2003 London Champ Car Trophy

Paul Tracy won his first pole position in three years by posting the fastest lap in qualifying and he maintained the lead for the next 54 laps before entering the pit lane for fuel and tyres. Bourdais remained on the circuit for one extra lap because he had conserved fuel and had a faster pit stop than his teammate, who was delayed by the slower car of Rodolfo Lavín , to take the lead. Bourdais and Tracy exchanged the fastest lap of the race as they stayed within a second of each other until Tra...

The final positions meant Tracy still led the Drivers' Championship with 65 points but Junqueira lowered it to eleven points. Michel Jourdain Jr. maintained third position with fellow Mexican Adrián Fernández remaining in fourth place and Patrick Carpentier fifth. With 88 points, Lola increased their Constructors' Championship lead over Reynard to 54 points with 14 races left in the season.

The 2003 London Champ Car Trophy was the start of a two-week European stretch for the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) series; the German 500 was held at EuroSpeedway Lausitz in Klettwitz , Germany one week later. [ 1 ] It was the fourth round of the 2003 CART season and was held at the Brands Hatch circuit in West Kingsdown , Kent on 5 May 2003. [ 2 ] Entering the race, Paul Tracy led the Drivers' Championship with 64 points , ahead of Bruno Junqueira with 38 points and Michel Jourdain Jr....

CART had not visited Brands Hatch since 1978 when Rick Mears won for Team Penske . [ 5 ] The series held two previous events in the United Kingdom at the Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby , which was dropped from the season schedule in November 2002 because of poor attendance and inclement weather. [ 1 ] Brands Hatch's return was publicly announced at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham on 9 January 2003, and it was held on the Indy configuration. CART president and CEO Chris Pook ci...

Brands Hatch and CART invested $2 million in enhancing the track's safety standards; 2 miles (3.2 kilometres) of fencing was erected around each side of the Indy layout, around 38,000 tyres were used to construct barriers and the majority of the guard-railing alongside the circuit was reconstructed. The improvements were completed on the day before the official announcement of the race. [ 8 ] Tim Mayer, CART's international and development liaison officer, admitted more efforts were needed to up...

"We have garages here that are twenty-six feet long and we have cars that are sixteen feet long and each team brings two cars. So you figure out very quickly that the garages are not big enough. You look at the paddock and realize that it’s going to be tight getting all our equipment in there. And of course we’ve done a lot of work to get enough barrier protection around the track. A lot of people have worked very hard to get it done." [ 8 ]

Qualifying was split into two sessions; both sessions took place on Saturday and Sunday afternoon and lasted 60 minutes with one driver allowed on the track at any time. The Saturday qualifying order would be set in reverse of the day's earlier practice sessions with Sunday's running order based on Saturday qualifying results. Each driver was allowed four timed laps, and the starting order was determined by their fastest lap times. One championship point was available to the fastest drivers of b...

Tracy took provisional pole by recording the only lap close to 36 seconds with a new track record of 37.006 seconds on his last attempt, 0.016 seconds ahead of Junqueira who led until Tracy's time. [ 17 ] [ 18 ] [ 19 ] Junquiera's performance was compromised as he drove in an altered car that had better straightline speed but was slower in the corners. Bourdais ended the session third with Oriol Servià fourth and Manning fifth. Following him were the Canadian duo of Patrick Carpentier in sixth a...

In the third practice session, Fernández was quickest early on until Bourdais moved to the top of the time sheets. Tracy then took over the top spot, but Bourdais responded with a last minute lap of 37.379 seconds. [ 23 ] Tracy was 0.120 seconds slower in second. Fernández and Servià were third and fourth and Junqueira fifth. [ 24 ] Several incidents took place during the session. Lavin lost control under braking for Druids hairpin and was beached in the turn's gravel trap causing the session's ...

"I'm really happy to get the pole because it's been a long time since I had a pole. It's a relief. I think the last pole I had was at the Michigan oval in 2000 and I can't even remember the last time I had a road course pole. I've been stuck on 13 poles for a long time so it's great to finally get off that number."

The weather was hot and sunny with a slight breeze, and it was expected that lap times would improve, [ 26 ] since teams were more knowledgeable of the track conditions and more rubber had been laid on the racing line . [ 27 ] Bourdais looked set to challenge Tracy, but he ran wide leaving Paddock Hill bend on his last qualifying lap and put the left-hand side of his car into the gravel, creating enough decompression to pull his hand off his steering wheel. [ 26 ] When Tracy learned of this, he ...

At the front of the field, Bourdais and Junqueira began catching Tracy. Junqueira lowered Tracy's lead to 1.401 seconds as the fastest lap of the race at the time was set by Carpentier who completed a circuit in 38.515 seconds on his 18th lap. [ 34 ] [ 38 ] The first round of green flag pit stops began on lap 49 when Tagliani, Monteiro and Lavín entered the pit lane for fuel and tyres. [ 34 ] During this period, Manning ran off the circuit and into a gravel trap at Paddock Hill bend. Haberfeld, ...

Yoong was behind Moreno in 11th, and in front of Jourdain in 12th, when he locked his brakes on the run to Druids corner and drifted wide onto the dirty side of the track. He then ran into the left-hand side tyre barrier at the turn becoming the second retirement of the race. [ 34 ] [ 38 ] During the caution, Manning and Tagliani, made pit stops for fuel because they wanted to push harder than the rest of the field. Doing this, however, required them to make an additional pit stop due to the man...

In the meantime on lap 118, Tracy's car caught fire at the rear because his gearbox failed after he crossed the start/finish line. [ 39 ] He pulled over to the right-hand side of the track at Druids corner to become the last retirement of the event. [ 34 ] On lap 132, Fernández and Hunter-Reay made contact, and debris was left just off the racing line. Fernández shattered his front wing while Hunter-Reay picked up a rear-right puncture . [ 34 ] [ 38 ] Tagliani made his final pit stop on the foll...

The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media at a later press conference. Bourdais said of his maiden success in the series, "We made it. It was difficult but we made it. We would probably have been the winner in two races already. It's been frustrating after the first events. The worm turned. Paul had trouble today and we got a bit lucky." [ 41 ] He added that the victory satisfied him and his team after as be believed he could have won races ear...

Tracy's retirement from a broken gearbox was his first of the season. He commented on the championship situation, "It's never good to give away points like this. Now we don't have a cushion. This DNF is very costly. It's disappointing to have a failure like that. We would have been content to finish on the podium, but the engine let go on us." [ 41 ] [ 43 ] Tracy said his gearbox shifted by itself three to four laps and heard noises and spoke emitting from his car before his retirement, "When I ...

The result kept Tracy in the Drivers' Championship led with 65 points but his lead over Junqueira was reduced to 11 points. With 42 points, Jourdain kept third place as Fernández maintained fourth position with 29 points. Carpentier was fifth with 28 points. [ 47 ] In the Manufacturers' Championship, Lola further extended their lead over Reynard to 54 points with 14 races left in the season. [ 47 ]