Qualifying Day 1
Conditions: Wet

1 Justin Wilson 1:30.656
2 Simon Pagenaud 1:31.550
3 Tristan Gommendy 1:31.674
4 Graham Rahal 1:31.858


......

14 Dan Clarke 1:33.722
17 (and last) Katherine Legge 1:36.110

Kathy is over six seconds a lap slower than Justin Wilson.....maybe knitting would be more apt. miss L!!!!

The speccy French guy was 6th.


Clarke cleared for Assen

From www.autosport.com


Dan Clarke has been granted the all-clear to compete in Champ Car's race at Assen this weekend, following his exclusion from last week's event at Zolder.

Clarke was banned from Champ Car's inaugural Grand Prix of Belgium after triggering a four-car shunt on the very first lap of the weekend, in free practice on Friday.

However, the series' Executive VPO and the man in charge of Race Control, Tony Cotman, ajudged the British driver to have shown sufficient penitence and understanding.

"I think Dan has learned a lot in the past week and he is ready to compete again," Cotman said.

"During his suspension, he showed us what he's all about. He participated in fan and media activities, helped his team and also came to Race Control to see how we come to our decisions.

"I hope he is more aware now that in racing small mistakes can lead to big consequences."

Clarke, who in the two previous Champ Car events earned his best qualifying position of the season (third at San Jose) and best finish (second at Road America), admitted his relief at being allowed back in the cockpit.

He said: "I'm very glad to learn that I will be racing in Assen. It was strange watching on race day in Zolder, but it ended up being kind of fun, as I had the opportunity to do some other things and help out the team.

"I got to work the pit 'lollipop' for Mario [Dominguez, who subbed for him], and spend some time in Race Control with Tony Cotman.

"It was nice to get support from other people in the paddock as well as from the fans, but I'm ready to get back in the car.

"I believe we can have a positive weekend and I appreciate the encouragement from the team. I will do my best to get the result that they deserve."

PRACTICE 1
Times from http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/61922

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Sebastien Bourdais Newman/Haas/Lanigan 1:20.234
2. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan 1:20.268 + 0.034
3. Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 1:20.294 + 0.060
4. Oriol Servia Forsythe 1:20.399 + 0.165
5. Justin Wilson RuSPORT 1:20.550 + 0.316
6. Tristan Gommendy PKV Racing 1:20.566 + 0.332
7. Will Power Team Australia 1:20.634 + 0.400
8. Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 1:20.733 + 0.499
9. Neel Jani PKV Racing 1:20.813 + 0.579
10. Jan Heylen Conquest Racing 1:21.179 + 0.945
11. Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 1:21.309 + 1.075
12. Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 1:21.355 + 1.121
13. Alex Tagliani Rocketsports 1:21.403 + 1.169
14. Paul Tracy Forsythe 1:21.671 + 1.437
15. Ryan Dalziel Pacific Coast 1:21.889 + 1.655
16. Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 1:22.302 + 2.068
17. Alex Figge Pacific Coast 1:22.760 + 2.526

I think Assen is a really bad choice for Champ Cars. Assen is a bike track, designed for bikes so it's narrow in car terms. Zandvoort is the Dutch track built for cars and thats where they should be.

the times i supplied are for qualifying

I know, I was about to post the Quali 1 results when I spotted you had already posted them!

I totally disagree!

Assen will be a great track for Champ Cars. Better than Zolder was.

I agree with you there.

Assen is very narrow, and I suspect that overtaking will be very difficult, but that of course depends on which layout they are using.

I went to the Assen website and it's definitely a bike circuit - nearly the whole website is bike related.

I'd be interested to know why the Champ Car circus chose Assen instead of Zandvoort. Zandvoort has enjoyed something of a revival recently, with A1GP going there recently and the DTM staging a round of their series there, too, so it's strange that Champ Car have gone for what is, as has been said, primarily a bike circuit.

Zandvoort is out of days. Thats why the Masters was at Zolder.

Assen is going to be a cool race.

QUALI 2
Pos Driver Team Time
1. S.Bourdais Newman/Haas/Lanigan 1:18.765
2. Justin Wilson RuSPORT 1:19.710 + 0.945
3. Tristan Gommendy PKV 1:19.025 + 0.260
4. Neel Jani PKV 1:19.302 + 0.537
5. Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 1:19.353 + 0.588
6. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan 1:19.373 + 0.608
7. Jan Heylen Conquest 1:19.412 + 0.647
8. Will Power Team Australia 1:19.415 + 0.650
9. Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 1:19.612 + 0.847
10. Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 1:19.718 + 0.953
11. Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne 1:19.813 + 1.048
12. Alex Tagliani Rocketsports 1:19.934 + 1.169
13. Oriol Servia Forsythe Championship 1:20.033 + 1.268
14. Katherine Legge Dale Coyne 1:20.548 + 1.783
15. Ryan Dalziel Pacific Coast Motorsports 1:20.744 + 1.979
16. Alex Figge Pacific Coast Motorsports 1:21.039 + 2.274
17. Paul Tracy Forsythe Championship 1:22.936 + 4.171

From http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/61966

Pretty good race I thought.

1 Justin Wilson 1:46:02.236
2 Jan Heylen 1:46:09.463
3 Bruno Junqueira 1:46:10.655
4 Tristan Gommendy 1:46:11.273
5 Neel Jani 1:46:24.498
6 Simon Pagenaud 1:46:24.934
7 Sebastien Bourdais 1:46:25.191
8 Oriol Servia 1:46:25.642
9 Graham Rahal 1:46:26.185
10 Ryan Dalziel 1:46:31.790
11 Dan Clarke
12 Katherine Legge

The race was not too bad but not without controversy (In my opinion).

Justin Wilson beat Seabass into the first corner at the start, and the reason given, was that when the Newman Haas team were pressing their ‘power to pass’ buttons for an extra 50hp, it was not working! This seemed to be the case for SeaBass and his team mate Graham Rahal. The race stewards then put out the call for ALL drivers NOT to use their PTP option. If Newman/Haas couldn’t have it, then no one else could!
This strikes me as just crazy, okay poor Newman/Haas have an unlucky mechanical issue, but that is just tough! It is like Lewis Hamilton having his puncture and the FIA throwing tacks under all the other cars, just to make it fair! Let me tell you guys….life just aint fair!
Apparently several drivers did use the PTP after being told not to, and that would be addressed post race. One of the names mentioned was Dan Clarke! Dan had a good race today, but for some stupid reason, in the last pit stop he was short-filled and had to stop with only a couple of laps to go and dropped from 4th to 11th.

Bruno Junquiera led many of the mid stint laps, he went out of pit sequence as he was running near the back of the grid. When he pitted he dropped down to 11th and would have probably stayed there but the gods were shining on him, the very next lap their was a caution, and when everyone dived for the pits, he went into first…….and only one lap off the pit sequence of everyone else! He built up an 8 second lead over Justin Wilson before he came into the pits. Wilson stayed out for 2 more laps and when he came out of the pits, the time made in those 2 laps was enough to launch him into first place, and he looked comfortable to the end.

So Justin won his fist race of the season, amid rumors of his switch to Newmaan/Haas, though he did say in an interview that he has two years left on his RuSports contract (shame). If I was Justin, I would get out of that contract - whoever gets Bordais’s drive next year, probably will win the championship.

All you Scots people need to keep an eye on Ryan Dalziel, he does not look too shabby in his rookie year.

Another big headline is that Kathy Legge did not finish last!

So now we have to wait over a MONTH AND A HALF until the next race in Surfers Paradise, Australia.

Not a bad race, I thought. Junqueira played the caution game well to come out third, and of course an excellent drive from Wilson. The power-to-pass debacle was a bit much, though.

I didn't see the whole race but I was very pleased for Justin.

As for the teams not being able to use their PTP, I can understand the reasoning behind it, but it seems mightily unfair to me.