The
2007 Lexmark Indy 300
The Gold Coast Indy 300 was an annual open-wheel motor race event that took place at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia from 1991 to 2008. The challenging track, alongside a strip of beaches, had sever ...
was the thirteenth and penultimate round of the
2007 Champ Car World Series Season
The 2007 Champ Car World Series season was the fourth and final season of the Champ Car World Series. 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 o ...
. It was held on 21 October 2007 on the
Surfers Paradise Street Circuit
The Surfers Paradise Street Circuit is a temporary street circuit in Surfers Paradise, in Queensland, Australia. The beach-side track has several fast sections and two chicanes, having been shortened from an original length in 2010. It is the ...
in
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
,
Australia. The race was won by
Sébastien Bourdais
Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships u ...
, who also claimed his fourth consecutive
Champ Car
Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ...
title, becoming the first man to achieve that distinction.
Qualifying results
Oriol Servià, driving a car for PKV this weekend, nipped local hero Will Power on Friday, snagging the provisional pole position by .033 seconds and locking in a front row starting spot for Sunday's race. Power got revenge on Saturday when he broke the Surfers Paradise track record in winning his fourth pole position of the season by .372 seconds.
Race
Will Power led away from the standing start, continuing to show the unmatched speed he showed in qualifying on Saturday. But the Australian's race would quickly end in tears. After debris brought out a caution flag on lap 9, Power led the front-runners into the pits for the first stop of the day. The lollipop man released Power back into the pit lane just as David Martínez was entering the pit stall in front of him. Power ran into the back of Martínez's car, damaging his right front suspension. Power was forced to return to the pits for repairs, leaving him at the back of the field. Power's day ended for good on lap 19 when he clouted Katherine Legge while trying to pass her, leaving him with a broken car and a very sore wrist.
As is often the case in Champ Car races, the early debris caution led to three drivers rolling the dice on strategy. Paul Tracy (who spun on lap 1), Bruno Junqueira (who had stalled on the grid), and Robert Doornbos (who had a lousy qualifying) stayed out rather than pit. Doornbos led until he pitted on lap 18, with Paul Tracy leading for a lap until he drove for the pits on lap 19.
Sébastien Bourdais inherited the lead from Tracy. Bourdais had jumped around Oriol Servià in the first pit stop. Servià took the lead when Bourdais pitted on lap 32, who in turn gave up the lead on lap later to Paul Tracy, who was now leading the alternate strategy cars.
Bourdais was running in second behind Tracy until a rare event happened on lap 39, he was passed on the track by Justin Wilson. So when Tracy pitted on lap 40 Wilson took over the lead. Both Wilson and Bourdais had one more pit stop to make. Wilson stopped first on lap 44, but Bourdais extended his stop until lap 48, setting down some scorching laps on low tanks in the meantime. Bourdais easily came out in front of Wilson after completing his final pit stop.
With first and second places pretty much decided, an interesting battle was shaping up between alternate strategy runners Tracy and Junqueira for the final podium spot. Tracy was looking to redeem a rough patch of races while Junqueira was looking for his third consecutive podium finish. Unfortunately for Tracy, he used too much fuel to stay ahead and had to dive to the pits for fuel on the white flag lap. To add insult to injury he stalled the car and ended the race in ninth, the last lead lap runner.
With the victory, Bourdais clinched his fourth consecutive Champ Car title, a feat that has never been done before. He also became the first man to repeat as winner in the 17-year history of the Surfers Paradise event.
Race result
Caution flags
Notes
* New Track Record
Will Power
William "Will" Steven Power (born 1 March 1981) is an Australian motorsports driver who currently competes in the IndyCar Series, driving for Team Penske. He is the 2014 and 2022 IndyCar Series champion and the 2018 Indianapolis 500 champion. ...
1:30.054 (Qualification Session #2)
* New Lap Record
Graham Rahal
Graham Robert Rahal (born January 4, 1989) is an American race car driver and small business owner. He currently participates in the IndyCar Series with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team partially owned by his father Bobby Rahal, the winn ...
1:31.093
* New Race Record
Sébastien Bourdais
Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships u ...
1:45:49.318
* Average Speed 96.669 mph
Championship standings after the race
* Bold indicates the Season Champion.
;Drivers' Championship standings
*
Note: Only the top five positions are included.
References
External links
Full Weekend Times & Results
{{Champ Car World Series race report,
Name_of_race =
2007 Lexmark Indy 300 ,
Year_of_race = 2007 ,
Previous_race_in_season =
2007 Bavaria Champ Car Grand Prix
of Holland ,
Next_race_in_season =
2007 Gran Premio Tecate
The 2007 Gran Premio Tecate was the fourteenth and final race of the 2007 Champ Car World Series season. It was held on November 11, 2007 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, Mexico. The race was won by Sébastien Bourdais in h ...
,
Previous_year's_race =
2006 Lexmark Indy 300 ,
Next_year's_race =
2008 Nikon Indy 300
The 2008 Nikon Indy 300 was the 19th and final race of the 2008 IndyCar Series season. It was held on 26 October 2008 on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Queensland, Australia.
It was the first time the race was held for the Indy Racing ...
IndyCar Series
The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...
event
Lexmark Indy 300
The Gold Coast Indy 300 was an annual open-wheel motor race event that took place at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia from 1991 to 2008. The challenging track, alongside a strip of beaches, had sever ...
Lexmark Indy 300
The Gold Coast Indy 300 was an annual open-wheel motor race event that took place at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia from 1991 to 2008. The challenging track, alongside a strip of beaches, had sever ...
Gold Coast Indy 300