Wilson wins in Toronto for first Champ Car title

TORONTO -- Justin Wilson won a Champ Car race for the first time Sunday, passing Oriol Servia with 11 laps to go and then holding on to capture the Toronto Molson Indy.

The race ended under caution when A.J. Allmendinger, Wilson's teammate for the upstart RuSport team, crashed as he was closing in on Servia for second place. Allmendinger brushed the wall then careened across the track into a tire barrier.

Mario Dominguez then slammed into Allmendinger's stopped car to bring out a caution with seven laps to go. The race ended when officials were unable to get the track cleaned during the allotted time the series had to finish the event.

"It's hard to believe. The last few laps under caution, I was just hoping it would not go back under green," Wilson said. "I wanted to get the first one under my belt."

Alex Tagliani finished third and was followed by Jimmy Vasser and Sebastian Bourdais, who overcame an early accident with Paul Tracy to finish fifth and reclaim the lead in the Champ Car series standings.

Bourdais came into the race trailing Tracy by one point in the standings. Both started on the front row and were poised to battle for the win. But they wrecked into each other in a drag race off pit road following the first round of stops.

Bourdais cut his tire when he sliced across the top of Tracy's car and had to make a second stop that eliminated him from contention. Tracy continued on without his left front wing and was leading until he ran out of gas and quit the race.

Bourdais now has a 15-point lead over Tracy, who finished 16th.

Wilson, an Englishman who spent the 2003 season racing in Formula One, qualified third and was having an uneventful race. But after Servia inherited the lead when Tracy retired, Wilson focused on reeling Servia in.

He made his pass on the inside of the third turn on the 1.775-mile, temporary street course.

Wilson's victory moved him into third in the series standings, 22 points behind Bourdais.

Servia, meanwhile, continued the career resurgence that began four races ago.

Hired by Newman-Haas Racing after Bruno Junqueira broke his back in the Indianapolis 500, Servia has been a terrific injury replacement for a team that was eyeing a championship for Junqueira.