| Arpon Basu | |
| Canadian Press |
MONTREAL (CP) - Paul Tracy is wearing his diplomat's hat here this weekend but it's not helping his image much here.
The Toronto native is public enemy No. 1 at the Montreal Champ Car Grand Prix after making comments two weeks ago about French drivers refusing to take their helmets off to fight.
Tracy made the comments following separate physical altercations at races with Alex Tagliani of Lachenaie, Que., and Champ Car World Series points leader Sebastien Bourdais of France.
But rather than shy away from the conflict, Tracy, ever the showman, is revelling in it.
"I'm trying to have some fun, the crowd's obviously having a lot of fun with it, they're interacting," Tracy said after qualifying fourth for Sunday's race. "So that's what it's all about.
"The crowd's here to have a good time and enjoy themselves. This is not Formula One, this where the crowd comes to have a good time and I'm playing along with it."
Tracy was having a discussion in the pits after completing his final qualifying lap with his Team Forsythe engineers wearing a blue baseball cap with Montreal, Quebec written on it. He also wore a set of battery-powered rabbit ears with the fleur-de-lis on it that were given to him earlier in the day by a fan.
Nevertheless, the crowd at the main grandstand broke out into a derisive chant of "Tracy, Tracy, Tracy," along with other comments that weren't nearly as polite.
Tracy largely ignored the taunts as he continued his discussion but as soon as Bourdais pulled into the pits the crowd broke into huge applause.
That's when Tracy cut off his conversation and jumped up on a barrier to salute the crowd, as if their adulation was aimed at him.
"I'm trying to get the people to love me here," Tracy said. "It just doesn't seem to matter what I do, they don't like it.
"I'm trying to bridge some peace within this race."
While Tracy was having fun Saturday, Tagliani couldn't hide his frustration. His Team Australia car qualified a distant 12th, nearly two second behind pole-sitter Bourdais.
"I'm really disappointed, it's as if there are all sorts of things that aren't working," Tagliani said. "I've never been as disappointed here as I am today.
"I know this track, I know what it takes to go quick, I just don't have the car to do it. I've never had a car this bad on this track."
Andrew Ranger of Roxton Pond, Que., earned his fifth straight top-10 starting position by qualifying ninth Saturday. But the 19 year-old still wasn't completely satisfied.
"I'm happy to be in the top-10, but I'm a little disappointed as well because the motor seemed to lack some power every time I shifted gears," Ranger said. "So it's a bit disappointing when you know you have a good car and you know you can do very well."