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San Jose Grand Prix
Dates: July 28, 2006 - July 30, 2006
Location: San Jose, CA
Article:
Norm Yee
Photos:
Norm Yee |
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The heart of Silcon Valley was transformed into a 1.443-mile urban street circuit for the 2nd annual Canary Foundations Grand Prix of San Jose Presented by Taylor Woodrow. Race organizers implemented several improvements and made this year's race more enjoyable by the 155,934 race fans and competitors alike, by eliminating the extremely long traffic jams around the pedestrian bridges as well as widening and reconfiguring the narrow race course in spots to allow for actual passing to occur during the race, something which rarely happened last year.
    
The Grand Prix was headlined by the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford. In that race, the Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais did a repeat of last year's SJGP and powered his #1 McDonald's Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone Champ Car to victory. Bordais outpaced 2nd place finisher Cristiano da Matta (#10 RuSPORT Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone), who was followed by Justin Wilson in the #9 CDW Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone car.
    
In the Yokohama Presents The Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda race, rookie Raphael Matos led every lap in the #6 ProWorks Sierra Sierra Enterprises car. Ryan Lewis (#30 Insport Mi-Jack Conquest Racing) and Danilo Dirani (#1 Canary Fund/Funcional Card/Sala Design/Perkons Condor Motorsports) finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
Switching gears a bit, the Formula D drifters including Ken Gushi, Calvin Wan, and Hiro Sumida lit up the rubber and performed exhibition runs on the race course throughout the race weekend.
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