The 2006 Grand Prix of Houston was the second round of the 2006 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season, held on May 13, 2006, on the streets around Reliant Park in Houston, Texas. It was the first event in Houston since a race on a downtown circuit in 2001.

On Friday, a temporary chicane was added between the first two turns and the race was shortened from 115 to 100 laps. Mario Domínguez won the pole, his first and only of his career. Sébastien Bourdais started fifth but took the lead late in the race and held off Paul Tracy to win his second consecutive race of the season, the first defending champion to do so since Rick Mears in 1982. Tracy was frustrated with Champ Car officials after only warning Bourdais of blocking claiming that "when you're Sebastien Bourdais you can do what you want." Following the race, Alex Tagliani was taken to a local hospital after experiencing back pain from the bumpy circuit.

Qualifying results

Name Team Qual 1 Qual 2 Best 1 7 Mario Domínguez Forsythe Racing 1:00.134 58.026 58.026 2 2 Bruno Junqueira Newman/Haas Racing 59.617 58.918 58.918 3 3 Paul Tracy Forsythe Racing 1:00.032 58.426 58.426 4 10 A. J. Allmendinger RuSPORT 1:00.047 58.572 58.572 5 1 Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing—* 58.627 58.627 6 15 Alex Tagliani Team Australia 1:00.047 58.765 58.765 7 9 Justin Wilson RuSPORT 1:00.149 58.829 58.829 8 6 Oriol Servià PKV Racing 1:00.268 59.062 59.062 9 4 Nelson Philippe CTE Racing-HVM 1:01.260 59.232 59.232 10 5 Will Power Team Australia 1:00.690 59.302 59.302 11 34 Charles Zwolsman Jr. Mi-Jack Conquest Racing 1:01.903 59.385 59.385 12 14 Dan Clarke CTE Racing-HVM— 59.550 59.550 13 27 Andrew Ranger Mi-Jack Conquest Racing 1:03.165 59.740 59.740 14 19 Cristiano da Matta Dale Coyne Racing 1:01.612 1:00.195 1:00.195 15 20 Katherine Legge PKV Racing 1:01.831 1:00.265 1:00.265 16 8 Nicky Pastorelli Rocketsports Racing 1:04.091 1:00.269 1:00.269 17 11 Jan Heylen Dale Coyne Racing— 1:00.839 1:00.839 References:

* The first round qualifying time for Sébastien Bourdais was disallowed after his car failed technical inspection.

Race

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing 96 1:59:57.021 5 33 2 3 Paul Tracy Forsythe Racing 96 +1.238 secs 3 27 3 7 Mario Domínguez Forsythe Racing 96 +2.287 secs 1 27 4 4 Nelson Philippe CTE Racing-HVM 96 +3.667 secs 9 23 5 9 Justin Wilson RuSPORT 96 +4.040 secs 2 21 6 27 Andrew Ranger Mi-Jack Conquest Racing 96 +5.351 secs 13 20 7 5 Will Power Team Australia 96 +5.986 secs 10 17 8 10 A. J. Allmendinger RuSPORT 96 +7.689 secs 4 15 9 19 Cristiano da Matta Dale Coyne Racing 95 + 1 Lap 14 13 10 2 Bruno Junqueira Newman/Haas Racing 93 + 3 Laps 2 12 11 15 Alex Tagliani Team Australia 90 Contact 6 10 12 6 Oriol Servià PKV Racing 87 Contact 8 9 13 11 Jan Heylen Dale Coyne Racing 82 + 14 Laps 17 8 14 20 Katherine Legge PKV Racing 81 + 15 Laps 15 7 15 34 Charles Zwolsman Jr. Mi-Jack Conquest Racing 69 Contact 11 6 16 14 Dan Clarke CTE Racing-HVM 33 Suspension 12 5 17 8 Nicky Pastorelli Rocketsports Racing 29 Brakes 16 4 References:

Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Sébastien Bourdais 68 2 2 Mario Domínguez 50 1 3 Justin Wilson 48 2 4 Andrew Ranger 40 2 5 Alex Tagliani 35

Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References