Toronto, Canada (July 10, 2005) Ryan Dalziel marked his Bridgestoone Presents The
Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford race debut today at the Molson Indy Toronto with
a top ten performance on the 1.755-mile street course.
The 23-year-old Scottish rookie bounced back from the disappointment of a first-lap
puncture to pilot the #19 American Medical Response Bridgestone/Ford-Cosworth/Lola to
ninth place for Dale Coyne Racing and a solid points paying finish in a race marred by
a series of second-half incidents and accidents.
Ryan's day wasn't without its own drama as he failed to complete a lap in morning
practice thanks to a drive shaft failure. Frustrated not to benefit from the extra
practice time Dalziel turned his attentions to this afternoon's race, where he
qualified 16th for the 88-lap sprint round the streets of Toronto.
No sooner had the Orlando resident taken the green flag to start his charge when an
over ambitious move from Marcus Marshall resulted in contact between the two cars at
Turn 8, the Australian's front-wing slashing Ryan's right-rear tire. Forced to pit
at the end of the first lap Dalziel was soon back on-track with fresh rubber but the
incident cost the Toyota Atlantic Championship runner-up valuable time and within a
handful of laps he found himself a lap down to the leading trio of Bourdais, Tracy and
eventual race winner Justin Wilson.
From there he settled into a steady rhythm, all the while enjoying the opportunity to
race a 750bhp Champ Car in anger for the first time. The first half of the race proved
to be fairly uneventful but the second half would provide Ryan with a chance to climb
the running order as the attrition rate grew steadily and the race became littered with
full course cautions.
Keeping the #19 American Medical Response car out of trouble he soon found himself
tucked inside the top ten, safely avoiding the accidents that resulted in no less than
three re-starts in the final 25 laps, the last of the full course cautions, caused by
Mario Dominguez's heavy smash into the stricken car of A.J. Allmendinger, resulted in
the race being called under the yellows having reached its allocated time limit.
After the race Ryan commented:
"It was annoying having to pit so early on, it cost me a lap which certainly didn't
help, but after I was back out on track I was happy with the balance of the car and we
were quicker than a lot of the mid-pack runners but down on track position. We then
had an incident with Bjorn Wirdheim later in the race which caused some damage, the car
lost a lot of rear downforce, it became pretty loose but I held it together and we kept
in the race and scored a decent finish at the checkered flag."
"It was a little disappointing that guys who were slower ultimately finished ahead of
me at the finish but we came here with a top ten as our objective and we conquered
that. Again I have to thank Dale Coyne and American Medical Response for giving me the
chance to race here in Canada and I hope we can continue for the rest of the year."
Justin Wilson claimed his first career Champ Car World Series victory in Toronto, the
former F1 racer beating out Spain's Oriol Servia and Canada's Alex Tagliani to the
top step of the podium.
A brand new Canadian street race in Edmonton, Alberta hosts Round 7 of the 2005
Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford next weekend, 15th-17th
July.
www.ryandalziel.com
For further information please contact Stuart Morrison Public Relations:
Tel: +1 514 684 3253 / Cell: +1 514 998 5693 / Email: stuart@sm-pr.com
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