Tagliani, Tracy explain pitlane clash

The clash was triggered by an on-track accident on lap 52 which eliminated the Team Australia car of Tagliani and the Forsythe Championship Racing entry of Tracy.

Tracy rejoined the circuit having gone down an escape road with brake problems on lap 52, but slewed across the track and smashed his and Tagliani's cars into the wall on the inside.

Tagliani drove his wreck back to the pits, and alighted in time to confront Tracy who was also walking beside pitlane. Tracy tried to walk past, but Tagliani, still helmeted, grabbed his compatriot's overalls and remonstrated with some vigour and lots of swearing.

Tagliani eventually quit and carried on walking, but then turned and grabbed Tracy with both hands and forced him to a halt, at which point, Tracy punched Tagliani and forced him to the ground.

The pair were pulled apart by a Champ Car official and John Gentilozzi, son of Rocketsports Racing's team owner Paul Gentilozzi.

"I can't understand the guy's lack of respect for the rest of us," said a still seething Tagliani an hour later. "Sure, you can have a shitfight on the track, and bang wheels and all that sort of stuff.

"But this attitude of 'screw you all, I'm coming out of the run-off when I want, and who cares about the guy in the green and yellow car' is something I just don't understand.

"We were heading for a podium. The car felt right, we were showing the pace we hadn't been able to in qualifying, and I had saved a load of fuel. We were running fourth, we had just set a 50.8sec lap and the only guy faster than us at that stage in the race was Bourdais and we had everyone else handled. It was going to be second place.

"The way he came out of the run-off, if you took me out of the picture he was going to hit the wall himself anyway. Why would he do that? I'd like to see if he drove like such a moron if he didn't have a five-year contract and Forsythe didn't have a set of tubs and wishbones and wings and so on.

"Unfortunately, unlike him and Forsythe, we have a lot to lose. It's silly season for us drivers as we come on the market and try to sell ourselves to our current team and other teams. And it's silly season for teams as they try and go find a sponsor.

"And all our team has done all year is repair broken parts. The outsider's perception is bad for us. And yet we were gonna beat the RuSPORT guys: we were gonna be second."

Asked what he was saying to Tracy in the pitlane, Tagliani said: "Well, apart from the swearing, I was telling him 'we have no more cars. Are you going to give me one of yours?' Stuff like that.

"Of course he doesn't give a shit, because he and his team will be testing up at Road America this week, and we at Team Australia couldn't even if we wanted to because we only have one freakin' tub left."

Tagliani also saw himself drop to 10th in the points standings from seventh, another subject that he is furious about. "A podium today would have put us fourth in the championship - which considering some of the stuff we've been through, would be pretty remarkable, huh? And yet now we are 10th."

A relatively contrite Tracy said afterwards that the on-track accident wasn't done out of malice or carelessness.

"We'd had braking issues all weekend, and so that's why I went into the run-off. Then I got the car round, and came out. Yeah, I knew it was going to be close with Tag, but I was in panic mode because I could see up the road that everyone was bunched together so if I just sat there, I was gonna lose a whole load of positions.

"So I came out of there and went right over to the other side of the track, thinking Tag was gonna go on the normal racing line which was the outside of the corner.

"But he kept on the inside, I guess to give me room, and I ended up collecting him and pushing him into the wall."

Asked if he thought he would have hit the wall whether or not the Team Australia car was alongside him, Tracy acknowledged: "Yeah, but like I say, I was in panic mode, anxious not to lose too many places, my tyres were covered in crap from going down the escape road, so that's what happened. A misjudgement."

Of the fight in pitlane, Tracy commented: "I told him I was sorry, but he was completely enraged. He wasn't having any of it, or didn't want to listen. I tried to push past him when he first started on me, but he kept grabbing me and I told him to stop. Then we walked on for a bit and he came back and had another go.

"I told him three times not to hold onto me, but he did so I felt we'd got to a point where I had to punch him. I guess that was my second misjudgement. Never punch a guy when he still has his helmet on: my hand's a bit sore right now. At one point he was on the ground, I was on top of him and there were people on top of me."

Champ Car issued a press release regarding the pitlane fight, declaring: "Champ Car Race Operations will review the incident upon conclusion of today's event, and will determine what, if any, penalties for misconduct will be levied because of the incident.

"We understand that this is a very competitive series and our athletes can get caught up in the heat of the moment but we do not condone this type of behavior," said Champ Car President Steve Johnson. "We will review this incident thoroughly and determine what needs to be done to make sure things like this do not happen in the future."