Tracy bests Doornbos, snaps Bourdais’ streak
Paul Tracy won his third Grand Prix of Cleveland and his 31st career race.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Paul Tracy left dust, debris and drivers in his wake.
And when his dirty day of racing was over, Tracy showered with a few celebratory blasts of champagne.
Using years of driving experience — and his front end — to intimidate and push his way to the front, Tracy held off rookie Robert Doornbos on a frantic final lap to win his third Grand Prix of Cleveland Sunday, ending Sebastien Bourdais’ three-race winning streak.
Tracy’s 31st career victory, and first in the series since winning here in 2005, came after he was involved in two early accidents, mishaps that forced his pit crew to change his front wing twice in the first seven laps.
“It was by no means a nice, comfortable, easy, pretty win,” Tracy said. “It was ugly. It was messy. It’s not the way I would have liked to have won a race.”
Tracy’s tactics criticized
Rookie Graham Rahal, trying to win on the same track where his dad, Bobby, finished first in 1982, was critical of Tracy’s tactics. Rahal was clipped from behind by Tracy on the 10-turn airport layout.
“He tried to put me in the grass,” the 18-year-old driver said. “Tracy just punted me. ... He’s wild and he’ll put you in the fence and doesn’t care about it.”
After starting seventh and falling back in the pack because of the wrecks, Tracy worked his way through the field and finished .513 seconds ahead of Doornbos and another rookie, Neel Jani, who was 5.405 seconds back in third.
The victory made Tracy the third three-time winner in Cleveland, joining Danny Sullivan and Emerson Fittipaldi.
Because of the accidents, he was able to top off his fuel supply and he gambled late that he would have enough to finish. Tracy, who made seven pit stops, was also running on well-worn tires on the final lap as he tried to stay ahead of the 25-year-old Doornbos, an impressive Formula One test driver who has finished on the podium four times in five races this season.
Doornbos, forced to drive through the pits as a penalty for blocking early on, had used up his push-to-pass allotment — 60 seconds of added horsepower — and didn’t have enough speed to reel in Tracy.
“I was pushing the button really, really hard and nothing came out,” Doornbos quipped. “I almost bent it trying.”
Bourdais early leader
Bourdais, the series’ points leader and dominant driving force this season, led for the first 30 laps and was still running second when he blew an engine on Lap 67.
The McDonald’s No. 1 car was towed back to the pits, and the crew tried to restart Bourdais before finally giving up, forcing him to climb out of his cockpit following another disappointing outing along Lake Erie’s shoreline.
A year ago, Bourdais, a two-time winner in Cleveland seeking an unprecedented fourth straight series title, was knocked out on the first lap in a scary wreck as Tracy’s car landed on him, leaving tire marks on his helmet.
“The engine just let go,” Bourdais said. “That’s the way it goes.”
As Bourdais was in the pit, Australian Will Power, who entered the race second in the standings blew a front tire. He finished 10th.
Despite the poor showing, Bourdais still leads the championship standings with 117 points, three more than Doornbos and 12 ahead of Power heading into next week’s race in Mont-Tremblant, Canada.