Motorsports

Wheldon's trouble is Kanaan's triumph

By Times wire
Published August 29, 2005

SONOMA, Calif. - Tony Kanaan didn't have a fence to climb or bricks to kiss like some winning drivers, so he dropped and did pushups on Sunday to celebrate his victory at the Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix at Infineon Raceway.

"When you win, you find some extra strength," he said. "So from now on, I guess I'm going to have to do it all the time. Hopefully I will have the strength to do that."

Kanaan and his car had the strength to run away from the rest of the field, completing a Sunday sweep for Andretti Green Racing. Owner Michael Andretti's son, Marco, won the Menards Infiniti Pro series race earlier in the day.

Kanaan trailed teammate and IndyCar points leader Dan Wheldon of St. Petersburg until Wheldon's fuel pump broke on the 53rd of 80 laps and he took the lead for good.

Kanaan beat Buddy Rice by 1.182 seconds - about 8 car lengths - for his second IRL IndyCar win of the season. He had led Rice by as many as 10 seconds at one point.

Kanaan, the defending series champion, averaged 91.040 mph around Infineon's track in the first IRL race held on a road course.

Cheever Racing teammates Alex Barron and Patrick Carpentier finished third and fourth, respectively.

A 19th-lap crash took out the two fastest qualifiers as Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe were attempting to pass rookie Danica Patrick.

CHAMP CAR: Oriol Servia was fighting his emotions as the leaders began the final lap of the Montreal Molson Indy race. He was feeling cheated and was angry.

"I was really, really on fire in the car," Servia said. "If the officials had not made the right decision, I can tell you the last lap in the hairpin (turn) was going to be ugly."

There was no last-lap confrontation, though, as Servia was handed his first series victory when series officials ordered rookie Timo Glock to let him pass.

Glock, whose best finish in nine races this season was sixth, was on an out-of-sequence pit strategy that put him in the lead late in the race.

He made his last stop on Lap 56 and fell to 11th, but found himself out front when everyone ahead pitted under caution on Lap 60.

As he tried desperately to hold on to the top spot, Glock twice blocked Servia's Newman/Haas Racing Lola, nearly forcing Servia into a concrete wall as the two came close.

He was warned by Champ Car officials following the first of those blocks on the final turn of Lap 69, but did it again in the same spot on Lap 76, when Servia got alongside and appeared set to take the lead.

At that point, the former Formula One driver from Germany was told to give the top spot to Servia and he finally did, pulling over just long enough to let him pass midway through the final lap on the road circuit.

Once in the lead, Servia, filling in for the injured Bruno Junqueira, beat Glock to the finish line by one second - about 10 car lengths.

Justin Wilson finished third, followed by reigning series champion and current points leader Sebastien Bourdais of Tampa.

ZANARDI WINS: Alex Zanardi won his first race since losing both legs in an accident in Germany in 2001. Zanardi captured the seventh race of the world touring cars championships in his BMW 320i at Oschersleben, Germany. The former Formula One driver and two-time CART champion lost both legs in a collision during a CART race on Sept. 15, 2001. He walks and drives with the help of two prostheses.

[Last modified August 29, 2005, 03:00:19]