DAN CLARKE FINISHES FOURTH CLAIMING TOP ROOKIE AND TOP BRIT RESULT AT MONTREAL CHAMP CAR RACE

The British racer welcomed a return to the European-style permanent road course setting of the Montreal circuit and used the practice sessions to build on his experience of driving the Champ Car in this environment. In qualifying the CTE HVM driver produced 11th quickest time in the first session and eighth fastest in the second, four-tenths shy of arch rival rookie, Will Power.

Seven laps of racing took place yesterday, but torrential rain forced it to be abandoned and rescheduled for this morning, with drivers starting from their position at the end of the seven laps. Clarke, driving cautiously, had dropped to tenth with the reduced visibility due to the rain, but in the re-start today, it took few laps for the youngster to be back up to his start placing and pushing to move further up the grid.

Clarke took every available opportunity to pass his rivals, moving up to sixth place by the first round of pitstops. After his fuel top-up he was racing hard and up to third place by half distance.

After the second round of fuel stops, Clarke was placed sixth with other drivers opting for different pit strategies. Slight contact with a rival as he exited the pits cost Clarke a penalty of dropping back two positions and although this dropped him down the order, he was undeterred and eager to be at the front.

Once again, Clarke was back on the gas and pushing for positions. In a well-executed move to take advantage of duelling drivers ahead, he leaped by both, only to have to drop back a place due to another rule infringement. Clarke’s answer was to up the speed and re-take his position; with less than 10 laps to go, he was lying in fourth spot. Team mate Nelson Philippe was leading the field, but needing a splash and dash refuel. Clarke was close to a podium spot, but by virtue of his penalties, he was too far back to take the placing and Philippe was able to rejoin the track in third after his pitstop. Clarke finished a strong fourth, the top British driver and top rookie in the race.

He said of his Montreal Monday morning, "It was a tough race and I seemed to be passing and re-passing throughout it. I’m pleased to be able to take away 23 points for my efforts, but I think I could have had a couple more and a trophy if luck had been on our side. We seem to find every way possible to miss out on a podium, except for the last race of course! It all adds to my rookie experiences which are mounting up now as we head into the final three races."

Clarke moves to tenth place in the overall Drivers Championship standings. The next race in the Champ Car World Series will take from 22 – 24 September at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

- Alison Hill -
copyright automobilsport.com 29.08.2006