JUNE 20, 2005

Ex-F1 men show the way in Champ Car

Cristiano Da Matta was back in his winning ways in the United States of America on Sunday was he took victory in the GI Joe's Grand Prix of Portland in Oregon. The PKV Racing driver, dumped less than a year ago by the Toyota F1 team, took the win from 10th position on the grid. The race was dominated early on by Justin Wilson (RuSport), the former Jaguar and Minardi F1 driver retiring from a 10-sec lead when his car failed beneath him. Championship leader Sebastien Bourdais was second ahead of his title rival Paul Tracy with his Forsythe Racing team mate Mario Dominguez in fourth place ahead of Wilson's team mate AJ Allmendinger.

The result means that after four rounds of the series Bourdais is 11 points clear of Tracy. Wilson is third, but is 18 points behind Tracy. Allmendinger is fourth, three points behind Wilson and just one ahead of Da Matta.