Steam rose and tempers flared as cars crashed into tire walls, bumped other cars, or ran out of gas at Exhibition Place just over a week ago. Spectators and media alike were buzzing with excitement when the checkered flag finally ended the race and a certain Englishman found himself in the winner’s circle.
RuSport Racing driver Justin Wilson of England was the victor at the 20th running of the Molson Indy Toronto on July 10. He started third on the grid behind Sebastian Bourdais and Canadian Paul Tracy, but moved up after Bourdais had tire problems and Tracy ran out of gas halfway through the race.
“I am very excited for RuSports,” said Wilson after bringing the relatively new team its first Champ Car victory. “I was pretty confident in this race that everything was running clean.”
The Australian RuSports team is one of the newest on the circuit. In just two short years they have developed to the point where they can compete with the big dogs, like Newman-Haas, for Champ Car supremecy.
Oriol Servia of Spain ended up in second place by race’s end and Quebec’s Alex Tagliani made it onto the podium by finishing third. Andrew Ranger, the third Canadian in the race, had car troubles near the end of the race and did not finish.
From a roving fan’s perspective, the most exciting spot of the track to watch the race from is near Turn 10. One can actually get more than a split-second view of the cars here, as they have to slow down to take the turn, and this spot is where much of the passing in the race occurs.
The collision between Bourdais and Tracy on lap 34 was the most controversial and exciting moment of the race. Bourdais ended up with a sliced tire and Tracy lost part of his front wing, but continued to drive with the damage until he ran out of fuel on lap 57.
To this day Bourdais blames Tracy for the incident.
