Local favorite struggles to seventh place after two mishaps; San
Jose marks first time in five starts he doesn’t earn a podium
finish
San Jose – Just as expected, hometown favorite A.J. Allmendinger received a rousing ovation and vocal support throughout in the second running of the San Jose Grand Prix.
Unfortunately for Allmendinger, a Los Gatos native and recent Hollister resident, that was about all that went according to plan in what amounted to a frustrating performance in downtown San Jose Sunday.
Sent reeling from the start by an early collision on treacherous Turn 1 and later penalized for a mid-race pit violation, Allmendinger finished seventh in the Champ Car street race. Though he retained his third spot in the Champ Car standings, trailing leader and San Jose winner Sebastien Bourdais by 45 points, Allmendinger had much higher hopes entering the afternoon.
“There’s no satisfaction in taking seventh place,” said Allmendinger, who had raced to four straight podiums and qualified third for this race. “A little confusion took (a podium finish) away from us.”
After battling back from a collision with Bourdais on the first hairpin to resume the third spot, the No. 7 car driver fell victim to a costly miscommunication between his Forsythe Racing team and the race director. Picking up a transmission that pit lane had opened, Allmendinger’s crew directed him into the pit in the 53rd lap. Shortly thereafter, he was penalized for pitting too soon under a caution flag and sent back to 10th place.
“You know, Champ Car said it was open and then they said, ‘No,’ and we’d already pitted,” said Allmendinger afterwards. “I think they were a little upset that nobody else pitted and we got the call, we heard it on time and got in the pit. Just some confusion about that I guess, so just disappointing.”
After failing to finish the inaugural San Jose Grand Prix following a crash at Turn 4 last year, Allmendinger said the improvements made to the track resulted in a superior race this time.
“They did it perfect,” said Allmendinger, who spent the bulk of his afternoon making up position after twice falling to the back of the pack. “They did everything they could. It was still a tight race track, maybe a couple of spots could be wider. But they wanted passing and hopefully that’s what I gave them because I passed a lot of guys. I drove my butt off to get around everybody. I think I probably passed the most guys, but you can only go to the back and then to the front so many times before the race ends.”
Allmendinger was forced to the rear immediately once he clipped Bourdais at Turn 1, the hairpin on Almaden Boulevard near the Hotel De Anza. The No. 7 car driver was forced to pit with front-wing damage and was fortunate his crew got him back out on the lead lap.
“Everybody stopped,” said Allmendinger said of the collision. “It was tight down there. I was basically at a crawl and Sebastien had to stop for the corner. I’m glad I didn’t take him out or anything, but there wasn’t much else I could do because I was just in the middle of a melee and my car was basically almost ready to stall as it was because it was so tight. Nobody’s fault really. Just tight racing, hairpin Turn 1.”
The race marked the first time in five starts that Allmendinger didn’t gain a podium finish. Following victories at Portland, Cleveland and Toronto just after he was signed by Forsythe, he finished fourth at Edmonton July 23.
Though he hoped to give his fans a much better showing, Allmendinger said his supporters had been unbelievable all week, especially on race day.
“The crowd support in San Jose was amazing. When I was doing the parade lap, everybody was screaming for me, and it added a little shake to me because it was unbelievable,” he said. “It’s just awesome. I wish every U.S. race was like that for me because that was pretty cool to feel.”
“Thank you to the crowd and everybody who stood behind us,” Allmendinger continued. “I wish we could’ve been on the podium for them.”
Contact Scott Campbell at [email protected].
