2007 Las Vegas Grand Prix
| Race details | |
|---|---|
| Race 1 of 14 in the 2007 Champ Car season | |
| Date | April 8, 2007 |
| Official name | XI Vegas Grand Prix |
| Location |
Vegas Grand Prix Las Vegas, Nevada, United States |
| Course | Temporary street circuit 2.440 mi / 3.927 km |
| Distance | 68 laps 165.920 mi / 267.036 km |
| Weather | Sunny with temperatures reaching up to 91 °F (33 °C); wind speeds approaching 17.1 miles per hour (27.5 km/h) |
| Pole position | |
| Driver | Will Power (Team Australia) |
| Time | 1:17.629 |
| Fastest lap | |
| Driver | Will Power (Team Australia) |
| Time | 1:19.934 (on lap 44 of 68) |
| Podium | |
| First | Will Power (Team Australia) |
| Second | Robert Doornbos (Minardi Team USA) |
| Third | Paul Tracy (Forsythe Racing) |
The 2007 Las Vegas Grand Prix was the first round of the 2007 Champ Car World Series Season, held on April 8 on the streets of Las Vegas, Nevada.
The race was a fresh start for the Champ Car World Series. With a new car, the Panoz DP01, new rules, including timed races and staggered starts, new teams like Pacific Coast Motorsports, a different season opener on a new track, and a new television contract with ABC/ESPN, all were the big stories of the day. The race would be one of survival of the fittest as many drivers were taken out by either crashes or mechanical failures. Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing would not have a good day as 3-time champion Sébastien Bourdais was hampered by numerous tire problems and rookie Graham Rahal was taken out on the first lap. Will Power had the dominant car all day long, only being challenged consistently by Paul Tracy, who many saw as the man to unseat Bourdais as the face of Champ Car. In the end, the race would all come down to fuel milage. Tracy's car struggled with taking a full load of fuel preenting him from snapping his winless streak. Will Power would outlast the field to take his first career victory, which was also the first Champ Car victory by an Australian, in a dominant fashion.
Attendance at the inaugural 2007 event was estimated to be 40,000 fans on race day. This surpassed the amount of seats available on the course's temporary grandstands facilitating an expansion for the 2008 season.
This was the third race for Champ Car in Las Vegas, but the only one held on a downtown street course. Two oval grands prix had taken place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway: the 2004 Bridgestone 400 and the 2005 Hurricane Relief 400. The planned 2008 race was removed from the calendar due to Champ Car's merge with the Indy Racing League (IRL).
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