source:
lola-group.com
10 years after his first Molson Indy Toronto victory, Paul Tracy took his 4th win of the 2003 CART season in his Team Player's Lola/Ford-Cosworth in his hometown last night. Tracy started from pole, led every lap and set fastest lap of the 11-turn circuit en route to being the first driver in the 18-year history of the race to dominate in such a fashion. "I have to thank Team Player's and Lola for a perfect car today," Tracy exclaimed after beating Michel Jourdain Jr.'s Team Rahal Lola to the flag by 4.533 seconds. "I wanted to win a race in Canada and this is the best win of my career. It's 10 times better than my first win here." Jourdain agreed, "Today Paul drove a perfect race. It feels great to come in 2nd to him. My team did fantastic work in the pits and I tried to run fast all day. I'm very, very happy." Bruno Junqueira took third place in the Newman Haas Lola, 8.626 seconds behind Tracy. "I didn't have the speed to keep up with Paul and I made a mistake and gave 2nd place to Michel in the pits, said the Brazilian." The top 7 finishers of 15 to complete the 112-lap race around Toronto's Exhibition Place were Lola B2/00's, as rookie Sebastien Bourdais earned 4th in the other Newman Haas Lola. "I was able to close the gap to the cars in front of me on each stop and the car was pretty good," said the French rookie. Oriol Servia celebrated his 29th birthday with a 5th place finish in the Patrick Lola and was "pretty happy after starting 8th on the grid. The team wanted to give me a podium finish for my birthday and we came close." Roberto Moreno was 6th in the Herdez Lola and was "happy today because of what this result shows about our team. The Lola was new to me this year and it's been great learning process." Patrick Carpentier overcame handling difficulties in the other of the Team Player's Lola to finish 7th. Adrian Fernandez was 9th behind the leading Reynard runner - Manning, but was fortunate to finish after being involved in a multi car accident at the first corner. Darren Manning's Walker Reynard triggered the shunt that also delayed Haberfeld, Monteiro and Ryan Hunter Reay and completely blocked the track. Luckily most of those involved survived to continue. The Champ Cars take a weekend off and reconvene at the other end of Canada at Vancouver, scheduled for July 27th at the city's Concord Pacific Place street circuit. Tracy, Junqueira and Jourdain have a clear lead in the points chase and have accumulated 376 points between them. Tracy leads with 139, Junqueira has 124 and Jourdain has 113 championship points.
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