2007 San Jose Grand Prix at Redback Raceway

The 2007 San Jose Grand Prix at Redback Raceway is the ninth round of the 2007 Champ Car World Series Season. It was held on July 29 at the Redback Raceway temporary street circuit, in San Jose, California.

2007 San Jose Grand Prix
Race details
Race 9 of 14 in the 2007 Champ Car season
Redback Raceway
DateJuly 29, 2007
Official nameSan Jose Grand Prix at Redback Raceway
LocationStreets of San Jose
San Jose, California, United States
CourseRedback Raceway (Temporary street course)
1.443 mi / 2.322 km
Distance107 laps
154.401 mi / 248.484 km
WeatherSunny with temperatures reaching up to 81 °F (27 °C); wind speeds approaching 12 miles per hour (19 km/h)[1]
Pole position
DriverJustin Wilson (RSPORTS)
Time49.039
Fastest lap
DriverJustin Wilson (RSPORTS)
Time49.584 (on lap 35 of 107)
Podium
FirstRobert Doornbos (Minardi Team USA)
SecondNeel Jani (PKV Racing)
ThirdOriol Servià (Forsythe Racing)

Qualifying results
Pos Nat Name Team Qual 1 Qual 2 Best
1 Justin Wilson RSPORTS 49.747 49.039 49.039
2 Sébastien Bourdais N/H/L Racing 49.509 49.180 49.180
3 Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 50.029 49.092 49.092
4 Oriol Servià Forsythe Racing 49.936 49.106 49.106
5 Neel Jani PKV Racing 50.631 49.151 49.151
6 Graham Rahal N/H/L Racing 50.217 49.178 49.178
7 Alex Tagliani RSPORTS 49.852 49.183 49.183
8 Tristan Gommendy PKV Racing 49.981 49.192 49.192
9 Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 49.944 49.255 49.255
10 Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 49.852 49.255 49.255
11 Paul Tracy Forsythe Racing 50.079 49.270 49.270
12 Will Power Team Australia 49.822 49.397 49.397
13 Jan Heylen Conquest Racing 50.110 49.410 49.410
14 Mario Domínguez Pacific Coast Motorsports 50.318 49.609 49.609
15 Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 49.918 49.654 49.654
16 Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 50.531 49.808 49.808
17 Alex Figge Pacific Coast Motorsports 50.606 50.083 50.083

Sébastien Bourdais lead Friday's qualification session with a late fast lap near the end of qualifying. However he faded on Saturday due to some mechanical issues with his car and Justin Wilson posted the fast lap Saturday taking the pole. By virtue of his fast lap Friday Bourdais managed to maintain second position on the grid into the race.

Race Summary

The first two editions of the San Jose Grand Prix were mostly processional affairs with little to no passing. The 2007 edition, on the other hand, proved to be a very competitive affair with the winner fighting through the field from 15th position on the starting grid. The race was reminiscent of the Cleveland race where Paul Tracy rebounded from early contact and pit stops to win the race, except this race was held on a tight street circuit and not on Cleveland's wide open airport runways. The recent introduction of a painted white line in certain corners to visually enforce Champ Car's "no blocking" rule has resulted in the unintended but happy consequence of increasing the possibility of overtaking.

The standing start went off without a hitch but trouble hit at the Turn 1 hairpin, where a logjam developed in the rear of the field. Robert Doornbos lurched into the back of Jan Heylen's car knocking off his own front wing. Meanwhile, Sébastien Bourdais made a mistake in Turn 2, allowing Justin Wilson to take the lead. Doornbos and Heylen pitted under the yellow resulting from their contact.

More trouble hit as the field was preparing to take the green flag. Second place runner Dan Clarke ran into the back of Justin Wilson's car on the Balbach straight. The rear suspension on Wilson's car was damaged, sending him to the pits. The damage was eventually repaired, but Wilson finished the race 20 laps off the leader. Clarke's day was done.

Oriol Servià took advantage of the misfortune in front of him and led until lap 34 when Neel Jani was able to pass him at Turn 1. The two drivers would continue to battle at or near the front of the race the rest of the day.

Doornbos, who had set off on an alternate strategy after his early pit stop, found himself in the lead for 12 laps after the main field made their first pit stop. Making best use of the clear track and his light fuel load, Doornbos drove a series of fast laps and only dropped to third place behind Jani and Servià after his stop on lap 54.

On lap 64 Servià made a move on Jani in Turn 1, but was unable to make the pass stick. One lap later Servià tried the same move again, and this time was able keep Jani behind him as they drove out of the hairpin.

Paul Tracy running out of fuel on the Balbach straight on lap 76 provided a timely yellow flag for Doornbos who was then able to get back into the same pit sequence as the rest of the field. A very fast stop by his Team Minardi USA crew (and a bobble by Servià's) catapulted Doornbos into the lead in front of Jani.

Jani used his final Power to Pass allotment to overtake Doornbos on the restart. Unfortunately for him, Jani was driving this final stint on the soft Bridgestone "reds", and he was soon struggling for grip. With two seconds left on his own Power to Pass allotment, Doornbos slipped past Jani on lap 95 and drove away to the victory by six seconds. Despite his bad tires Jani was able to hold off Servià for second.

Box Score
PosNoDriverTeamLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 14 Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 107 1:45:07.617 15 31
2 21 Neel Jani PKV Racing 107 +6.1 secs 5 27
3 7 Oriol Servià Forsythe/Pettit Racing 107 +6.9 secs 4 26
4 5 Will Power Team Australia 107 +7.5 secs 12 23
5 1 Sébastien Bourdais N/H/L Racing 107 +8.0 secs 2 21
6 2 Graham Rahal N/H/L Racing 107 +9.6 secs 6 19
7 19 Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 107 +14.0 secs 10 17
8 22 Tristan Gommendy PKV Racing 107 +19.2 secs 8 15
9 42 Jan Heylen Conquest Racing 107 +28.5 secs 13 13
10 15 Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 107 +48.4 secs* 9 11
11 3 Paul Tracy Forsythe/Pettit Racing 105 + 2 Laps 11 10
12 28 Mario Domínguez Pacific Coast Motorsports 104 + 3 Laps 14 12
13 9 Justin Wilson RSPORTS 87 + 20 Laps 1 8
14 29 Alex Figge Pacific Coast Motorsports 34 Contact 17 7
15 8 Alex Tagliani RSPORTS 83 Gearbox 8 6
16 11 Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 13 Crash 16 5
17 4 Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 3 Crash 3 4
[2]

* Pagenaud assessed 25 second time penalty for blocking.

Caution flags
Laps Cause
1-4Doornbos/Heylen collision in Turn 1
4-5Wilson/Clarke collision on Balbach straight
14-17Legge solo crash into wall turn 2 exit
76-83Tracy out of fuel back straight
90-93Figge contact with wall

Lap Leader Breakdown
Laps Leader
1-3Justin Wilson
4-33Oriol Servià
34-40Neel Jani
41-42Alex Tagliani
43-54Robert Doornbos
55-65Neel Jani
66-77Oriol Servià
78-83Robert Doornbos
84-95Neel Jani
95-107Robert Doornbos

Total Laps Led
Driver Laps led
Oriol Servià42
Neel Jani30
Robert Doornbos30
Justin Wilson3
Alex Tagliani2

Championship standings after the race
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