The Champ Car Mont-Tremblant 07 was the sixth round of the

2007 Champ Car World Series Season The 2007 Champ Car World Series season was the fourth and final season of the Champ Car World Series, and the 29th season of the series dating back to the 1979 formation of Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). It began on April 8, 2007 and end ...

. It was held on July 1 at the

Circuit Mont-Tremblant Circuit Mont-Tremblant is a race circuit located approximately north of Montreal, Quebec, in the city of Mont-Tremblant, Canada. It is the second-oldest existing race track in Canada, and was originally known as Circuit Mont-Tremblant-St-Jovi ...

, in Saint-Jovite, Quebec, Canada.

Robert Doornbos Robert Michael Doornbos (; born 23 September 1981) is a Dutch former racing driver who also competed with a Monégasque licence. He has been test and third driver for the Jordan and Red Bull Racing Formula One teams, as well as driving for Mina ...

won his first career

Champ Car Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., a Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing T ...

race, with

Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (; born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver who currently races in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Cadillac Hertz Team Jota in the Hypercar category. He is one of the most successful dr ...

and

Will Power William Steven Power (born 1 March 1981) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 12 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske. He won the 2018 Indianapolis 500 and has won the IndyCar Championship twice, in ...

rounding out the podium.

Qualifying results

Wet conditions on Saturday secured the first career

pole position for Tristan Gommendy, who pipped his countryman Sébastien Bourdais by .007 second on Friday. The Saturday session began with a brief rain shower. The track then dried enough to allow drivers to return to

slicks A racing slick or slick tyre is a type of tyre that has a smooth tread used mostly in auto racing. The first production slick tyre was developed by M&H Tires in the early 1950s for use in drag racing. By eliminating any grooves cut into the trea ...

but the times remained well short of Friday's. Will Power led the Saturday session to earn the front row starting spot next to Gommendy.

Race

* Paul Tracy qualified 11th but crashed his car in Sunday practice and started from the back of the grid in his backup car. The race got off to a ragged start as polesitter Tristan Gommendy's car failed to fire for the formation lap. As the lights for the

standing start A standing start is a type of start in automobile, auto auto racing, racing events, in which cars are stationary when the race begins (different to the rolling start, where cars are paced). Some categories of land speed record also require a stan ...

went out three cars stalled, the first time stalls marred a standing start for Champ Car in three races. Team Australia teammates Will Power and Simon Pagenaud and Jan Heylen were left stranded on the grid. Sébastien Bourdais took advantage of the misfortune in front of him to take the early lead. It appeared as if Bourdais jumped the start, but Champ Car never assessed him a penalty. It would not be the last controversial moment in the race. The early laps of the race were run in dry but threatening conditions. Power, Pagenaud, and Heylen were all able to rejoin the race on the lead lap, while Gommendy lost two laps while his car troubles were sorted out. Shortly after the field finished the first round of pit stops staying on slick tires, light rain began to fall. Jan Heylen spun, bringing out a caution flag. Bourdais made an uncharacteristic mistake by sliding off the track on a slippery corner under yellow, dropping him from the lead back to 11th place. The rain was intermittent and unpredictable, so the field continued to skate around on slick tires. Robert Doornbos and then Graham Rahal held the lead following Bourdais' error. The skies finally opened up on lap 44. Slick tires were no longer an option at this point. Rahal looked to be in position to run away with the race as the field pitted for fuel and rain tires, but his car stuck in gear during the stop and he was shuffled to the rear of the field, giving the lead over to Justin Wilson. Wilson's

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

wet weather driving Wet may refer to: * Moisture, the condition of containing liquid or being covered or saturated in liquid * Wetting (or wetness), a measure of how well a liquid sticks to a solid rather than forming a sphere on the surface Wet or WET may also refe ...

experience didn't seem to help him much on the treacherous track and he gave up the lead to 2006 Atlantics champion Pagenaud, who took the lead for the first time in Champ Car race. He led for five laps before an off course excursion gave the lead over to Doornbos. Bourdais was in 2nd. Sometime during this stage of the race, Bourdais claims Doornbos blocked him and began to lobby for a penalty over his radio. Champ Car did not impose a penalty. Bourdais backed off to preserve his 2nd place and Doornbos came home to his first Champ Car victory. Power was able to get around teammate Pagenaud for the final spot on the podium. In his post-race interview broadcast on TV and on the screens at the track, Bourdais complained about Doornbos' tactics. The crowd booed the Frenchman, who would later refuse to shake Doornbos' hand on the podium. Doornbos claimed innocence, explaining that in the wet everyone was taking odd lines looking for traction, and that he also learned his lesson about blocking from the penalty he received in the previous race at Cleveland, which likely cost him a victory.

Caution flags

Notes

* New Race Record:

1:45:41.899

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included.

Attendance

Attendance for the 3 day race weekend was reported to be in excess of 42,000 for the first Champ/CART/USAC race in 40 years at the circuit. This was actually 7000 more than the expected 35,000 fans over the weekend by the race organizers.TSN : AUTO RACING – Canada's Sports Leader
/ref>

References

External links

Full Weekend Times & Results

{{Champ Car World Series race report , Name_of_race =

Mont-Tremblant Champ Car Grand Prix The Mont-Tremblant Champ Car Grand Prix was an auto race in the Champ Car World Series. It was held from 1967 to 1968 and again in 2007. It was held at Circuit Mont-Tremblant, in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada. The race replaced the Grand Prix o ...

, Year_of_race = 2007 , Previous_race_in_season = 2007 Grand Prix of Cleveland , Next_race_in_season =

2007 Steelback Grand Prix The 2007 Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto was the seventh round of the 2007 Champ Car World Series Season. It was held on July 8 at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Will Power won the race, followed by Neel Jani and Justin Wilson. ...

, Previous_year's_race = First Event
replaced

Grand Prix of Montreal The Molson Indy Montreal was an annual auto race in Montreal, Quebec on the Champ Car World Series calendar. History Originally known as the Molson Indy 300, it was first held at Sanair Super Speedway, an oval track, from 1984 through 1986. Th ...

, Next_year's_race = Mont-Tremblant 08
''canceled by IndyCar/Champ Car merger'' 2007 in Champ Car