Kimi Raikkonen capitalized on a crash by Fernando Alonso and the disqualification of Juan Pablo Montoya to win the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, holding off Michael Schumacher for his third victory of the season.
Raikkonen, who was leading the European Grand Prix two weeks ago until his tire exploded on the final lap, had to battle a late mechanical problem, but still took advantage of the misfortunes of others to close on Alonso in the world championship points standings.
Alonso, who tapped the wall on the 38th lap, failed to finish for the first time this season and saw his his lead over Raikkonen reduced to 22 points. The two drivers have combined to win seven of the eight races this year.
PHOTO: AP
"I might have been a little bit lucky to win today, but it doesn't matter because we were unlucky in the last race," Raikkonen said. "I thought that we had a fast car, then I had some trouble with the steering. I asked the team `What is going on?' and they said they could see the problem. Then they asked me to look after the car a little bit."
Raikkonen bobbled in a turn on the final lap, but still held off Schumacher by 1.137 seconds. The seven-time world champion is still seeking his first victory of the season, but was pleased with his runner-up effort.
"There was not much that I could do, and there was no reason to make some crazy things," Schumacher said.
On a humid, 30-degree Celsius day, the race began with a spectacular start. Giancarlo Fisichella and Alonso both made risky moves to get around pole-sitter Jenson Button and Schumacher and put their Renaults at first and second. But both left the race, Fisichella with mechanical failure and Alonso after an accident.
"This is a very disappointing day because the weekend had been almost perfect," said Alonso, who has a series-best four victories this season.
Button also went out after an accident on the 46th lap, setting the stage for the McLaren miscues.
With the field under caution to clean up debris, Raikkonen's team called him in to pit. Montoya's team failed to do so, and he had to surrender the lead on the next lap when he went in to have his car serviced. But Montoya passed a red stop light as he exited pit road, and the stewards disqualified him.
Rubens Barrichello, who broke his gearbox during qualifying and started last in the field, rallied to a third-place finish for Ferrari. Felipe Massa was fourth for Sauber-Petronas, beating teammate and Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, who wound up ninth on the track named after his late father.
Villeneuve damaged his car at the start of the race and had to pit after the first lap for repairs. He said that eliminated any chance to challenge for a respective finish.
Carl Edwards is no one-hit wonder, and that comes as a relief to crew chief Bob Osborne.
"Winning the second race, everybody says that a lot of times that's the hardest one," he said Sunday after Edwards took the Pocono 500. "Some people will say you win the first one and that's beginner's luck or something like that. You win the second one ... then it's no-holds-barred at that point. It's time to win and keep winning."
They'll try again next Sunday in Michigan, where Edwards will jump in the car a surprising fourth in the Nextel Cup standings. And he's extremely confident, thanks to his supporting cast.
They certainly didn't let him down at Pocono Raceway.
"I think the biggest help today, though, was my crew," Edwards explained. "They dropped the jack after that first pit stop and we pulled out and passed three or four people on pit road. I thought, `Wow, if we have a day like this on pit road the whole day, we're going to win this race.' That's the way it worked."
But they had some prerace help from a computer game Edwards had been playing in his hauler before he raced to his second victory of the season and career.
"It's a NASCAR game that you can buy on the shelf," he said. "Coming to a new track and spending time on one of those things really helps."
His Ford led 45 of 200 laps and beat the Chevrolet of Brian Vickers in a race that ended under caution on the 2.5-mile triangle.
While he was winning, Edwards lost the points lead in the Busch Series because a rainout Saturday night in Nashville prevented him from racing there Sunday.
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