2006 Champ Car World Series season

The 2006 Champ Car World Series season was the twenty-eighth Champ Car World Series, however only its third season under the Champ Car title. It began on April 9, 2006 and ended on November 12 after 14 races.

Drivers and Teams

The following teams and drivers competed during the 2006 Champ Car World Series.

Drivers

Point system

Points are awarded based on each driver's resulting place:

Notes

* Mario Domínguez was docked 7 points for causing an avoidable crash in Milwaukee
* Paul Tracy was docked 7 points for causing an avoidable crash in San Jose
* Paul Tracy was once again docked 3 point for causing an avoidable crash in Denver

Nation's Cup

* Top result per race counts towards the nations cup

Notes

* Mexico were penalized 7 points as a result of a penalty applied to Mario Domínguez in Milwaukee

Driver Breakdown

Rumours and speculation

Drivers

*Paul Tracy has signed a 5 year deal with Forsythe Championship Racing that will take him through to the 2011 season, when he will be 43 years old. This squashes any rumours of a possible move to NASCAR next season.

*Justin Wilson was injured in qualifying for the Surfer's Paradise round, breaking the Scaphoid bone in his right wrist. He didn't race in the event. Adam Carroll is on stand-by to replace him in Mexico City [http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/55496] .

Races

* At the time of the West Edmonton Mall Grand Prix of Edmonton, it was confirmed the Grand Prix of Ansan would not be held again this year.

Series

* Rumours flying around in Houston are that a merger between Champ Car & IRL to form a single open-wheel racing series will be announced later in the month at the Indy 500. Nothing has been confirmed as yet but the rumours have been fuelled by Kevin Kalkhoven (Co-Owner of Champ Car) visiting Indianapolis to view practice for the Indy 500 and Tony George (Owner of IRL & the Indianapolis Motor Speedway visiting Houston on Saturday to view Champ Car qualifying and the ALMS race.

Notes

Round 2

* Jimmy Vasser (PKV Racing #12) did not compete in Round 2.
* Nicky Pastorelli replaces Antônio Pizzonia in the Rocketsports Racing #8 car from Round 2 onwards.

Round 4

* Mario Domínguez was penalized 7 points for causing avoidable contact in the race at the Milwaukee Mile. [http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=10355]

Round 9

* The first all-American Champ Car Panoz DP01 is launched on the weekend of the San Jose Grand Prix. Every team in the Champ Car World Series will be using the chassis next year.
* In San Jose, it was announced that Atlantic Series team Gelles Racing would run a two-car operation in next years Champ Car World Series.
* Paul Tracy was penalized 7 points and fined an undisclosed amount for causing avoidable contact and bringing the sport into disrepute for his part in the accident and shoving match with Alex Tagliani. He was also placed on probation for 3 races (Denver, Montreal & Road America). Tagliani was also fined an undisclosed amount.

Round 10

* Cristiano Da Matta is in a medically induced coma after a testing accident at Road America between San Jose & Denver in which he hit a deer on track. As a result, RuSPORT will only run the car of Justin Wilson for the Denver round.
* Paul Tracy was penalised 3 points and fined US$25,000 for causing avoidable contact for his part in the accident with Sébastien Bourdais. His probation was also extended to include Surfer's Paradise. Bourdais was not assessed a penalty.

External links

* [http://www.champcarworldseries.com 2006 season at champcarworldseries.com]
* [http://www.champcaratlantic.com 2006 season at champcaratlantic.com]