2007 Champ Car 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 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.

2007 Champ Car season
Champ Car World Series
Season
Races17 14
Start dateApril 8
End dateNovember 11
Awards
Drivers' championFrance Sébastien Bourdais
Rookie of the YearNetherlands Robert Doornbos

For 2007 Champ Car underwent some major changes. 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. The Long Beach Grand Prix was the second race of the season, followed by the Grand Prix of Houston. Also, the entire schedule was held on road and street courses, and the events were timed races instead of races for a set number of laps. The full 2007 schedule was announced on Wednesday, September 27, 2006.

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. Ford announced it would no longer badge the Cosworth engines as Ford sold Cosworth to Kevin Kalkhoven. Mazda was confirmed as the new pace car and courtesy vehicle supplier.

ESPN announced a new, multiyear agreement that marked the return of the Champ Car World Series to the network in 2007.[1]

On January 16, 2007, Champ Car announced their return to Europe, for the first time since 2003, with races scheduled for August 26, 2007 at the historic Zolder circuit in Belgium, and September 2, 2007 at the TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands.[2]

On January 23, 2007, Champ Car unveiled its new logo for the Champ Car World Series and the Atlantic Series. According to its website, it is a sleeker design with the new Panoz DP01 chassis on the right with an emphasis on a chicane-style layout, representing the street track racing that dominates Champ Car. There were no oval tracks on the calendar, with Milwaukee removed after the 2006 race.

The 2007 Champ Car World Series season also marked that last time an IndyCar Series Championship was secured before the final race of the season until Álex Palou's win in the 2023 IndyCar Series Season.[3]

Drivers and teams

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) Rounds Primary Sponsor(s)
United States Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing 1 France Sébastien Bourdais All McDonald's
2 United States Graham Rahal  R  All MediZone
United States Forsythe Racing 3 Canada Paul Tracy 1, 4–14 Indeck
Spain Oriol Servià 2–3
7 Mexico Mario Domínguez 1–3 Telmex
Spain Oriol Servià 4–12 Indeck
Mexico David Martinez  R  13–14
United Kingdom Minardi Team USA 4 United Kingdom Dan Clarke 1–10, 12–14 Ticketmaster
Mexico Mario Domínguez 11
14 Netherlands Robert Doornbos  R  All Muermans
Australia Team Australia 5 Australia Will Power All Aussie Vineyards
15 France Simon Pagenaud  R  All
United States RSPORTS 8 Canada Alex Tagliani All LXN2 4
Steelback Beer 1
Wal-Mart 5
Holmatro Rescue Tools 2
PBS Equities 2
9 United Kingdom Justin Wilson All CDW
United States Dale Coyne Racing 11 United Kingdom Katherine Legge All Dale Coyne Racing
19 Brazil Bruno Junqueira All Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q
United States PKV Racing 21 Switzerland Neel Jani  R  All Red Bull
22 France Tristan Gommendy  R  1–7, 9–12 Pay By Touch
Mexico Mario Domínguez 8
Spain Oriol Servià 13–14
United States Pacific Coast Motorsports 28 United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel  R  1–8, 10–12 Ironclad 3
Pacific Coast Motorsports 3
Toronto Sun 1
Edmonton Sun 1
Generac Power Systems 1
Plain Jane Couture 2
Mexico Mario Domínguez 9, 13–14 Joseph J. Albanese Concrete Construction 1
Tecate Beer 2
29 United States Alex Figge  R  1–2, 4–14 Imperial Capital Bank 4
Molecule Labs 1
Pacific Coast Motorsports 2
Toronto Sun 1
Edmonton Sun 1
Redback Networks 1
Generac Power Systems 1
Plain Jane Couture 2
Conrad Jupiters 1
Brazil Roberto Moreno 3
United States Conquest Racing 34 New Zealand Matt Halliday  R  1–3 42 Below
Belgium Jan Heylen 4–12 Champ Car Grand Prix of Belgium 6
Grafprint 3
France Nelson Philippe 13–14 Juniper Soul

Zsolt Baumgartner & Mario Domínguez were test drivers for Minardi Team USA.

Mid-season changes

Schedule

The 2007 Champ Car season ended up having 14 races, down from the proposed 17 races.

Rnd Date Race Name Circuit Location
1 April 8 United States Vegas Grand Prix Streets of Las Vegas Las Vegas, Nevada
2 April 15 United States Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach[9] Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California
3 April 22 United States Grand Prix of Houston[9] JAGFlo Speedway at Reliant Park[10] Houston, Texas
4 June 10 United States Mazda Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland Presented by Joe's Sports and Outdoor[11] Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon
5 June 24 United States Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by LaSalle Bank[12] Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio
6 July 1 Canada Champ Car Mont-Tremblant[13] Circuit Mont-Tremblant Mont-Tremblant, Quebec
7 July 8 Canada Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto[10][13] Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario
8 July 22 Canada Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton[13] Edmonton City Centre Airport Speedway Edmonton, Alberta
9 July 29 United States San Jose Grand Prix at Redback Raceway[14] Streets of San Jose San Jose, California
10 August 12 United States Generac Grand Prix Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
11 August 26 Belgium Belgian Champ Car Grand Prix[14][15][16][17] Circuit Zolder Heusden-Zolder, Belgium
12 September 2 Netherlands Bavaria Champ Car Grand Prix Powered by Audi, Gant, Hertz, Jumbo & Pioneer[14][15][16][17] TT Circuit Assen Assen, Netherlands
13 October 21 Australia Lexmark Indy 300 Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Australia
14 November 11 Mexico Gran Premio Tecate Presented by Banamex Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Mexico City, Mexico
  • The Grand Prix of Denver was cancelled by Champ Car on February 1.
  • The Chinese Champ Car Grand Prix, after having its original May 20 date postponed, was cancelled on April 2 after the FIA rejected Champ Car's replacement date.
  • The Grand Prix Arizona was cancelled on August 29.

Season summary

Race results

Rnd Race Name Pole position Fastest lap Lead most laps Winning driver Winning team Report
1 United States Vegas Grand Prix Australia Will Power Australia Will Power Australia Will Power Australia Will Power Australia Team Australia Report
2 United States Grand Prix of Long Beach France Sébastien Bourdais France Simon Pagenaud France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais United States Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
3 United States Grand Prix of Houston Australia Will Power France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais United States Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
4 United States Grand Prix of Portland United Kingdom Justin Wilson France Sébastien Bourdais United Kingdom Justin Wilson France Sébastien Bourdais United States Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
5 United States Grand Prix of Cleveland France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais Australia Will Power Canada Paul Tracy United States Forsythe Racing Report
6 Canada Mont-Tremblant Grand Prix France Tristan Gommendy France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais Netherlands Robert Doornbos United Kingdom Minardi Team USA Report
7 Canada Grand Prix of Toronto France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais Spain Oriol Servià Australia Will Power Australia Team Australia Report
8 Canada Grand Prix of Edmonton Australia Will Power France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais United States Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
9 United States San Jose Grand Prix United Kingdom Justin Wilson United Kingdom Justin Wilson Spain Oriol Servià Netherlands Robert Doornbos United Kingdom Minardi Team USA Report
10 United States Grand Prix of Road America France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais United States Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
11 Belgium Belgian Grand Prix France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais United States Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
12 Netherlands Bavarian Grand Prix France Sébastien Bourdais United Kingdom Dan Clarke United Kingdom Justin Wilson United Kingdom Justin Wilson United States RSPORTS Report
13 Australia Lexmark Indy 300 Australia Will Power United States Graham Rahal France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais United States Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
14 Mexico Gran Premio Tecate Australia Will Power Netherlands Robert Doornbos France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais United States Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report

Final driver standings

Pos Driver LAS United States LBH United States HOU United States POR United States CLE United States MTT Canada TOR Canada EDM Canada SAN United States ROA United States ZOL Belgium ASS Netherlands SUR Australia MEX Mexico Pts
1 France Sébastien Bourdais 13 1* 1* 1 12 2* 9 1* 5 1* 1* 7 1* 1* 364
2 United Kingdom Justin Wilson 14 4 10 2* 4 5 3 2 13 8 5 1* 2 10 281
3 Netherlands Robert Doornbos  RY  2 13 3 3 2 1 6 11 1 14 7 13 4 16 268
4 Australia Will Power 1* 3 11 4 10* 3 1 15 4 16 4 14 16 2 262
5 United States Graham Rahal  R  17 8 2 9 8 7 11 3 6 3 3 9 11 4 243
6 Spain Oriol Servià 2 4 11 7 9 10* 6 3* 4 6 8 14 3 237
7 Brazil Bruno Junqueira 7 6 7 13 16 17 5 7 7 9 2 3 3 7 233
8 France Simon Pagenaud  R  12 14 5 8 5 4 4 4 10 11 12 6 5 6 232
9 Switzerland Neel Jani  R  10 7 15 12 3 6 2 9 2 10 8 5 8 9 231
10 Canada Alex Tagliani 4 5 9 5 6 8 8 14 15 5 9 15 7 13 205
11 Canada Paul Tracy 3 Wth 10 1 15 14 5 11 12 10 17 9 5 171
12 France Tristan Gommendy  R  5 11 13 7 13 12 15 Wth 8 7 16 4 140
13 United Kingdom Dan Clarke 15 12 17 6 11 14 12 8 17 2 Wth 11 17 17 129
14 United Kingdom Ryan Dalziel  R  11 9 8 14 9 10 7 12 17 15 10 116
15 United Kingdom Katherine Legge 6 10 16 17 15 11 16 16 16 15 11 12 15 15 108
16 Belgium Jan Heylen 15 14 16 13 10 9 6 13 2 104
17 United States Alex Figge  R  8 16 Wth 16 17 13 17 13 14 13 14 16 13 11 95
18 Mexico Mario Domínguez 9 17 6 17 12 17 12 8 78
19 France Nelson Philippe 6 12 28
20 Mexico David Martínez  R  10 14 18
21 New Zealand Matt Halliday  R  16 15 14 18
22 Brazil Roberto Moreno 12 9
Pos Driver LAS United States LBH United States HOU United States POR United States CLE United States MTT Canada TOR Canada EDM Canada SAN United States ROA United States ZOL Belgium ASS Netherlands SUR Australia MEX Mexico Pts
Color Result
GoldWinner
Silver2nd place
Bronze3rd place
Green4th & 5th place
Light Blue6th–10th place
Dark BlueFinished
(Outside Top 10)
PurpleDid not finish
RedDid not qualify
(DNQ)
BrownWithdrawn
(Wth)
BlackDisqualified
(DSQ)
White Did Not Start
(DNS)
Race abandoned
(C)
BlankDid not
participate
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
Italics Ran fastest race lap
* Led most race laps
 RY  Rookie of the Year
 R  Rookie

Driver breakdown

Pos Driver Team Races Wins Top 3 Top 5 Top 10 Poles Laps Led
1 France Bourdais United States N/H/L Racing 14 8 9 10 11 6 463
2 United Kingdom Wilson United States RSPORTS 14 1 5 9 12 2 113
3 Netherlands Doornbos  R  United Kingdom Minardi Team USA 14 2 6 7 9 61
4 Australia Power Australia Team Australia 14 2 5 8 9 5 153
5 United States Rahal  R  United States N/H/L Racing 14 4 5 11 18
6 Spain Servià United States Forsythe Racing
United States PKV Racing
13 3 5 10 85
7 Brazil Junqueira United States DC Racing 14 3 4 11 33
8 France Pagenaud  R  Australia Team Australia 14 6 10 19
9 Switzerland Jani  R  United States PKV Racing 14 3 4 12 30
10 Canada Tagliani United States RSPORTS 14 4 10 14
11 Canada Tracy United States Forsythe Racing 12 1 2 4 7 49
12 France Gommendy  R  United States PKV Racing 11 2 5 1 31
13 United Kingdom Clarke United Kingdom Minardi Team USA 13 1 1 3 2
14 United Kingdom Dalziel  R  United States PC Motorsports 11 6 16
15 United Kingdom Legge United States DC Racing 14 2
16 Belgium Heylen United States Conquest Racing 9 1 1 4
17 United States Figge  R  United States PC Motorsports 13 1
18 Mexico Domínguez United States Forsythe Racing
United States PKV Racing
United States PC Motorsports
United Kingdom Minardi Team USA
8 3
19 France Philippe United States Conquest Racing 2 1
20 Mexico Martínez  R  United States Forsythe Racing 2 1
21 New Zealand Halliday  R  United States Conquest Racing 3
22 Brazil Moreno United States PC Motorsports 1

Rule changes

The new rules of the 2007 season included the implementation of standing starts at venues where they could be safely implemented. Additionally, all events were timed events instead of running a set number of laps. As the time limit approaches, 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.

Notes

  1. Champ Car coming to ESPN beginning in 2007 – Racing – ESPN
  2. "Champ Car > News Tuesday, January 16, 2007". Archived from the original on March 7, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
  3. Kelly, Paul. "PALOU CLINCHES CHAMPIONSHIP WITH DECISIVE PORTLAND VICTORY". IndyCar.com. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  4. "Servià keeps Forsythe drive". autosport.com. May 22, 2007. Archived from the original on May 25, 2007. Retrieved June 1, 2007.
  5. "Heylen at Conquest for rest of year". autosport.com. June 1, 2007. Archived from the original on June 3, 2007. Retrieved June 1, 2007.
  6. "Pacific Coast Motorsports signs Mexican Superstar Mario Domínguez". champcarworldseries.com. September 20, 2007. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved September 21, 2007.
  7. "He's back!Nelson Philippe returns to Conquest Racing team". champcarworldseries.com. October 3, 2007. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
  8. "Oriol Servià To Compete For PKV Racing At Lexmark Indy 300". champcarworldseries.com. October 16, 2007. Retrieved October 16, 2007.
  9. "Vegas Grand Prix opens 2007 Champ Car season". reviewjournal.com. August 1, 2006. Retrieved September 2, 2006.
  10. "Sponsor boost for Toronto, Houston". crash.net. March 13, 2007. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved March 13, 2007.
  11. "Mazda New Title Sponsor for Portland Champ Car Grand Prix". whowon.com. May 10, 2007. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved May 11, 2007.
  12. "Cleveland 2007 date announced". motorsport.com. August 24, 2006. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2006.
  13. "Champ Car set to add Quebec pit stop". globeandmail.com. September 25, 2006. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved September 26, 2006.
  14. "2007 Champ Car Schedule Coming – China, Europe to be Added?". paddocktalk.com. September 17, 2006. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved September 17, 2006.
  15. "Champ Car in 2007 naar Assen?". telesport.nl. August 26, 2006. Archived from the original on August 6, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2006.
  16. "Champ Car coming back to Europe". grandprix.com. September 25, 2006. Archived from the original on July 7, 2007. Retrieved September 26, 2006.
  17. "Champ Car adds 2 European races". indystar.com. January 15, 2007. Archived from the original on February 21, 2012. Retrieved January 16, 2007.

References

See also

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