Gearbox foils Tagliani; Vasser 11th

Monday, April 11, 2005 | 9:17 a.m.

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Las Vegas resident Alex Tagliani was headed to a top-10 finish in Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach when, two laps from the end of the race, his gearbox broke.

Tagliani, who was ninth when things went south, was left stranded on the 1.968-mile street course and was credited with a 15th-place finish in his first race with Team Australia (formerly Walker Racing).

"It would have been fantastic to end up with a top-10 result, but things didn't work out for us at the finish," Tagliani said. "It was a tough result for the whole team, but I knew I had some problems with the box during the race and was having trouble with the down shifts. Unfortunately, it didn't get me to the finish.

"Overall, I am very enthusiastic about our start to the season. The team has worked very hard and our pit stops were great in the race."

Fellow Las Vegas resident Jimmy Vasser managed a ninth-place finish after starting 11th and getting out of pit sequence with the other drivers when he pitted under caution just nine laps into the race. As a result, Vasser led the race twice for nine laps.

"I think the biggest thing that the PKV Racing team takes away from this weekend is that we have to come off the truck quicker and qualify better," Vasser said. "We had high expectations for our team after preseason testing, but things didn't work out, so I am obviously disappointed.

"We brought in a lot of new programs and faces at PKV Racing so that things would get better ... and they will get better. It is a team effort and we just have to keep working at it as a team. Fortunately, we have a long break before the next race, so we can sit down and analyze what we need to do and make the changes that are necessary."

The Champ Car World Series does not race again until May 22, in Monterrey, Mexico.

WELCOME BACK: Cristiano da Matta, who left the Champ Car series for Formula One after winning the 2002 CART championship, finished 10th in his return to the American open-wheel series with PKV Racing.

Like Vasser, who is part owner of the team, da Matta said he was disappointed with his race after having what he called a good winter of testing.

"It was a difficult weekend for the PKV Racing team and that caught us by surprise," da Matta said. "Our preseason testing went very well and at the last test, with most of the teams there, we were always in the top five, so we expected better this weekend.

"But, it is the first race of season and our first race together so we can't let this one race get us down; we just have to keep working at it. All the ingredients are here, it is just a matter of us having some more time to work together."

TRACY GETS HITCHED: Paul Tracy married his girlfriend of two years, Patty, in a simple ceremony April 2 at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. Although the two had been engaged for seven months, Tracy said the ceremony was a spur-of-the-moment decision.

"I told her I would wake up one day and we would get married," Tracy said. "I woke up last Saturday morning and said, 'let's get married today' and we got married that night.

"We've been together for two years (and) I felt it was the right time for me to step up for her. I'm in a good state of mind right now. I feel really confident about the team, I feel confident about how I'm driving. When you have that feeling, that's when good things come together."

TOYOTA ATLANTIC: Katherine Legge, a 25-year-old rookie England, became the first female driver to win a Toyota Atlantic Championship race when she captured Sunday's 32-lap race in Long Beach.

Legge, who started seventh, inherited the lead on lap 30 when race leader Rocky Moran Jr. fell off the pace with mechanical problems. Polesitter Antoine Bessette and Charles Zwolsman finished second and third, respectively.

TRANS AM: Randy Ruhlman of Greensboro, N.C., won Sunday's 45-lap Trans-Am support race in Long Beach. Polesitter Greg Pickett took second and Michael Lewis was third.