Tracy punished for Denver clash

The Canadian Forsythe Championship Racing driver collided with championship leader Sebastien Bourdais on the last corner of the last lap as he attempted to wrest back second place from the Frenchman.

Neither driver was able to get going again, and subsequently dropped from second and third to sixth and seventh places.

Champ Car put out a press release stating: "Tracy's on-track actions in Denver were determined to be in violation of his probation, which was a part of his penalty for his actions during the Champ Car event in San Jose July 30 [when he collided with Alex Tagliani of Team Australia].

"As a result, Tracy will forfeit three championship points, will be fined $25,000 and will have his probation extended for one more race. The original probation was for three races, and will now be extended to include the Lexmark Indy 300 in Surfers Paradise, Australia."

There is some debate as to whether Tracy is being punished for his accident with Bourdais, or for blocking the Newman/Haas Racing driver over the course of the final two laps.

Champ Car Race Control has come down very hard on blocking this year, going one step beyond Formula One's loosely applied 'one move permitted' rule, and stating that any deviation from the racing line will be regarded as blocking and will be punished forthwith.

Neil Micklewright, Vice President of Team Operations at Forsythe understands the punishment is for the crash, which he regards as just a racing accident.

In an official statement from Forsythe, he said: "I believe that the penalty imposed to Paul Tracy for the last lap incident is simply wrong and not appropriate, but we have to accept the decision of the Series even if we don't agree with it."

Micklewright then alluded to the follow-up, where Bourdais crossed the track to remonstrate with his assailant, when he stated: "We eagerly await the penalty that we believe should be handed to Sebastien Bourdais for his part in the incident, including running across a "hot" track and initiating physical contact with our driver.

"Having been taken out in the first corner, PT drove an incredible and heroic race to regain second place and nursed the car which was having fuel pickup problems whilst remaining fast. It was the drive of a champion and therefore to not finish the race was crushing for all of us."