Rookie Doornbos Records First Career Win At Mont-Tremblant
Published: Jul 2, 2007
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MONT-TREMBLANT, QUEBEC - Rookie Robert Doornbos drove to his first career win at the inaugural Champ Car Mont-Tremblant on Sunday, giving him four top-three finishes in six races.
Sebastien Bourdais of St. Petersburg, Champ Car's three-time defending champion, finished second and wasn't happy about it, saying that Doornbos blocked him during the race. Bourdais refused to shake Doornbos' hand on the podium.
"Robert knows exactly what he did," Bourdais said. "We're not supposed to do that in Champ Car. He changed lanes three times when I was trying to pick a line."
Doornbos took advantage of numerous mistakes and misfortunes that befell the rest of the pack on the 2.65-mile road course to give Minardi Team USA its first series win.
Doornbos and Bourdais are tied atop the standings with 145 points.
Doornbos, a 25-year-old native of Holland, gained the lead for good on the 52nd lap when leader Simon Pagenaud went off the track, which alternated between dry and wet throughout the race as a result of scattered showers on the mountainside circuit.
It was the fifth lead change overall after Doornbos led from the 28th lap to the 37th, when Bourdais went off the course under a yellow flag just before the entrance to the pits, the same spot that cost Pagenaud his lead.
Will Power, one of three drivers who stalled on the standing start along with Team Australia teammate Pagenaud, recovered to finish third.
Pagenaud, a 23-year-old French rookie, finished fourth.
FORMULA ONE: Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa gave Ferrari a sweep of the top two places at the French Grand Prix in Magny Cours, ending McLaren's winning streak at three Formula One races.
Raikkonen, who also captured the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, won his second race this year - and the 11th of his career - after starting third on the grid. The Finn finished the 2.74-mile circuit in 1 hour, 30 minutes, 54.200 seconds. Massa, a Brazilian, was nearly 2 1/2 seconds behind.
Lewis Hamilton was third for McLaren, 32 seconds behind the winner. Hamilton, a Briton who won the previous two races in Canada and the U.S., now has eight straight top-three finishes in his rookie F1 season - two wins, four seconds and two thirds - to lead the drivers standings with 64 points.
"I don't like being overtaken. It is the first race I was overtaken," Hamilton said. "But the fact is I finished on the podium again. I extended my lead in the championships, so I couldn't be happier."
Robert Kubica, who survived a crash at the Canadian Grand Prix and missed the subsequent U.S. race, took fourth for BMW-Sauber. Kubica was cleared to race Thursday after hurting his ankle when he crashed hard into two walls in Montreal.
It was the first Ferrari victory since Massa won in May.
NHRA: Tony Schumacher won the Top Fuel title at the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio, as he outdueled Rod Fuller in the final. Schumacher won in a time of 4.537 seconds, averaging 322.04 mph in the final.
Mike Ashley won the Funny Car title with a time of 4.823 seconds against Kenny Bernstein, while Dave Connelly edged out Larry Morgan by 0.058 seconds in the Pro Stock final with a time of 6.660.
