Doornbos wins at San Jose

The Dutchman lost his front wing on the opening lap when he mounted the rear of Jan Heylen's Conquest Racing machine at the hairpin, but Minardi Team USA's alternative fuel strategy, timely yellow flag caution periods, and excellent pace on a clear track pushed Doornbos up into the top three.

The one man who could have matched Doornbos's pace was pole-sitter and race leader Justin Wilson, but Minardi teammate Dan Clarke ran into the back of his compatriot under the full-course caution, putting him several laps down.

The RSPORTS driver rocketed round the track in his repaired machine but finished outside the top 10.

Neel Jani of PKV Racing and Oriol Servia of Forsythe Championship Racing enjoyed a spirited tussle over the lead once Wilson retired, but neither had the pace to hold Doornbos.

Sebastien Bourdais had taken the lead at the start, but Wilson passed him later that lap, and the Frenchman then appeared to fumble for gears exiting Turn 1 hairpin, obliging his pursuers to duck round the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing car.

Bourdais took up the chase in eighth but spent most of the rest of the afternoon staring at the rear wing of Will Power, despite the fact that Power's car was curiously off the pace.

Paul Tracy's ill-handling Forsythe car did not have the pace to keep up with Servia and Jani in the early stages, but he was able to hold off Graham Rahal's faster Newman/Haas/Lanigan machine, and in the middle stint the Canadian pulled away from Power and Bourdais.

However, when the Forsythe car ran out of fuel on its in-lap, that sealed Tracy's doom. His compatriot in the second RSPORTS car, Alex Tagliani, also suffered a fuel pick-up problem, and he dropped through the field to cap a disappointing day for the team.

Bruno Junqueira was fast and fuel efficient enough to earn yet another top-seven finish for Dale Coyne Racing, beating Simon Pagenaud (Team Australia).

Heylen's Conquest car looked set for seventh, but a late race clash as he attempted to pass Junqueira shuffled him down to 10th.

Pos  Driver               Team                        Time
 1.  Robert Doornbos      Minardi Team USA            1h45:07.617
 2.  Neel Jani            PKV                         +     6.145
 3.  Oriol Servia         Forsythe Championship       +     6.905
 4.  Will Power           Team Australia              +     7.488
 5.  Sebastien Bourdais   Newman Haas Lanigan         +     8.034
 6.  Graham Rahal         Newman Haas Lanigan         +     9.600
 7.  Bruno Junqueira      Dale Coyne                  +    13.951
 8.  Tristan Gommendy     PKV                         +    19.238
 9.  Jan Heylen           Conquest                    +    28.532
10.  Simon Pagenaud       Team Australia              +    48.429
11.  Paul Tracy           Forsythe Championship       +    2 laps
12.  Mario Dominguez      Pacific Coast Motorsports   +    3 laps
13.  Justin Wilson        RSPORTS                     +   20 laps
14.  Alex Figge           Pacific Coast Motorsports   +   23 laps
15.  Alex Tagliani        RSPORTS                     +   24 laps
16.  Katherine Legge      Dale Coyne                  +   94 laps
17.  Dan Clarke           Minardi Team USA            +  101 laps

Fastest lap: Wilson, 49.584 on lap 35