Grand Prix of Montreal

The Grand Prix of Montreal was an annual auto race in Montreal, Quebec on the Champ Car World Series calendar.

This article is about the Champ Car race. For the Formula One race at Montreal, see Canadian Grand Prix. For the UCI World Tour cycling race, see Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. For the Formula E race in Montreal, see Montreal ePrix.
Grand Prix of Montreal
IndyCar / CART / Champ Car
VenueCircuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
First race1984
Last race2006
Distance181.503 mi
Laps67 laps
Previous namesMolson Indy 300 (1984–1986)
Molson Indy Montreal (2002–2005)
Most wins (driver)no repeat winners
Most wins (team)Newman/Haas Racing (3)
Most wins (manufacturer)Lola (6)

History

Originally known as the Molson Indy Montreal, it was first held at Sanair Super Speedway, an oval track, from 1984 through 1986. The Champ Car series revived the race in 2002, and it was held in late August each year until 2006 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, a permanent road course most famous as the home of the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix.

In 2006, the name of the race was changed to the Grand Prix of Montreal after its sale by Molson Sports & Entertainment. This mirrored the name change of the Toronto Champ Car race from the Molson Indy Toronto to the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto after its sale by Molson.

Future prospects

After the 2006 race, the future of the Grand Prix of Montreal became shrouded in doubt. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is allowed to be used for one race weekend outside of the Canadian Grand Prix, and it was heavily speculated that from 2007 onwards, Canadian Grand Prix promoter Normand Legault (who promotes all races at CGV) would replace the Grand Prix of Montreal with a NASCAR Busch Series race.[1] Champ Car announced in September 2006 that it would indeed not be returning to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and would be replacing the event with one at Circuit Mont-Tremblant (2007 Mont-Tremblant Champ Car Grand Prix, previously held 1968-1970). Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve replaced the race with the NASCAR NAPA Auto Parts 200 race.

Results

Sanair (1984–1986)
Season Winning Driver Chassis Engine Team Report
1984 Danny Sullivan Lola Cosworth Doug Shierson Racing report
1985 Johnny Rutherford March Cosworth Alex Morales Autosports report
1986 Bobby Rahal March Cosworth Truesports report

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (2002–2006)
Season Winning Driver Chassis Engine Team Report
2002 Dario Franchitti Lola Honda Team Green report
2003 Michel Jourdain, Jr. Lola Ford-Cosworth Team Rahal report
2004 Bruno Junqueira Lola Ford-Cosworth Newman/Haas Racing report
2005 Oriol Servia Lola Ford-Cosworth Newman/Haas Racing report
2006 Sébastien Bourdais Lola Ford-Cosworth Newman/Haas Racing report

Formula Atlantic winners

These races were held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Season Winning Driver
1978 Jeff Wood
1979 Howdy Holmes
1980 Jacques Villeneuve
1981 Kevin Cogan
1982 Tim Coconis
1983 Roberto Moreno
1986 Scott Goodyear
1988 Scott Harrington
1989 Scott Goodyear
1990 Jocko Cunningham
1991 Jimmy Vasser
1992 Chris Smith
1993 Jacques Villeneuve
1994 Richie Hearn
1995 David Empringham
1996 Patrick Carpentier
1997 Bertrand Godin
1998 Lee Bentham
1999 Alex Tagliani
2000 David Rutledge
2001 David Rutledge
2002 Rocky Moran, Jr.
2003 A. J. Allmendinger
2004 Jon Fogarty
2005 Antoine Bessette
2006 Graham Rahal

Attendance
Year Race day Weekend
2002 64,000 172,000 [2]
2003 58,000 148,000 [3]
2004 53,320 133,726 [4]
2005 36,204 93,755 [5]
2006 110,030 [6]

See also

References
  1. http://www2.canoe.com/sports/nouvelles/f1/archives/2006/06/20060623-145005.html%5B%5D
  2. Shaw, Jeremy, ed. (2002). Autocourse CART Official Champ Car Yearbook 2002-2003. Richmond, Surrey, England: Hazelton Publishing Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 1-903135-17-6.
  3. Shaw, Jeremy, ed. (2004). Autocourse Official Champ Car Yearbook 2003-2004. London, England: Hazelton Publishing Ltd. p. 145. ISBN 1-903135-33-8.
  4. Shaw, Jeremy, ed. (2004). Autocourse Official Champ Car Yearbook 2004-2005. Silverstone, Northants, United Kingdom: Crash Media Group. p. 131. ISBN 1-903135-33-8.
  5. Shaw, Jeremy, ed. (2005). Autocourse Official Champ Car Yearbook 2005-2006. Silverstone, Northants, United Kingdom: Crash Media Group Ltd. p. 133. ISBN 1-905334-05-2.
  6. "NASCAR confirms Montreal event". cbc.ca. October 2, 2006. Retrieved June 21, 2020.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.