Wilson Takes First Champ Car Win

The English ex-Formula One driver dived past leader Oriol Servia (Newman/Haas Racing) with 11 laps to go, and then pulled away easily before a heavy accident involving Wilson's teammate AJ Allmendinger and Mario Dominguez led to the race finishing under a full-course yellow.

Wilson spent the first half of the race chasing leaders Paul Tracy and Sebastien Bourdais, until Champ Car's fiercest rivals collided in the pit lane exit after their first stops.

Remarkably Tracy was able to continue in the lead of the race despite losing half his front wing, while Bourdais dropped to 10th with a puncture.

A slow first stop for Wilson promoted Servia to second place, and the Spaniard began to chip away at Tracy's lead. The Toronto crowd favourite was trying to hang on until the second pit stops before replacing his nose section, and the gamble looked set to pay off as he headed for the pits with a 6s lead.

Then a collision between Cristiano da Matta and the lapped car of Ricardo Sperafico brought out the yellows again. As per the 2005 Champ Car regulations, the pits were closed for the first lap of the caution and Tracy had to abort his pit visit at the last second. Incredibly he then ran out of fuel on the front straight and retired from the race in bizarre fashion.

Several further cautions then interrupted the race's flow before the action resumed on lap 66 with Wilson third behind Servia and Alex Tagliani. Wilson rapidly passed the latter and then put Servia under tremendous pressure before squeezing down the inside at turn three and snatching the lead on lap 77.

Shortly afterwards, Allmendinger (who had passed Tagliani for third) spun into the tyre wall at turn six and was collected heavily by Mario Dominguez as he rebounded onto the racing line. Although both drivers were unhurt, the carnage was sufficient to bring the yellows out for the last few minutes of the race, allowing Wilson to cruise to his first win.

Servia retained second, ahead of Tagliani, Jimmy Vasser and the recovering Bourdais.

Pos  Driver               Team                   Time
 1.  Justin Wilson        RuSPORT                1h 46:10.177
 2.  Oriol Servia         Newman Haas            +      0.730
 3.  Alex Tagliani        Team Australia         +      1.695
 4.  Jimmy Vasser         PKV                    +      1.868
 5.  Sebastien Bourdais   Newman Haas            +      2.558
 6.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Rocketsports           +      3.234
 7.  Timo Glock           Rocketsports           +      4.698
 8.  Alex Sperafico       HVM, Inc.              +      5.377
 9.  Ryan Dalziel         Dale Coyne             +     1 Lap
10.  Nelson Philippe      Mi-Jack Conquest       +     1 Lap
11.  Andrew Ranger        Mi-Jack Conquest       +     3 Laps
12.  A.J. Allmendinger    RuSPORT                +     6 Laps
13.  Mario Dominguez      Forsythe Championship  +     6 Laps
14.  Marcus Marshall      Team Australia         +    21 Laps
15.  Bjorn Wirdheim       HVM, Inc.              +    26 Laps
16.  Paul Tracy           Forsythe Championship  +    29 Laps
17.  Cristiano da Matta   PKV                    +    30 Laps
18.  Ricardo Sperafico    Dale Coyne             +    31 Laps