Allmendinger Toronto Race Report

                                                                                                         Sunday, July 11, 2004

Molson Indy Toronto
Round 6 of 16


A.J. Allmendinger, #10 Western Union

Qualified 8th      Finished: 11th

Two separate incidents on the green flag lap put the RuSPORT teammates to the back of the field.  Ryan Hunter-Reay hit
Allmendinger on the exit of Turn 3 as the yellow flags flew for the leaders' incident.  Allmendinger stopped on Lap 1 under
the yellow so his Western Union RuSPORT team could check for damage as well as fuel and change tires.  He returned
to action in 16th on the lead lap.  Allmendinger pitted yet again on Lap 5 to top off on fuel one lap before the field returned
to green.  From there, Allmendinger began a steady climb through the field into 11th place.  On Lap 29, Allmendinger spun
in Turn 8 trying to overtake Roberto Gonzalez.  Champ Car officials opted to only use local yellows as the Safety Team
returned Allmendinger to action.  He lost 2 laps to the leaders.  He made his final green flag stop on Lap 69.

As both rookies suffered on-track contact, Allmendinger was able to tie fellow rookie Justin Wilson for the Rookie of the
Year lead.  Each has 83 points, with Allmendinger collecting 10 championship points in today's Molson Indy Toronto.


A.J. Allmendinger
"That wasn't good.  The day was terrible, but the Western Union car was great in the race which makes the
result even more upsetting.  It started off bad.  I don't know what Ryan was thinking.  The caution came out
after Bruno and Mario's contact.  We went down into the corner, yellow flags waving every where, and he took
me out.  That started it off.  After that, I was being aggressive and used all the tires up on the first stint.  I lost it
into (Turn) 8 trying to get around (Roberto) Gonzalez.  From there on, I was just kind of riding around.  I found
that my car was absolutely amazing on the second and third stints.  I think (Sebastien) Bourdais was the only
guy faster than me.  We just have to figure out how to get through the first stint."


Carl Russo, Team Owner
"After a decent qualifying effort, AJ's race got off to a bad start when Ryan Hunter-Reay hit him.  I'm not sure
what happened there, but Ryan hit him and turned AJ around.  After that, everything was about trying to work
his way back up.  AJ made a mistake going into Turn 8 attempting to pass Roberto Gonzalez, went off, and
that's basically the end of the race.  Once you're a lap down, or two laps down in AJ's case, you're done.
During the race he turned very good lap times, but we've still got to make sure that we put all the pieces
together and we're not quite there yet."


Western Union.  The Fastest Way to Send Money.
Western Union has signed on to support the bright yellow No. 10 entry piloted by RuSPORT rookie AJ Allmendinger for
one-race at the Molson Indy Toronto.  "Western Union is ubiquitous in the world of international money transfer and the
Champ Car World Series and the Molson Indy Toronto are an ideal platform for reaching their customers," said team
owner Carl Russo.