Standing start gives Wilson pause
PORTLAND – Grand Prix of Portland pole-sitter Justin Wilson has some jitters about Champ Car’s first standing start.
“It’s just pretty much one in four the car will stall and you don’t know what you did wrong,” Wilson said. “So that makes you nervous.”
Still, Wilson likes the idea that Champ Car is introducing the standing start from the straightaway today at Portland International Raceway. Traditionally, the open-wheel series has used rolling starts.
“It’s definitely spectacular,” the Englishman said.
Wilson took the pole with a fast lap of 58 seconds flat Friday on the 1.964-mile permanent road course.
Wilson, in the No. 9 RSPORTS car, finished second at Portland last year, and held the pole for the 2005 race.
Rookie Robert Doornbos, the second-fastest qualifier Friday, had the fastest lap in pouring rain Saturday, circling the course in 1:11.629 (98.709 mph). That kept him in the front row alongside Wilson, and also earned the rookie leader from Holland a point.
“It felt like home – being in Holland. I felt quite comfortable,” Doornbos said about the rain. “But, like Justin said, it was hard to see out there. It doesn’t matter if you have one car or 20 cars out there – you can’t see (because of the spray).”
Sebastien Bourdais maintained his spot in the second row with his qualifying run on Friday of 58.308 (121.260 mph). Because of the rain, Saturday’s laps were considerably slower for the field.
Alongside Bourdais for today’s start will be Canadian Alex Tagliani.
“I’m a little disappointed. The car this morning was good for us. (This afternoon it was) slipping and sliding. There wasn’t any grip,” Tagliani said.
Canadian Paul Tracy has missed the last two races because of a compression fracture in his lower back. It happened when he hit a wall during a practice session at Long Beach.
Never having won at Portland, Tracy will start in 13th.
Bourdais, who has won the past two races at Long Beach and Houston, was vying to earn the 100th win for the Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing team. The Frenchman, who has won three straight series championships, won in Portland in 2004.
Teammate Graham Rahal was making his Portland Champ Car debut 20 years after his father, Bobby Rahal, won the race.
Rahal, 18, was second to Bourdais in Houston, becoming the youngest driver to earn a podium finish in the series. He qualified in the eighth position with a lap in 58.639 (120.575 mph).
“Wilson is a sure bet to be tough to beat, but Doornbos is kind of a wild card, we don’t know what he’ll be like tomorrow,” Rahal said. “To get to the front we have to have good strategy and save fuel, which is going to be tough in this weather.”