Saturday, July 27, 2019

Angry Paul Tracy Dominates Vancouver Molson Indy - July 27, 2003

On Sunday July 27, 2003, Paul Tracy won his fifth race of the CART season, capturing the Vancouver Molson Indy at Pacific Place, Vancouver, B.C. Two weeks before, he won the Toronto Molson Indy.

Tracy dominated the race, lapping all but three cars. The Toronto native led 77 of 100 laps. Bruno Junqueira, who finished second, was nearly 18 seconds off Tracy's pace. Sebastien Bourdais finished third, 25 seconds behind.

Tracy started the race from the pole position. On Friday, CART officials stripped him of the provisional pole after ruling that Tracy blocked Junqueira during qualifying. The decision angered Tracy and he suggested that he may considerer racing for another series, such as the rival Indy Racing League or NASCAR.

A series of accidents on the warm-up laps started Sunday's race under a yellow flag. When the green finally dropped on lap 3, Junqueira jumped Tracy for the lead before they reached the start line. Tracy's team quickly filed a protest and about 20 laps later Junqueira was ordered to let the Tracy pass. Once Junqueira moved over, Tracy began to build his insurmountable lead.

Neither Patrick Carpentier of Joliette, Quebec, nor Tracy's Player's Forsythe teammate Alex Tagliani of Lachenaie, Quebec finished the race. Both Canadians saw possible podium finishes evaporate because of other drivers' mistakes.

Carpentier was running second, with about 40 laps to go, when he was rammed from behind by backmarker Mario Dominguez of Mexico. Dominguez went on to finish 10th.

Tagliani was among the top five drivers when his day ended. Portuguese rookie Tiago Monteiro hit Tagliani's from behind as the Canadian was coming out of the pits. The impact sent Tagliani's car into the wall.

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