be in the car for Mexico. There was talk Alexandre Premat would make his debut for Rocketsports no more information has come to light on this. There was also talk Michel Jourdain Jnr would return to Champcars but no more Information has surfaced about this.




There we go folks the final time for 2006 and the final time for the Lola's.

who will win ???

[marcus]

STARTING GRID

1. Justin Wilson 1:24.801 (4th Career Pole)
Rusport
40th Career Start


2. Sebastien Bourdais 1:24.986 (11th time starting 2nd)
Newman Haas
59th Career Start


3. Bruno Junquiera 1:25.491 (12th time starting 3rd)
Newman Hass
88th Career Start


4. Will Power 1:25.624 (1st time starting 4th)
Team Australia Racing
16th Career Start


5. Ryan Briscoe 1:25.643 (1st time starting 5th)
RuSport
2nd Career Start
CAREER BEST QUALIFYING

6. Dan Clarke 1:25.942 (2nd time starting 6th)
CTE Racing - HVM
14th Career Start


7. Oriol Servia 1:26.068 (8th time starting 7th)
PKV Racing
113th Career Start


8. Alex Tagliani 1:26.087 (9th time starting 8th)
Team Australia Racing
117th Career Start


9. David Martinez 1:26.146 (1st time starting 9th)
Forsythe Championship Racing
DEBUT RACE


10. Nelson Philippe 1:26.278 (5th time starting 10th)
CTE Racing - HVM
38th Career Start


11. Mario Dominguez 1:26.450 (6th time starting 11th)
Rocketsports
78th Career Start


12. Charles Zwolsman 1:26.480 (2nd time starting 12th)
Mi-Jack Conquest Racing
15th Career Start


13. Katherine Legge 1:26.607 (1st time starting 13th)
PKV Racing
14th Career Start


14. Buddy Rice 1:26.736 (1st time starting 14th)
Forsythe Championship Racing
DEBUT RACE


15. Antonio Pizzonia 1:26.948 (1st time starting 15th)
Rocketsports
4th Career Start


16. Andrew Ranger 1:27.089 (3rd time starting 16th)
Mi-Jack Conquest Racing
27th Career Start


17. Jan Heylen 1:27.214 (2nd time starting 17th)
Dale Coyne Racing
14th Career Start


18. Andreas Wirth 1:27.842 (1st time starting 18th)
Dayle Coyne Racing
2nd Career Start

[Pro Racer]

i hope Power can get the race win that was taken away from him at Surfers.

[luke]

Well, about time Bruno Junquiera won. It would be great to see him win after his horrific crash at Indy last year. He hasn't seemed to be on the pace at all since that wreck.

[BootsOntheSide]

It's really bad luck for ChampCar to lose so many top drivers for this race (Tracy, Wilson, AJ), especially as the reasons are all completely unconnected.

[luke]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

It's really bad luck for ChampCar to lose so many top drivers for this race (Tracy, Wilson, AJ), especially as the reasons are all completely unconnected.

I wouldn't say its as bad as it sounds. It's a great way to end the season at Mexico City as ever. The debut of Buddy Rice and Martinez will be interesting and exciting on my part. And Wilson will probably race but it would be cool to see Carrol race.

All in all, I'm really looking forward to the season finale. And of course the historic last ever race for the Lola.

[Pro Racer]

the last ever race of a Lola happy and sad at the same time.

[luke]

Yep.

A very mixed feeling. Obviously not quite so much when it was the last race of the Reynard as there was still the Lola and the Reynard was not as competitive and some at quite a disadvantage.
I remember Paul Tracy trying to get Mr Forysthe to change to Lola for 2003 and sure it worked. Image it would have been different for PT and his championship winning year some what...But that's neither there or here...
I however remember the Reynard in 2003 being the fastest on a street course and that was about it, everywhere else it was not the same as a Lola. Maybe now it would have been better suited for teams as Champ Car is now you could say a street based series.

There is alot to look forward to being a Champ Car fanatic, fan, follower and even a hater looking into 2007.
Many mixed feelings as the Lola and CART era Champ Car cars were such amazing looking race cars.
The only cars I like looking at and feel a similar way is when I look at the Renault World Series cars and perhaps maybe even Formula Renault cars.

[drewdawg727]

When will we officially know if Justin is not racing? He should have made some sort of announcement by now...which leads me to believe that since there has been no definite announcement, he will probably not race.

[luke]

I think as there has been no announcement it means he'll race. I don't knnow if it has been mentioned elsewhere but what he suffered from there should be no problems with racing. He practiced driving from the race cockpit postion etc and had no problems.
I'm sure we'll see an official annoucment from RuSPORT soon.

[icemachine]

Wilson's website said he would do 10 laps today, to decide if he was fit to compete

[Kieran20]

i think u may find that the fact he hasnt made an announcement means he is unsure that he will race. quite obvious really lol

[luke]

Originally Posted by Kieran20

i think u may find that the fact he hasnt made an announcement means he is unsure that he will race. quite obvious really lol

If you are racing you don't have to make an annoucement.

If you are not racing usually you make an annoucement.

[icemachine]

07-November-2006
This weekend sees the final race of the 2006 Champ Car World Series at Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos RodrÃ*guez. A year ago Justin won the race in dominant fashion, but this time he comes to the event with the disadvantage of a fractured right wrist. Justin was forced to sit out the last race in Surfers Paradise, but with A.J. Allmendinger absent from Mexico, a 7th place finish or better in Sunday’s race would be enough for Justin to clinch 2nd in the drivers championship.

Champ Car officials will allow Justin to complete 10 laps of the track on Thursday so that he can judge his own level of fitness. Dr Terry Trammell, the Indianapolis-based orthopaedic surgeon, has prepared a carbon fibre brace for Justin to wear this weekend. Justin has also been working on the strength in his left arm, which is going to have some significant compensating to do around the bumpy 2.7 mile course. For 2006, the final section of the track has been altered to bring back the famous Peraltada, the fast, banked right-hander leading on to the start-finish straight. From Justin’s perspective that should be somewhat easier than the chicane it replaces.

“I’m hoping that I’ll have enough movement with the brace inside the car to be competitive”, commented Justin. “But to be honest, until I get out on track on Thursday I won’t know for sure. There’s a lot at stake in the championship, and it would be good to finish the season on a high for the CDW RuSPORT team, so I’ll be giving it my best shot.”

Anyone know if he has run yet?

[mountainstar]

I'm looking forward to the race to see what all these new guys do.

[Pro Racer]

Originally Posted by Kieran20

i think u may find that the fact he hasnt made an announcement means he is unsure that he will race. quite obvious really lol

yep i agree.

[cos]

Looks like Wilson's OK to race, although his wrist will be checked up on after each session to make sure he's still fine.
http://www.crash.net/news_View~t~Wil...~id~140029.htm

[Pro Racer]

thats good news hope it stays that way and dosn't get re-injured in one of the sessions or he has to pull out half-way through the race.

[drewdawg727]

Well who wouldve thunk it?!?!

Justin Wilson is quickest in Practice 1

[marcus]

QUALIFYING 1 RESULTS

1 S. Bourdais 1:25.449
2 J. Wilson 1:25.560
3 W. Power 1:25.624
4 B. Junqueira 1:26.118
5 R. Briscoe 1:26.494
6 O. Servia 1:26.527
7 N. Philippe 1:26.708
8 D. Martinez 1:26.819
9 A. Ranger 1:27.089
10 M. Dominguez 1:27.151
11 J. Heylen 1:27.214
12 C. Zwolsman 1:27.268
13 B. Rice 1:27.336
14 A. Tagliani 1:27.436
15 D. Clarke 1:27.516
16 A. Pizzonia 1:27.566
17 K. Legge 1:27.720
18 A. Wirth 1.29.148

[Tenoch]

whoa martinez outqualified Buddy Rice. Will Poer doing another great job, he might win this won if can get some good luck going.

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by Tenoch

whoa martinez outqualified Buddy Rice.

Seems Rice was hampered a great deal by technical problems:

Buddy Rice's first official day as a Champ Car driver was nothing short of disappointing but it had nothing to do with his driving.

"Don't judge Buddy by what happened today because it was all on us, we screwed him," said Neil Mickelwright, president and general manager of Forsythe Racing. "We cost him and David (Martinez) the first practice session and then we held him in the pits too long during qualifying.

"I feel bad and we'll try to make it up to him tomorrow."

Rice, who is pretty much auditioning for a ride with Gerry Forsythe this weekend, had never driven the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez prior to Friday morning and he only turned a dozen hot laps because of a couple major oversights.

From the Friday Notes at SpeedTV.com.

[marcus]

DOH !!!!!!!!!!

Ive managed to get my times mixed up , I have just got up at 5.30am to watch qualifying to find out its still an hour away
I could have stayed in bed longer LOL

[marcus]

PRACTICE 3 RESULTS

1 S. Bourdais 1:26.231
2 J. Wilson 1:26.417
3 W. Power 1:26.437
4 B. Junqueira 1:26.682
5 R. Briscoe 1:27.268
6 O. Servia 1:27.479
7 A. Tagliani 1:27.729
8 D. Martinez 1:27.755
9 B. Rice 1:27.839
10 A. Ranger 1:27.910
11 N. Philippe 1:27.922
12 J. Heylen 1:27.987
13 M. Dominguez 1:28.119
14 C. Zwolsman 1:28.174
15 K. Legge 1:28.231
16 D. Clarke 1:28.272
17 A. Pizzonia 1:28.404
18 A. Wirth 1:29.441

well practice 4 has started and I dont have any vision
I hope I get some soon before qualifying at least

[marcus]

Starting Grid has been posted (2nd post in this thread)