Tracy, Bourdais OK after 'racing incident.'

Paul Tracy managed to hide the anger that must have been bubbling inside him quite well at the conclusion of Sunday's Molson Indy Toronto but only because it was the Champ Car rulebook that denied him victory rather than arch-rival Sebastien Bourdais.

Tracy and Bourdais were enjoying a great tussle for the lead during the opening phase of the sixth round of the Champ Car season with the Frenchman holding a two second advantage over the home town favourite as the first round of pit-stops approached.

Seeking to gain some vital track position in the pits, Tracy's Forsythe Racing crew short-filled the #3 Lola-Ford when both leaders made their first stops on lap 34 of what was scheduled to be an 88-lap race, allowing Tracy to draw alongside Bourdais as they exited pits.

Mindful of the white blend line on pit exit and the penalty he would incur if he put more than two wheels over it, Bourdais chopped across the front of Tracy, breaking the left front half of Tracy's nosecone and sustaining a puncture himself.

However while Bourdais had to make an extra stop and dropped down the order, Tracy was able to continue in the lead until a badly timed yellow flag some 20 laps later saw Champ Car officials close the pits just as Tracy was about to make his second stop. With no reserve fuel in his tank after the team short-fuelled him on their first stop, Tracy ground to a halt just passed pit exit on lap 58 and was out of the race.

"That was a tough day," said a dejected Tracy as he walked back to the paddock to the cheers of his hometown Toronto crowd. "The car was good and we decided to short-fill on the first stop to see if we could get by Sebastien. The plan looked like it was going to work but Sebastien came past me after we crossed the pit exit line and chopped across my nose, breaking my left front wing off and giving himself a flat."

"I was pretty worried," he continued. "But the handling was manageable and I was able to post some good times without burning up the front tyres. We decided that it wasn't going to be worthwhile to take the time to change the nose so we were just going to pit for fuel and tyres on the final stop and see if we could hold them off.

"Unfortunately I ran out of fuel just as I was about to pit. A yellow flag came out and the pits closed just as I was coming in, so I stayed on track hoping I could nurse it around one more lap but it died about two seconds after I made my choice. Just a bad day for the team."

While Tracy was finally classified 16th and lost the lead he held over Bourdais in the Championship, the Frenchman was able to recover from his puncture to post a fifth place finish. After the race, the defending series Champion said that he felt his brush with Tracy was nothing more than a racing incident.

"On the stop, I'm pretty sure they (Forsythe) watched us fuel and then pulled when we did so he could try to get ahead of us," commented Bourdais, who now holds a 15 point lead over Tracy in the overall standings. "We got a run leaving the pits but he stayed there and I had to keep two wheels under the line and he stayed there too and we touched. He probably didn't realise that I was not going to be able to move to the left otherwise I would have been penalised. It was a racing incident but it was frustrating because this year when we seem to have a real chance to win the race but we don't.

"I didn't see the video but I think I was clearly in front because his front wing and my right rear tyre touched. I was almost a car length ahead of him and my right rear tyre hit his front wing and it cut my tyre so I had to pit to replace it. I guess the incident hurt Paul more than us because he didn't get many points and we were able to salvage some."