PAUL TRACY CLAIMS 20TH CAREER CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES WIN WITH 12 SECOND VICTORY AT SEASON OPENING GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (February 23, 2003) - The leading active racewinner in the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford came into Sunday's season opener with no intention of resting on his well-earned laurels as Paul Tracy (#3 Player's/Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) paced 71 of 105 laps to earn his 20th career victory.

Tracy moved into a tie for 16th place on the all-time Champ Car win list with his 12-second victory in the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg as the Canadian paid huge dividends to the Player's team that signed him in the offseason. Tracy started second and spent the first 30 laps chasing polesitter Sebastien Bourdais (#2 Newman/Haas Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) around the 1.806-mile circuit, although he and most of the field did it from further back as everyone but Bourdais, Adrian Fernandez (#51 Tecate/Quaker State/Telmex Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) and rookie Tiago Monteiro (#7 Fittipaldi-Dingman Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone) pitted after Rodolfo Lavin's (#5 Corona Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone) Lap 13 spin.

Monteiro would assume the lead for four laps when Bourdais took his first mandatory pit stop on Lap 30, but Tracy would take the point with a Lap 34 pass, assuming a lead he would not relinquish the rest of the way. Bourdais, who became the first driver in CART history to lead on his first-ever Champ Car laps, would take himself out of contention soon after when he brushed the wall and broke a wheel, costing himself eight laps in the pits.

"After the first three or four corners, I knew that I wasn't going to get him," Tracy said of Bourdais. "I just basically stayed behind him. I was about two or three seconds behind him, not trying to use too much fuel. Later they radioed me and told me that he had brushed the wall and did some damage or something. From there, I knew that we were kind of in control of the race. I just had to pace myself, not make any mistakes."

Behind Tracy, a battle was shaping up as Michel Jourdain Jr. (#9 Gigante Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) of Team Rahal had put himself in position to claim his best-ever Champ Car finish, as he moved up from his fifth-place starting spot to move into second with Bruno Junqueira (#1 PacifiCare Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) and rookie Mario Haberfeld (#34 Mi-Jack Conquest Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone) following behind.

Junqueira survived a tough first few laps that included a pair of tire-smoking battles with Haberfeld as Junqueira tried to climb from the seventh spot. One tight battle saw both drivers end up taking wide lines to avoid causing an incident, but both pilots kept their machines on line and in the fight.

"I think on the second lap, I came inside Mario on turn one, on the straight," Junqueira said. "He started to squeeze me to the wall. I lifted a little bit. After the wall was finished, he still was squeezing me. I broke inside of him and said that that was my position. I didn't believe that he could block me that much. I was set to do the corner, then suddenly I see Jourdain doing the corner. I said that I had to go straight. I almost hit Jourdain. Oh, my God. I had to go straight, make Jourdain pass, then I turn right, then I went wide, but I passed him."

While the wars were waged behind him, Tracy rolled out to a sizeable lead in the middle part of the race, but would need to show his strength one final time after a Lap 62 caution flag flew after Ryan Hunter-Reay (#31 American Spirit Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone) nosed into the Turn 10 tires. Jourdain and Junqueira took the restart on Tracy's rear wing, but could do nothing with the new Player's/Forsythe driver as Tracy roared away.

He stepped out to a five-second lead but saw Jourdain move to within 3.9 seconds with 17 laps to go before Tracy gathered his #3 car and stretched out to what would ultimately become a 12.136-second advantage.

"I slowed down a little bit because I felt I was going pretty hard in the beginning," Tracy said. "I felt the tires starting to go away. I started to slide around a little bit, slide around. The car was getting very over-steery. I just slowed down for three or four laps. I lost quite a bit of time. I got my tires under control, kind of got the grip back, then I was able to pull away at the end."

Jourdain was able to hold off Junqueira for the second spot, establishing a new career high for himself as he comes off of what was his best-ever Champ Car campaign in 2002. The Mexican veteran topped his previous career-best finish of third at Michigan in 2001 with the run, which also propelled him to second in the championship.

"I'm very happy. We had a good car all weekend," Jourdain said. "I think we could have done a couple places better in qualifying. The result is great. It's great to have a start like this, especially going into Monterrey, Mexico."

Haberfeld would take the fourth spot on what was a great debut for the two-car Mi-Jack Conquest and Fittipaldi-Dingman stable. The Brazilian rookie was the top finisher amongst the rookies and among the Reynard drivers, locking down fourth place ahead of veteran Roberto Moreno (#4 Herdez Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone). The Fittipaldi-Dingman team earned the seventh position in the box score with Monteiro, who also led four laps in his debut.

American Spirit Team Johansson earned the sixth spot with Jimmy Vasser (#12 American Spirit Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone) while Patrick Carpentier (#32 Player's/Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) rebounded from a Lap 48 crash to finish eighth ahead of Joel Camathias (#19 Lugano/Dale Coyne Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) and Patrick Lemarie (#27 Scientific Atlanta Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) who rounded out the top 10.

QUOTES FROM TOP-THREE FINISHERS

PAUL TRACY: "Well, I guess for me, I never down-talked CART. I never down-played where I wanted to be. So from my standpoint, I mean, winning this race is significant to me. It's an inaugural event. It's nice to be a first-time winner at a track like this, at a facility like this. It's an enjoyable moment."

MICHEL JOURDAIN: "It was a very long race. The track changed a lot at the end. It was very, very slippery, like Bruno said. It was hard to stay on the track. It was very easy to make a mistake. The tires were so, so slippery, I made a couple mistakes. Paul really pulled away in those first couple of laps. Bruno was really on my tail."

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA: It was a long race. I felt I could do a good race. But the car was handling very well, but on the first pit stop, we had a problem with the right tires that cost us a lot of time. We went almost to last. Then I started passing people. That was really, really difficult on this track. I think I was one guy was able to pass people fighting for position.

NOTEWORTHY

Today's race saw four rookies finish in the top 10, marking the first time that has happened since the 1985 season finale when Danny Sullivan, Arie Luyendyk, Roberto Moreno and Rupert Keegan finished in the top 10.

Paul Tracy's 20th career win makes him just the 17th driver to win 20 Champ Car races, tying him with Earl Cooper for 16th on the all-time list. Cooper raced in the series from 1912-26 and won three series championships.

Sebastien Bourdais was the first driver in the 25-year history of CART to lead the first laps of his very-first Champ Car race. Nigel Mansell won the pole in his first race in 1993, but lost the lead to Emerson Fittipaldi on the first lap of that race in Surfers Paradise.

St. Pete lidlifter gave everyone the race they were hoping for...

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. -- The track drew rave reviews from every driver. Teams loved the paddock layout and wide pit lane. The fans were happy with their access and ticket prices. And the Mayor and city councilmen were blown away by the speed, show and sheer spectacle. To say the inaugural Grand Prix of St. Petersburg was a success would be as understated as saying rookie Sebastien Bourdais might have some potential.

To say it could turn out to be Long Beach East isn't too farfetched.

From every perspective, the season-opening Champ Car race was a winner on every level. Dover Motorsports, under the capable guidance of Jim Michaelian and Tom Begley, put together an ideal street circuit with the blessing and financial backing of the city of St. Pete.

A three-day crowd in the neighborhood of 90,000 was treated to its first taste of open-wheel racing and seemed to be satiated by Sunday evening.

"This has been a Trans-Am town for seven years but this was something new to them and I think they really enjoyed it," said Begley, the GPSP general manager. "It was great event and I'm proud of everybody who helped make it work."

Michaelian, the right-hand man to Chris Pook at Long Beach from its inception in 1975, first came here in the fall of 2001 and immediately liked what he saw.

"When we first saw the layout we knew it had the potential to be the kind of event like Long Beach," said Michaelian, who lived here the past three months. "It had ambiance with the water adjacent to downtown and the uniqueness of racing on the airport. With the old St. Pete Yacht Club, city skyline and streets it had a very good feel to it right away. They wanted to showcase downtown and the seaside and I think it did."

But Michaelian said CART's second race in Florida (Miami on Sept. 28 is the other) came off with very few problems and a professional look because St. Pete made it a priority.

"The cooperation here has been fabulous," he said. "It's very comparable to what we had at Long Beach. The Mayor wanted it and the city played an integral role, from paving the circuit to providing volunteers. We also got great cooperation from the airport. It was a pleasure to work with everyone and it made things so much easier."

After Begley convinced the city's fathers to host a CART race, Pook drew up a rough outline of the track, which was refined by Michaelian and Company at Dover Motorsports.

"We had four criteria," said Michaelian. "We wanted to make it safe, we wanted to make it competitive an we wanted to overcome the bane of all city circuits and have places to pass. We also wanted a smooth surface to the cars could compete at their maximum level."

The drivers called it four-for-four.

"To be so nice for the first time, I was very impressed with the track," said Bruno Junqueira, who rallied to finish third. "You could get a run on people and pass going into Turn 1 and you could also get people in Turn 4. It was smooth and fast and wide. The exit of the pits is a little dangerous but, apart from that, it is very good."

Begley was asked if he had any trepedation a few months ago when CART's car count for 2003 looked shaky.

"I never had a doubt," he replied. "Chris (Pook) told me not to worry about anything that we would have at least 18 cars and he kept his promise. I was very happy with the way everything turned out."

Mayor Rick Baker echoed Begley's comments.

"I walked all around the track and people kept coming up and saying how much they liked it," said Baker. "It was a great weekend for our community and I think it's only going to get better in the years to come."

OFFICIAL RESULTS

FP	SP	#	Driver	Engine/Chassis/Tire	LC	Time	Mph	km/h	Lag	Status
1	2	3	P. Tracy	Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone	105	2:04:28.904	91.401	147.096		Active

2	5	9	M. Jourdain Jr.	Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone	105	2:04:41.040	91.253	146.858	12.136	Active

3	7	1	B. Junqueira	Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone	105	2:04:45.474	91.199	146.771	16.570	Active

4	6	34	M. Haberfeld	Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone	104	2:04:04.117	90.832	146.180	42.698	Active

5	15	4	R. Moreno	Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone	104	2:04:17.880	90.665	145.911	56.461	Active


6	8	12	J. Vasser	Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone	104	2:04:38.575	90.414	145.507	1 Lap	Active

7	16	7	T. Monteiro	Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone	103	2:04:15.343	89.823	144.557	2 Laps	Active

8	4	32	P. Carpentier	Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone	102	2:04:18.622	88.912	143.090	3 Laps	Active

9	17	19	J. Camathias	Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone	102	2:04:20.549	88.889	143.054	3 Laps	Active

10	14	27	P. Lemarie	Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone	101	2:04:20.230	88.022	141.657	4 Laps	Active


11	1	2	S. Bourdais	Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone	96	2:04:08.792	83.793	134.851	9 Laps	Active

12	9	20	O. Servia	Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone	95	2:04:10.929	82.896	133.408	10 Laps	Active

13	11	15	D. Manning	Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone	75	1:32:52.067	87.512	140.836	30 Laps	Mechanical

14	10	55	M. Dominguez	Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone	71	1:28:25.914	87.000	140.013	34 Laps	Contact

15	3	51	A. Fernandez	Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone	69	1:29:21.412	83.674	134.660	36 Laps	Contact


16	12	31	R. Hunter-Reay	Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone	61	1:13:29.908	89.933	144.734	44 Laps	Contact

17	18	11	R. Gonzalez	Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone	21	28:31.171	79.790	128.409	84 Laps	Off Course

18	19	5	R. Lavin	Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone	12	18:09.378	71.618	115.258	93 Laps	Contact

19	13	33	A. Tagliani	Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone	3	3:25.476	94.925	152.767	102 Laps	Contact

finish position

starting position

car number

laps completed