The 2007 Champ Car World Series season was the fourth and final season of the Champ Car World Series. It began on April 8, 2007 and ended on November 11 after 14 races. Unbeknownst at the time, this would end up being the final contested season of Champ Car, as the following February, the series unified with the Indy Racing League (IRL), marking the end of the Champ Car World Series for good.

2007 Champ Car season
Champ Car World Series
Season
Races17 14
Start dateApril 8
End dateNovember 11
Awards
Drivers' championFrance Sébastien Bourdais
Rookie of the YearNetherlands Robert Doornbos
← 2006
2008 (CCWS)
2008 (ICS) →
Sébastien Bourdais (left) won the Champ Car World Series driver's title for the fourth time; Justin Wilson (right) finished second in points.

For 2007 Champ Car underwent some major changes. The opening race of the season was switched from the Grand Prix of Long Beach to Las Vegas for the first running of the Vegas Grand Prix. The Long Beach Grand Prix was the second race of the season, followed by the Grand Prix of Houston. Also, the entire schedule was held on road and street courses, and the events were timed races instead of races for a set number of laps. The full 2007 schedule was announced on Wednesday, September 27, 2006.

Champ Car officials confirmed that Panoz would be the sole chassis supplier for Champ Car for the three years beginning in 2007. The Panoz DP01 was built by sister company Élan Motorsport Technologies and was powered by a turbo-charged Cosworth engine. The new formula was reported to significantly lower the costs of competing in the series, which was in turn expected to increase car counts for the 2007 Champ Car season. However, 2007 entries did not exceeded those of 2006. Ford announced it would no longer badge the Cosworth engines as Ford sold Cosworth to Kevin Kalkhoven. Mazda was then confirmed as the new pace car and courtesy vehicle supplier.

ESPN announced a new, multiyear agreement that marked the return of the Champ Car World Series to the network in 2007.[1]

On January 16, 2007, Champ Car announced their return to Europe, for the first time since 2003, with races scheduled for August 26, 2007 at the historic Zolder circuit in Belgium, and September 2, 2007 at the TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands.[2]

On January 23, 2007, Champ Car unveiled its new logo for the Champ Car World Series and the Atlantic Series. According to its website, it is a sleeker design with the new Panoz DP01 chassis on the right with an emphasis on a chicane-style layout, representing the street track racing that dominates Champ Car. There were no oval tracks on the calendar, with Milwaukee removed after the 2006 race.

The 2007 Champ Car World Series season also marked that last time an IndyCar Series Championship was secured before the final race of the season until Álex Palou's win in the 2023 IndyCar Series Season.[3]

Rule changes

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The new rules of the 2007 season included the implementation of standing starts at venues where they could be safely implemented. Additionally, all events were timed events instead of running a set number of laps. As the time limit approaches, the drivers were notified that they were beginning the last lap. The leader would NOT be shown the white flag, which was instead employed in a similar manner to its use by the FIA. Teams were also allowed unlimited access to their tires during all qualifying sessions. The requirement for each team to use at least one set of the alternate Bridgestone Potenzas during the race would remain in place.

Starting this season drivers no longer received a bonus point for leading a lap of the race.

Drivers and teams

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The following teams and drivers competed in the 2007 Champ Car World Series season. All teams used a Cosworth 2.65-litre turbocharged V8 engine, a Panoz DP01 chassis, and Bridgestone tires.

Team No. Driver(s) Rounds
  Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing 1   Sébastien Bourdais All
2   Graham Rahal  R  All
  Forsythe Racing 3   Paul Tracy 1, 4–14
  Oriol Servià 2–3
7   Mario Domínguez 1–3
  Oriol Servià 4–12
  David Martinez  R  13–14
  Minardi Team USA 4   Dan Clarke 1–10, 12–14
  Mario Domínguez 11
14   Robert Doornbos  R  All
  Team Australia 5   Will Power All
15   Simon Pagenaud  R  All
  RSPORTS 8   Alex Tagliani All
9   Justin Wilson All
  Dale Coyne Racing 11   Katherine Legge All
19   Bruno Junqueira All
  PKV Racing 21   Neel Jani  R  All
22   Tristan Gommendy  R  1–7, 9–12
  Mario Domínguez 8
  Oriol Servià 13–14
  Pacific Coast Motorsports 28   Ryan Dalziel  R  1–8, 10–12
  Mario Domínguez 9, 13–14
29   Alex Figge  R  1–2, 4–14
  Roberto Moreno 3
  Conquest Racing 34   Matt Halliday  R  1–3
  Jan Heylen 4–12
  Nelson Philippe 13–14

Mid-season changes

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Schedule

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The 2007 Champ Car season ended up having 14 races, down from the proposed 17 races.

Rnd Date Race Name Circuit Location
1 April 8   Vegas Grand Prix Streets of Las Vegas Las Vegas, Nevada
2 April 15   Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach[9] Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California
3 April 22   Grand Prix of Houston[9] JAGFlo Speedway at Reliant Park[10] Houston, Texas
4 June 10   Mazda Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland Presented by Joe's Sports and Outdoor[11] Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon
5 June 24   Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by LaSalle Bank[12] Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio
6 July 1   Champ Car Mont-Tremblant[13] Circuit Mont-Tremblant Mont-Tremblant, Quebec
7 July 8   Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto[10][13] Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario
8 July 22   Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton[13] Edmonton City Centre Airport Speedway Edmonton, Alberta
9 July 29   San Jose Grand Prix at Redback Raceway[14] Streets of San Jose San Jose, California
10 August 12   Generac Grand Prix Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
11 August 26   Belgian Champ Car Grand Prix[14][15][16][17] Circuit Zolder Heusden-Zolder, Belgium
12 September 2   Bavaria Champ Car Grand Prix Powered by Audi, Gant, Hertz, Jumbo & Pioneer[14][15][16][17] TT Circuit Assen Assen, Netherlands
13 October 21   Lexmark Indy 300 Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Australia
14 November 11   Gran Premio Tecate Presented by Banamex Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Mexico City, Mexico
  • The Grand Prix of Denver was cancelled by Champ Car on February 1.
  • The Chinese Champ Car Grand Prix, after having its original May 20 date postponed, was cancelled on April 2 after the FIA rejected Champ Car's replacement date.
  • The Grand Prix Arizona was cancelled on August 29.

Season summary

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Race results

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Rnd Race Name Pole position Fastest lap Lead most laps Winning driver Winning team Report
1   Vegas Grand Prix   Will Power   Will Power   Will Power   Will Power   Team Australia Report
2   Grand Prix of Long Beach   Sébastien Bourdais   Simon Pagenaud   Sébastien Bourdais   Sébastien Bourdais   Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
3   Grand Prix of Houston   Will Power   Sébastien Bourdais   Sébastien Bourdais   Sébastien Bourdais   Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
4   Grand Prix of Portland   Justin Wilson   Sébastien Bourdais   Justin Wilson   Sébastien Bourdais   Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
5   Grand Prix of Cleveland   Sébastien Bourdais   Sébastien Bourdais   Will Power   Paul Tracy   Forsythe Racing Report
6   Mont-Tremblant Grand Prix   Tristan Gommendy   Sébastien Bourdais   Sébastien Bourdais   Robert Doornbos   Minardi Team USA Report
7   Grand Prix of Toronto   Sébastien Bourdais   Sébastien Bourdais   Oriol Servià   Will Power   Team Australia Report
8   Grand Prix of Edmonton   Will Power   Sébastien Bourdais   Sébastien Bourdais   Sébastien Bourdais   Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
9   San Jose Grand Prix   Justin Wilson   Justin Wilson   Oriol Servià   Robert Doornbos   Minardi Team USA Report
10   Grand Prix of Road America   Sébastien Bourdais   Sébastien Bourdais   Sébastien Bourdais   Sébastien Bourdais   Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
11   Belgian Grand Prix   Sébastien Bourdais   Sébastien Bourdais   Sébastien Bourdais   Sébastien Bourdais   Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
12   Bavarian Grand Prix   Sébastien Bourdais   Dan Clarke   Justin Wilson   Justin Wilson   RSPORTS Report
13   Lexmark Indy 300   Will Power   Graham Rahal   Sébastien Bourdais   Sébastien Bourdais   Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report
14   Gran Premio Tecate   Will Power   Robert Doornbos   Sébastien Bourdais   Sébastien Bourdais   Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing Report

Final driver standings

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Pos Driver LAS   LBH   HOU   POR   CLE   MTT   TOR   EDM   SAN   ROA   ZOL   ASS   SUR   MEX   Pts
1   Sébastien Bourdais 13 1* 1* 1 12 2* 9 1* 5 1* 1* 7 1* 1* 364
2   Justin Wilson 14 4 10 2* 4 5 3 2 13 8 5 1* 2 10 281
3   Robert Doornbos  RY  2 13 3 3 2 1 6 11 1 14 7 13 4 16 268
4   Will Power 1* 3 11 4 10* 3 1 15 4 16 4 14 16 2 262
5   Graham Rahal  R  17 8 2 9 8 7 11 3 6 3 3 9 11 4 243
6   Oriol Servià 2 4 11 7 9 10* 6 3* 4 6 8 14 3 237
7   Bruno Junqueira 7 6 7 13 16 17 5 7 7 9 2 3 3 7 233
8   Simon Pagenaud  R  12 14 5 8 5 4 4 4 10 11 12 6 5 6 232
9   Neel Jani  R  10 7 15 12 3 6 2 9 2 10 8 5 8 9 231
10   Alex Tagliani 4 5 9 5 6 8 8 14 15 5 9 15 7 13 205
11   Paul Tracy 3 Wth 10 1 15 14 5 11 12 10 17 9 5 171
12   Tristan Gommendy  R  5 11 13 7 13 12 15 Wth 8 7 16 4 140
13   Dan Clarke 15 12 17 6 11 14 12 8 17 2 Wth 11 17 17 129
14   Ryan Dalziel  R  11 9 8 14 9 10 7 12 17 15 10 116
15   Katherine Legge 6 10 16 17 15 11 16 16 16 15 11 12 15 15 108
16   Jan Heylen 15 14 16 13 10 9 6 13 2 104
17   Alex Figge  R  8 16 Wth 16 17 13 17 13 14 13 14 16 13 11 95
18   Mario Domínguez 9 17 6 17 12 17 12 8 78
19   Nelson Philippe 6 12 28
20   David Martínez  R  10 14 18
21   Matt Halliday  R  16 15 14 18
22   Roberto Moreno 12 9
Pos Driver LAS   LBH   HOU   POR   CLE   MTT   TOR   EDM   SAN   ROA   ZOL   ASS   SUR   MEX   Pts
Color Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green 4th & 5th place
Light Blue 6th–10th place
Dark Blue Finished
(Outside Top 10)
Purple Did not finish
Red Did not qualify
(DNQ)
Brown Withdrawn
(Wth)
Black Disqualified
(DSQ)
White Did Not Start
(DNS)
Race abandoned
(C)
Blank Did not
participate
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
Italics Ran fastest race lap
* Led most race laps
 RY  Rookie of the Year
 R  Rookie

Driver breakdown

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Pos Driver Team Races Wins Top 3 Top 5 Top 10 Poles Laps Led
1   Bourdais   N/H/L Racing 14 8 9 10 11 6 463
2   Wilson   RSPORTS 14 1 5 9 12 2 113
3   Doornbos  R    Minardi Team USA 14 2 6 7 9 61
4   Power   Team Australia 14 2 5 8 9 5 153
5   Rahal  R    N/H/L Racing 14 4 5 11 18
6   Servià   Forsythe Racing
  PKV Racing
13 3 5 10 85
7   Junqueira   DC Racing 14 3 4 11 33
8   Pagenaud  R    Team Australia 14 6 10 19
9   Jani  R    PKV Racing 14 3 4 12 30
10   Tagliani   RSPORTS 14 4 10 14
11   Tracy   Forsythe Racing 12 1 2 4 7 49
12   Gommendy  R    PKV Racing 11 2 5 1 31
13   Clarke   Minardi Team USA 13 1 1 3 2
14   Dalziel  R    PC Motorsports 11 6 16
15   Legge   DC Racing 14 2
16   Heylen   Conquest Racing 9 1 1 4
17   Figge  R    PC Motorsports 13 1
18   Domínguez   Forsythe Racing
  PKV Racing
  PC Motorsports
  Minardi Team USA
8 3
19   Philippe   Conquest Racing 2 1
20   Martínez  R    Forsythe Racing 2 1
21   Halliday  R    Conquest Racing 3
22   Moreno   PC Motorsports 1

Notes

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  1. ^ Champ Car coming to ESPN beginning in 2007 – Racing – ESPN
  2. ^ "Champ Car > News Tuesday, January 16, 2007". Archived from the original on March 7, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
  3. ^ Kelly, Paul. "PALOU CLINCHES CHAMPIONSHIP WITH DECISIVE PORTLAND VICTORY". IndyCar.com. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
  4. ^ "Servià keeps Forsythe drive". autosport.com. May 22, 2007. Archived from the original on May 25, 2007. Retrieved June 1, 2007.
  5. ^ "Heylen at Conquest for rest of year". autosport.com. June 1, 2007. Archived from the original on June 3, 2007. Retrieved June 1, 2007.
  6. ^ "Pacific Coast Motorsports signs Mexican Superstar Mario Domínguez". champcarworldseries.com. September 20, 2007. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved September 21, 2007.
  7. ^ "He's back!Nelson Philippe returns to Conquest Racing team". champcarworldseries.com. October 3, 2007. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved October 6, 2007.
  8. ^ "Oriol Servià To Compete For PKV Racing At Lexmark Indy 300". champcarworldseries.com. October 16, 2007. Retrieved October 16, 2007.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ a b "Vegas Grand Prix opens 2007 Champ Car season". reviewjournal.com. August 1, 2006. Retrieved September 2, 2006.
  10. ^ a b "Sponsor boost for Toronto, Houston". crash.net. March 13, 2007. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved March 13, 2007.
  11. ^ "Mazda New Title Sponsor for Portland Champ Car Grand Prix". whowon.com. May 10, 2007. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved May 11, 2007.
  12. ^ "Cleveland 2007 date announced". motorsport.com. August 24, 2006. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2006.
  13. ^ a b c "Champ Car set to add Quebec pit stop". globeandmail.com. September 25, 2006. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved September 26, 2006.
  14. ^ a b c "2007 Champ Car Schedule Coming – China, Europe to be Added?". paddocktalk.com. September 17, 2006. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved September 17, 2006.
  15. ^ a b "Champ Car in 2007 naar Assen?". telesport.nl. August 26, 2006. Archived from the original on August 6, 2011. Retrieved September 1, 2006.
  16. ^ a b "Champ Car coming back to Europe". grandprix.com. September 25, 2006. Archived from the original on July 7, 2007. Retrieved September 26, 2006.
  17. ^ a b "Champ Car adds 2 European races". indystar.com. January 15, 2007. Archived from the original on February 21, 2012. Retrieved January 16, 2007.

References

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See also

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