Mexico City Sunday News Tidbits – 3
Mario Dominguez violation: There is a 'foul line' coming out of the final corner and the drivers are told not to cross over it if battling for position because it allows you to come off the corner quicker and gain an advantage. Dominguez violated that rule three times while battling for position with Bruno Junqueira and he was moved behind Junqueira in the final standings.
Graham Rahal and Sebastien Bourdais start box violation:
Bourdais: Bulls***. I've been dusted a few times this year for doing things that I haven't done, and I'm really disappointed because I tried to do the best I can. Like yesterday when I had to give up my qualifying run, not to interfere with Justin, and trust me, that was the toughest thing I had to do in a long time because the very last thing I wanted to do was to just have a nonâ€'qualifying session like I had. This morning was just the same crap, period. I rolled down the preâ€'grid like I had been instructed, I took the stuff from the finish line, yeah, I dropped the clutch on my box, I didn't come to a stop, I didn't do a stop. The problem is Tony doesn't seem to be able to put in writing what he thinks, and that's the real problem.
Cotman: We had video and telemetry data that showed Rahal and Bourdais both stopped in their start line boxes and laid down rubber, specifically against the competition bulletin Champ Car had put out earlier in the day. "I was pretty hot and I saw it happen," said Cotman. "But we reviewed the data to make sure I was not seeing things and it was clear 15 drivers followed the rule but one team (NHLR), both drivers, decided to ignore our instructions."
Other Items: Since three cars stalled on the standing start (probably due to the drivers using too low an RPM in the high altitude and the engine, therefore, not able to make enough boost at low RPM), Cotman said they would look at implementing a starter for next year, but only if they can find the right product to do the job. Next year he said the added P2P boost would probably be 75 to 100HP.
Bourdais turns chapter in history, off to F1 testing this week: "I think everybody knows a lot about the future. In another couple of months Emma is going to be another year older, the second of December, and we'll be back in Europe by then. Hopefully going to be one last thing with Champ Car with the banquet, and after that it will be it. On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday I'll be testing the car in Barcelona, and there will be another session in December with every other team. Like I said, it's going to be – I'm going to turn the Champ Car page and I'll try to write a lot of good stories on it. I don't really know what to expect. I think when I came here it worked out pretty good just to approach it this way, just do the best you can, because you've done it pretty much your whole life, and we'll see what happens."
Servia wants consistency: "I think for once I would like some consistency for 2008. I've been in three strong teams in the series, and at this point I feel going back with any of the three would be really strong, and we would work on something that would make us contenders to go for the championship. That would be Forsythe, PKV or Newman/Haas. I think the three are options for me, and I'm hoping one of the three will happen. I'm sure any of the three is going to be a contender, so I'm very excited about what the future holds for me for next year."