The 2007 Bavaria Champ Car Grand Prix was the twelfth round of the 2007 Champ Car World Series Season. It was held on September 2 at

TT Circuit Assen The TT Circuit Assen is a motorsport race track built in 1955 and located in Assen, Netherlands. Host of the Dutch TT, it is popularly referred to as "The Cathedral" of motorcycling by the fans of the sport. The venue has the distinction of hold ...

in Assen, Netherlands. The race was won by Justin Wilson.

Background

On January 16, 2007 the Champ Car World Series announced a multi-year agreement that briefly saw the return of

Champ Cars 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 ...

to Europe for the first time since 2003 with inaugural races in the Netherlands and Belgium. These events added to the Champ Car calendar took place August 26 at the

Zolder The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlamen, is an undulating motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. History Built in 1963, Zolder hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix on 10 separate occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, a ...

circuit in Belgium and September 2 at the TT Circuit in Assen, Netherlands. This marked the first time that Champ Car has raced in either of the two European nations.

Title sponsor

On July 12, 2007, at a press conference held in

Lieshout Lieshout is a village located in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, about 15 kilometres northeast of Eindhoven. There are 4,300 inhabitants, and the village is known for its brewing company Swinkels Family Brewers. The ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, Bart Rietbergen of the Dutch Champ Car Grand Prix, Jos Vaessen, Chairman of TT Circuit Assen, and Peer Swinkels, chairman of the Bavaria Beer company, announced that Bavaria Brewery, the second largest brewer in the Netherlands, would be the title sponsor of the 2007 Grand Prix event. Officials also announced the signing of three associate sponsors of the event; those being

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

Gant Gant may refer to: * Gant (surname) * Gant (retailer), an international brand of clothing and accessories Places * Gant, Poland * Gánt, a village in Hungary * Gant, the Catalan name for Ghent, Belgium Entertainment * 187 Lockdown, a 1990s Briti ...

, and

Hertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

. Promotional events leading up to the Grand Prix included driver appearances and track performances of a Champ Car at the Bavaria City Racing held in Rotterdam and at the Rizla Racing Days weekend at the TT Circuit. The official name of the event was the "Bavaria Champ Car Grand Prix Powered by Audi, Gant & Hertz."

Qualifying results

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 ...

won his third consecutive pole position and came closer to clinching 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. Justin Wilson was fastest in the wet on Friday to secure the front row spot beside him.

Dan Clarke Daniel Clarke (born 4 October 1983) is a British auto racing driver, most recently competing in the Firestone Indy Lights series with Walker Racing, having previously competed in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport and the Champ Car World Series. ...

was reinstated from his suspension by Champ Car race director Tony Cotman, meaning the usual 17 drivers would start the race on Sunday.

Race

Starting on the front row beside pole sitter Sébastien Bourdais, Justin Wilson drove into the lead in the first corner. Bourdais then began to lose multiple positions when a software bug in his car's ECU engaged the pit speed limiter when he pressed the power to pass button. He was able to save losing further positions when a spin by Paul Tracy brought out a full course yellow. Wilson settled into the lead followed by PKV teammates Neel Jani and Tristan Gommendy, Graham Rahal and then Bourdais. Almost unnoticed, Bruno Junqueira pitted under green on lap 8. When a caution came out for debris on lap 14 and the rest of the field pitted for the first time Junqueira took the lead, which he held until he pitted on lap 26. By this point in the race it was determined that other cars were suffering the same power to pass glitch as Bourdais and Champ Car sent out an edict that all drivers must refrain from using "the button" for the remainder of the race. A second debris caution brought the field save Junquiera into the pits on lap 31 and once again Junquiera came out of the caution in the lead. After providing Dale Coyne Racing with its best ever finish with a second place the previous week at

, it began to look as if Bruno would follow up with Coyne's first victory as he extended his lead over Wilson. Junquiera pitted for the final time on lap 49. With a clean pit stop he should have cycled back to the lead when Wilson came in for his final stop on lap 51. However, when the stops were finished he found himself in third behind Wilson and Jan Heylen. It was later determined that on his final stop, his pit lane limiter did not properly activate, causing him to spend eight extra seconds on pit lane. This glitch likely cost him the victory. As it was, Justin Wilson led the final 20 laps in front of Heylen and Junquiera to take the win. It was Justin's first race win since the 2006 Edmonton Grand Prix. Heylen's second place was his best ever Champ Car result and tied the best ever result for Conquest Racing. Bourdais' race never really got going after the trouble at the start. He was forced to battle back through the entire field after stalling his car during his second pit stop and dropping back to 16th place. His seventh-place finish wasn't good enough to seal his fourth consecutive Champ Car championship, extending the fading hopes of his competitors for at least one more race.

Caution flags

Notes

* New Race Record Justin Wilson : 1:46:02.236 * Average Speed 110.491 mph

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included.

Attendance

Attendance for the 2007 Bavaria Champ Car Grand Prix was 74,900 over the race weekend, with 61,200 fans attending the main race day Sunday event.

References

External links

Full Weekend Times & Results

Drivers Standings After Race
{{Champ Car World Series race report, , Name_of_race = 2007 Bavaria Champ Car Grand Prix , Year_of_race = 2007 , Previous_race_in_season = 2007 Belgian Champ Car Grand Prix , Next_race_in_season =

2007 Lexmark Indy 300 The 2007 Lexmark Indy 300 was the thirteenth and penultimate round of the 2007 Champ Car World Series Season. It was held on 21 October 2007 on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Queensland, Australia. The race was won by Sébastien Bourda ...

, Previous_year's_race = First Event , Next_year's_race = 2008 Netherlands Champ Car Grand Prix of Holland
''cancelled by IndyCar/Champ Car merger'' Bavaria Champ Car Grand Prix, 2007 Champ Car Grand Prix 2007 in Dutch motorsport