Team Australia works for Tagliani

Alex Tagliani came to Edmonton last February as a Champ Car driver to promote the inaugural Grand Prix here. A week later, he didn't know if he'd even be at the race. "No ride," he chuckled yesterday about getting bounced from the Rocketsports seat that went to eventual rookie-of-the-year Timo Glock. Derrick Walker Racing had signed a sponsorship deal with Aussie Vineyards, donned the green-and-gold national colors of the Land Down Under, and Team Australia was born. Walker had one car for Aussie rookie Marcus Marshall and needed a veteran for the other. Tagliani, whose wife Bronte is Australian, was a fit. And he proved it on the track.

"I was really pleased, what we did with Derrick Walker and the team. What we had to learn about the car this year was quite big. I'm looking forward to next year because everything shows we are going to be a lot quicker. It's going to be great to come back and compete towards the front. "Now we know what we have, some data." Tagliani's experience proved a vital component of that data. Especially after Marshall bombed. Another Aussie, 26-year-old Will Power, teams with Tagliani next season. "For the first year I think it was not too shabby." For next year? "I want to finish on the podium at every Canadian race.". Edmonton Sun