2007 Champ Car World Series

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:American Championship Car season Script error: No such module "Multiple image". 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 ended on November 11 after 14 races. Unbeknownst at the time, this would end up being the final contested season of Champ Car, as the following February, the series unified with the Indy Racing League (IRL), marking the end of the Champ Car World Series for good.

French driver Sébastien Bourdais entered the season as the defending champion, and went on to score his fourth consecutive title, becoming the first driver in Champ Car and/or American open-wheel racing history to do so. It was his final year in the series before moving on to Formula 1, regardless of the subsequent unification of the sport. It also marked the last time that a driver of an American open-wheel championship clinched the title before the final race of the season till 2023, when Alex Palou won the IndyCar title.[1]

Background and series news

Champ Car underwent some major changes for 2007. The opening race of the season was switched from the Grand Prix of Long Beach to Las Vegas for the first running of the Vegas Grand Prix, and the series was slated to race in Europe for the first time since 2003. Also, the entire schedule was held on road and street courses for the first time in history.

The name of the series reverted to Champ Car World Series, after both Bridgestone and Ford Motor Company concluded their sponsorship deals. Bridgestone extended its deal as tire supplier in November 2006, but Ford withdrew entirely from the series in January 2007.[2][3] Mazda took over as the new pace car and courtesy vehicle supplier, but elected not to badge the engines, with Cosworth having been sold to Kevin Kalkhoven by Ford.

ESPN announced a new, multiyear agreement that marked the return of the Champ Car World Series to the network in 2007.[4] On January 23, 2007, Champ Car unveiled its new logo for the Champ Car World Series and the Atlantic Series, with a design that included the new Panoz DP01 chassis on the right with an emphasis on a chicane-style layout, representing the street track racing that dominated Champ Car.

Rule changes

Champ Car officials confirmed that Panoz would be the sole chassis supplier for Champ Car for the three years beginning in 2007. The Panoz DP01 was built by sister company Élan Motorsport Technologies and was powered by a turbo-charged Cosworth engine. The new formula was reported to significantly lower the costs of competing in the series, which was in turn expected to increase car counts for the 2007 Champ Car season. However, 2007 entries did not exceeded those of 2006.

The new rules of the 2007 season included the implementation of standing starts at venues where they could be safely implemented, being introduced in the fourth round of the season at Portland. Additionally, all events were time limited to 1 hour 45 minutes instead of running a set number of laps. As the time limit approached, the drivers were notified that they were beginning the last lap. The leader would not be shown the white flag, which was instead employed in a similar manner to its use by the FIA. Teams were also allowed unlimited access to their tires during all qualifying sessions. The requirement for each team to use at least one set of the alternate Bridgestone Potenzas during the race would remain in place.

Starting this season drivers no longer received a bonus point for leading a lap of the race.

Confirmed entries

The following teams and drivers competed in the 2007 Champ Car World Series season. All teams used a Cosworth 2.65-litre turbocharged V8 engine, a Panoz DP01 chassis, and Bridgestone tires.

Team No. Driver(s) Round(s) Ref(s)
Template:Flagicon Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing 1 Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais All [5]
2 Template:Flagicon Graham Rahal <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  All [6]
Template:Flagicon Forsythe Racing 3 Template:Flagicon Paul Tracy 1–2, 4–14Template:Refn [7]
Template:Flagicon Oriol Servià 2–3 [8][9]
7 Template:Flagicon Mario Domínguez 1–3 [10]
Template:Flagicon Oriol Servià 4–12 [11]
Template:Flagicon David Martinez <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  13–14 [12]
Template:Flagicon Minardi Team USA[13] 4 Template:Flagicon Dan Clarke AllTemplate:Refn [14]
Template:Flagicon Mario Domínguez 11 [15]
14 Template:Flagicon Robert Doornbos <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  All [14]
Template:Flagicon Team Australia 5 Template:Flagicon Will Power All [16]
15 Template:Flagicon Simon Pagenaud <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  All [17]
Template:Flagicon RSPORTS[18]
Template:Flagicon Rocketsports Racing 		8 Template:Flagicon Alex Tagliani 1–10 [19]
11–14 [20]
Template:Flagicon RSPORTS[18]
Template:Flagicon RuSPORT 		9 Template:Flagicon Justin Wilson 1–10 [21]
11–14 [20]
Template:Flagicon Dale Coyne Racing 11 Template:Flagicon Katherine Legge All [22]
19 Template:Flagicon Bruno Junqueira All [22]
Template:Flagicon PKV Racing 21 Template:Flagicon Neel Jani <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  All [23]
22 Template:Flagicon Tristan Gommendy <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  1–12Template:Refn [24]
Template:Flagicon Mario Domínguez 8 [25]
Template:Flagicon Oriol Servià 13–14 [26]
Template:Flagicon Pacific Coast Motorsports 28 Template:Flagicon Ryan Dalziel <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  1–8, 10–12 [27]
Template:Flagicon Mario Domínguez 9, 13–14 [28][29]
29 Template:Flagicon Alex Figge <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  AllTemplate:Refn [27]
Template:Flagicon Roberto Moreno 3 [30]
Template:Flagicon Conquest Racing <templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" />34Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Template:Flagicon Matt Halliday <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  1–3 [31]
Template:Flagicon Jan Heylen 4–12 [32]
Template:Flagicon Nelson Philippe 13–14 [33]

Driver changes

Preseason

Mid-season

Team changes

  • On July 30, 2006, Champ Car Atlantic team Gelles Racing announced a new two-car Champ Car programme for 2007, with the blessing of series officials.[39] However, no further developments or announcements were made in the following months, and the team eventually cancelled their Panoz DP01 orders.
  • On December 18, 2006, former F1 team principal Paul Stoddart announced it had acquired a controlling interest in CTE-HVM Racing. The team was renamed as Minardi Team USA in the style of former Formula 1 team Minardi, which had been owned by Stoddart between 2001 and 2005.[13]
  • On February 3, 2007, team owner Éric Bachelart announced that Conquest Racing would downsize its operations to one car, after Mi-Jack decided to not self-fund the team in its co-ownership role. One day earlier, a self-imposed deadline to find sponsorship and keep the team running was met with a last-minute sponsorship deal, shortly after employees had been told Conquest would be closed.[40]
  • On March 6, 2007, Mi-Jack announced it had sold back its ownership share in Conquest Racing.[41] On March 9, Mi-Jack owner Mike Lanigan was announced as a new partner of Newman/Haas Racing, with the team being renamed as Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.[42]
  • On March 29, 2007, RuSPORT and Rocketsports Racing announced an strategic and economic alliance that would see both teams merge as RSPORTS under the joint ownership of Dan Pettit and Paul Gentilozzi.[18] Before the eleventh race of the season at Zolder, it was announced that the two teams would revert to compete separately under their original names.[20]

Schedule

The 15-race schedule was first released on September 27, 2006.[43] It was expanded to 17 races on January 16, 2007.[44]

Rd. Date Race Name Track Location
1 April 8 Template:Flagicon Vegas Grand Prix <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> S  Streets of Las Vegas Las Vegas, Nevada
2 April 15 Template:Flagicon Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach[45] <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> S  Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California
3 April 22 Template:Flagicon Grand Prix of Houston <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> S  JAGFlo Speedway at Reliant Park Houston, Texas
- May 20 Template:Flagicon Champ Car China Grand Prix[46] <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  Zhuhai International Circuit Zhuhai, China
4 June 10 Template:Flagicon Mazda Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland Presented by Joe's Sports and Outdoor <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon
5 June 24 Template:Flagicon Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by LaSalle Bank[47] <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> S  Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio
6 July 1 Template:Flagicon Champ Car Mont-Tremblant[48] <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  Circuit Mont-Tremblant Mont-Tremblant, Quebec
7 July 8 Template:Flagicon Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto[49][48] <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> S  Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario
8 July 22 Template:Flagicon Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton[48] <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> S  Edmonton City Centre Airport Speedway Edmonton, Alberta
9 July 29 Template:Flagicon San Jose Grand Prix at Redback Raceway[50] <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> S  Streets of San Jose San Jose, California
10 August 12 Template:Flagicon Generac Grand Prix <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
- August 19 Template:Flagicon Grand Prix of Denver <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> S  Denver Civic Center Denver, Colorado
11 August 26 Template:Flagicon Belgian Champ Car Grand Prix[50][51][52][53] <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  Circuit Zolder Heusden-Zolder, Belgium
12 September 2 Template:Flagicon Bavaria Champ Car Grand Prix Powered by Audi, Gant, Hertz, Jumbo & Pioneer <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  TT Circuit Assen Assen, Netherlands
13 October 21 Template:Flagicon Lexmark Indy 300 <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> S  Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Australia
14 November 11 Template:Flagicon Gran Premio Tecate Presented by Banamex <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Mexico City, Mexico
- December 2 Template:Flagicon Grand Prix Arizona <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> S  Streets of Phoenix Phoenix, Arizona

<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  Road course
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> S  Street/temporary circuit

Schedule changes

  • On September 27, 2006, Champ Car released the 2007 schedule. Notably, the race at the Milwaukee Mile was dropped, which meant that no oval races would be held during the season, for the first time in the history of major American open-wheel racing. The Grand Prix of Monterrey was also discontinued after six seasons. Both events were replaced with street races at Las Vegas and Phoenix, organized by the same promoter and intended to bookend the season, a role held by Long Beach and Mexico over the previous years. Amid interest from NASCAR, the Montreal race was switched for a return to Mont-Tremblant, which had hosted USAC Indy car races in the 1960's, and the fourth attempt on an Asian event was scheduled at Zhuhai, China, after three years of race cancellations in Korean venues.[43]
  • On January 16, 2007, the calendar was expanded to 17 races with the addition of a two-legged European trip at Circuit Zolder and TT Circuit Assen, marking the return of the series to the Old Continent after four years.[44]
  • On February 1, the Grand Prix of Denver was cancelled for both the 2007 and 2008 seasons, due to scheduling conflicts on the surrounding venues. Although the contract was still in place for a 2009 edition, it would not be fulfilled after the 2008 unification of American open-wheel racing.[54]
  • On April 7, 2007, Champ Car announced a change of date of the Zolder event from September 9 to August 26, due to its proximity with the Belgian Grand Prix.[55] The series also confirmed the postponement of the Zhuhai race, which had been reported as early as February.[56] A change of date from May 20 to October 28 was officially requested to and rejected by the FIA, which was the ultimate authority over the allocation of IndyCar's international dates. Its president, Max Mosley, confirmed on June 2 that Champ Car had been aware of the situation since early April, while still including the race in its schedules since.[57]
  • On August 28, 2007, the Grand Prix Arizona was cancelled by its promoters due to a lack of corporate support. This eventually led to Champ Car terminating its deal for both this race and Las Vegas for 2008. Champ Car also confirmed that the Zhuhai race wouldn't take place in 2007. While originally "postponed" to 2008, it would not feature on next season's prospective calendar.[58]

Results

Rd. Race Pole position Fastest lap Lead most laps Race winner
Driver Team Report
1 Template:Flagicon Las Vegas Template:Flagicon Will Power Template:Flagicon Will Power Template:Flagicon Will Power Template:Flagicon Will Power Template:Flagicon Team Australia Report
2 Template:Flagicon Long Beach Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Simon Pagenaud Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
3 Template:Flagicon Houston Template:Flagicon Will Power Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
4 Template:Flagicon Portland Template:Flagicon Justin Wilson Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Justin Wilson Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
5 Template:Flagicon Cleveland Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Will Power Template:Flagicon Paul Tracy Template:Flagicon Forsythe Racing Report
6 Template:Flagicon Mont-Tremblant Template:Flagicon Tristan Gommendy Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Robert Doornbos Template:Flagicon Minardi Team USA Report
7 Template:Flagicon Toronto Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Oriol Servià Template:Flagicon Will Power Template:Flagicon Team Australia Report
8 Template:Flagicon Edmonton Template:Flagicon Will Power Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
9 Template:Flagicon San Jose Template:Flagicon Justin Wilson Template:Flagicon Justin Wilson Template:Flagicon Oriol Servià Template:Flagicon Robert Doornbos Template:Flagicon Minardi Team USA Report
10 Template:Flagicon Road America Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
11 Template:Flagicon Zolder Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
12 Template:Flagicon Assen Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Dan Clarke Template:Flagicon Justin Wilson Template:Flagicon Justin Wilson Template:Flagicon RSPORTS Report
13 Template:Flagicon Surfers Paradise Template:Flagicon Will Power Template:Flagicon Graham Rahal Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
14 Template:Flagicon Mexico City Template:Flagicon Will Power Template:Flagicon Robert Doornbos Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais Template:Flagicon Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report

Points standings

Template:See

Driver standings

Pos Driver LAS Template:Flagicon LBH Template:Flagicon HOU Template:Flagicon POR Template:Flagicon CLE Template:Flagicon MTT Template:Flagicon TOR Template:Flagicon EDM Template:Flagicon SJO Template:Flagicon ROA Template:Flagicon ZOL Template:Flagicon ASN Template:Flagicon SUR Template:Flagicon MXC Template:Flagicon Pts
1 Template:Flagicon Sébastien Bourdais 13 1* 1* 1 12 2* 9 1* 5 1* 1* 7 1* 1* 364
2 Template:Flagicon Justin Wilson 14 4 10 2* 4 5 3 2 13 8 5 1* 2 10 281
3 Template:Flagicon Robert Doornbos <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> RY  2 13 3 3 2 1 6 11 1 14 7 13 4 16 268
4 Template:Flagicon Will Power 1* 3 11 4 10* 3 1 15 4 16 4 14 16 2 262
5 Template:Flagicon Graham Rahal <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  17 8 2 9 8 7 11 3 6 3 3 9 11 4 243
6 Template:Flagicon Oriol Servià 2 4 11 7 9 10* 6 3* 4 6 8 14 3 237
7 Template:Flagicon Bruno Junqueira 7 6 7 13 16 17 5 7 7 9 2 3 3 7 233
8 Template:Flagicon Simon Pagenaud <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  12 14 5 8 5 4 4 4 10 11 12 6 5 6 232
9 Template:Flagicon Neel Jani <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  10 7 15 12 3 6 2 9 2 10 8 5 8 9 231
10 Template:Flagicon Alex Tagliani 4 5 9 5 6 8 8 14 15 5 9 15 7 13 205
11 Template:Flagicon Paul Tracy 3 Wth 10 1 15 14 5 11 12 10 17 9 5 171
12 Template:Flagicon Tristan Gommendy <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  5 11 13 7 13 12 15 Wth 8 7 16 4 140
13 Template:Flagicon Dan Clarke 15 12 17 6 11 14 12 8 17 2 Wth 11 17 17 129
14 Template:Flagicon Ryan Dalziel <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  11 9 8 14 9 10 7 12 17 15 10 116
15 Template:Flagicon Katherine Legge 6 10 16 17 15 11 16 16 16 15 11 12 15 15 108
16 Template:Flagicon Jan Heylen 15 14 16 13 10 9 6 13 2 104
17 Template:Flagicon Alex Figge <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  8 16 Wth 16 17 13 17 13 14 13 14 16 13 11 95
18 Template:Flagicon Mario Domínguez 9 17 6 17 12 17 12 8 78
19 Template:Flagicon Nelson Philippe 6 12 28
20 Template:Flagicon David Martínez <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  10 14 18
21 Template:Flagicon Matt Halliday <templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  16 15 14 18
22 Template:Flagicon Roberto Moreno 12 9
Pos Driver LAS Template:Flagicon LBH Template:Flagicon HOU Template:Flagicon POR Template:Flagicon CLE Template:Flagicon MTT Template:Flagicon TOR Template:Flagicon EDM Template:Flagicon SJO Template:Flagicon ROA Template:Flagicon ZOL Template:Flagicon ASN Template:Flagicon SUR Template:Flagicon MXC Template:Flagicon Pts
Color Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green 4th & 5th place
Light Blue 6th–10th place
Dark Blue Finished
(Outside Top 10)
Purple Did not finish
Red Did not qualify
(DNQ)
Brown Withdrawn
(Wth)
Black Disqualified
(DSQ)
White Did Not Start
(DNS)
Race abandoned
(C)
Blank Did not
participate
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
Italics Ran fastest race lap
* Led most race laps
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> RY  Rookie of the Year
<templatestyles src="Legend/styles.css" /> R  Rookie

See also

Footnotes

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Notes

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References

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Champ Car coming to ESPN beginning in 2007 – Racing – ESPN
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  17. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  20. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  21. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  23. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  24. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  25. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  26. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  27. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  28. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  29. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  30. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  31. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  32. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  33. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  34. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  35. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  36. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  37. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  38. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  39. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  40. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  41. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  42. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  43. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  44. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  45. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  46. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  47. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  48. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  49. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  50. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  51. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  52. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  53. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  54. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  55. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  56. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  57. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  58. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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Template:American Championship Car seasons Script error: No such module "Navbox".

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