Cleveland, OH (My Sportsbook) - Paul Tracy captured Sunday's Grand Prix of Cleveland Champ Car race at the 2.106-mile, 10-turn Burke Lakefront Airport road course. The No.3 Forsythe Championship Racing driver crossed the finish line 3.113 seconds ahead of runner-up A.J. Allmendinger.

The victory was Tracy's second of the season and 30th of his Champ Car career.

As always seems to happen at the first turn on lap one in Cleveland, there was another incident. However unlike 2004, the leaders made it through without a problem. This time it was Ryan Hunter-Reay and Bjorn Wirdheim that came together near the back of the pack.

Meanwhile up front, Tracy, who won the pole, moved out quickly from the green flag and his lead over Portland Grand Prix winner Cristiano da Matta was 1.055 seconds by lap seven of a scheduled 94. Two-time Cleveland GP winner Sebastien Bourdais was third and impressive rookie Andrew Ranger a solid fourth after he passed Alex Tagliani.

Ten laps later Tracy's margin had expanded to 2.370 seconds. His lead steadied at around two seconds as the drivers settled into a rhythm.

When a caution flag came out on lap 27 due to Justin Wilson/Mario Dominguez contact, da Matta was already on pit road. When the rest of the drivers took the opportunity to get new tires and fuel it meant da Matta was the leader with Tracy and Bourdais dropping to seventh and eighth, respectively.

Tracy and Bourdais quickly moved up the charts and on lap 35 sat in second and third place behind da Matta.

Meanwhile, da Matta was more than holding his own against Tracy and Bourdais. His lead was up to 1.901 seconds on lap 40 and more than three seconds on the French champion.

At the halfway points, da Matta's lead was 3.577 second over Tracy and he appeared to be back to his 2002 title winning form (when he won seven poles and seven races).

But it was not to be on this day. On lap 51, da Matta was passing Marcus Marshall, who was already down one lap, and the two made contact which sent da Matta spinning off the track and out of the race.

"It was one of those stupid racing incidents that shouldn't happen," said a disappointed da Matta.

Da Matta's misfortune was Tracy's lucky break. The Canadian, who had not won in Cleveland since 1993, inherited the lead. After his second pit stop, he was in fourth place on the track due to alternate pit strategies, but in control of the race.

He quickly moved his way to second behind Allmendinger and held his position waiting for the American to pit. Allmendinger came in on lap 75 and Tracy took over the lead. His margin was more than five seconds over second place Oriol Servia and more than 13 seconds over third place Tagliani.

Tracy made his last pit stop on lap 80. This gave Tagliani the lead with Bourdais and three other drivers that still needed to pit following close behind.

Tracy came out of the pits in sixth place and 16 seconds behind leader Tagliani.

On lap 86 Tagliani and the rest of the top-five took their last pit stops. Tagliani had hopes of beating Tracy to the first turn as he came out of the pits, but came out 0.945 seconds behind the leader.

Tracy continued to extend his lead over Allmendinger as Tagliani and Bourdais dropped back to fourth and fifth. He cruised into Victory Lane ahead of Allmendinger after 91 laps of a time-shortened race.

Servia, Tagliani and Bourdais completed the top-five.

The next event in the series is scheduled for Sunday, July 10th at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Canada.