Doornbos wins at San Jose
Robert Doornbos clinched his second victory of the season with a great drive from the back of the field, beating Neel Jani by 6.5 seconds
The Dutchman lost his front wing on the opening lap when he mounted the rear of Jan Heylen's Conquest Racing machine at the hairpin, but Minardi Team USA's alternative fuel strategy, timely yellow flag caution periods, and excellent pace on a clear track pushed Doornbos up into the top three.
The one man who could have matched Doornbos's pace was pole-sitter and race leader Justin Wilson, but Minardi teammate Dan Clarke ran into the back of his compatriot under the full-course caution, putting him several laps down.
The RSPORTS driver rocketed round the track in his repaired machine but finished outside the top 10.
Neel Jani of PKV Racing and Oriol Servia of Forsythe Championship Racing enjoyed a spirited tussle over the lead once Wilson retired, but neither had the pace to hold Doornbos.
Sebastien Bourdais had taken the lead at the start, but Wilson passed him later that lap, and the Frenchman then appeared to fumble for gears exiting Turn 1 hairpin, obliging his pursuers to duck round the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing car.
Bourdais took up the chase in eighth but spent most of the rest of the afternoon staring at the rear wing of Will Power, despite the fact that Power's car was curiously off the pace.
Paul Tracy's ill-handling Forsythe car did not have the pace to keep up with Servia and Jani in the early stages, but he was able to hold off Graham Rahal's faster Newman/Haas/Lanigan machine, and in the middle stint the Canadian pulled away from Power and Bourdais.
However, when the Forsythe car ran out of fuel on its in-lap, that sealed Tracy's doom. His compatriot in the second RSPORTS car, Alex Tagliani, also suffered a fuel pick-up problem, and he dropped through the field to cap a disappointing day for the team.
Bruno Junqueira was fast and fuel efficient enough to earn yet another top-seven finish for Dale Coyne Racing, beating Simon Pagenaud (Team Australia).
Heylen's Conquest car looked set for seventh, but a late race clash as he attempted to pass Junqueira shuffled him down to 10th.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 1h45:07.617 2. Neel Jani PKV + 6.145 3. Oriol Servia Forsythe Championship + 6.905 4. Will Power Team Australia + 7.488 5. Sebastien Bourdais Newman Haas Lanigan + 8.034 6. Graham Rahal Newman Haas Lanigan + 9.600 7. Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne + 13.951 8. Tristan Gommendy PKV + 19.238 9. Jan Heylen Conquest + 28.532 10. Simon Pagenaud Team Australia + 48.429 11. Paul Tracy Forsythe Championship + 2 laps 12. Mario Dominguez Pacific Coast Motorsports + 3 laps 13. Justin Wilson RSPORTS + 20 laps 14. Alex Figge Pacific Coast Motorsports + 23 laps 15. Alex Tagliani RSPORTS + 24 laps 16. Katherine Legge Dale Coyne + 94 laps 17. Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA + 101 laps Fastest lap: Wilson, 49.584 on lap 35
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments