French star Sebastien Bourdais (#1 McDonald’s Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) scored the pole position at Zolder in Belgium today as the Champ Car World Series returned to Europe for the first time since 2003.
Bourdais lapped the 4.01km circuit in 1 minute 12.821 seconds setting the track record at the historic former home of the Belgian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
The three-time champion is looking to become the first driver to win four consecutive Champ Car titles, and after earning one championship point for today’s pole position, Bourdais now leads the race for the Vanderbilt Cup by 38 points over third place qualifier Robert Doornbos (#14 Minardi Team USA Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone).
After not being able to run in yesterday’s qualifying because of mechanical issues, Doornbos showed the speed that has put him at the top of the rookie-of-the-year standings to earn the third spot on the grid.
Though his time was faster than Team Australia’s Will Power (#5 Aussie Vineyards Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone), the Aussie driver will start second after setting the fastest time in Friday’s qualifying session. Tomorrow will mark the fourth time Bourdais and Power have shared the front row.
Brazilian star Bruno Junqueira (#19 Sonny’s Bar-B-Q Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) will start fourth, his best starting spot of the year and Dale Coyne Racing’s best start since Long Beach in 1998.
The third row will be made up of the RuSPORT/Rocketsports duo of British driver Justin Wilson (#9 CDW Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) and Canadian Alex Tagliani (#8 Rocketsports Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone). Both drivers moved up considerably from Friday’s qualifying session.
Local hero, Jan Heylen (#34 Grafiprint Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) will start 11th. The Belgian driver was unable to run on Friday after being involved in a multi-car accident in the morning practice. His Conquest team worked until well after midnight last night to rebuild Heylen’s DP01.
QUOTES FROM THE TOP THREE STARTERS
Sebastien Bourdais: “It was a little harder than I thought. The 15 minute practice went really well with the standard tires on the McDonald’s car. I thought when we put the red tires on it was going to be easier and the lap time would come really fast but we got a little bit of traffic and I made a couple of mistakes and didn't hit the tires when they were at their best.”
Will Power: “That is exactly how we thought it would play out today so we used the red tires yesterday to try and guarantee a front row start. We are thinking of tomorrow – we need to win a race and everything has played out exactly as I wanted, no problem.”
Robert Doornbos : “Today went really well. It is an amazing circuit to drive with Champ Cars, it's really fast – turn one and two in particular we have been going faster and faster.”
NO LUCK FOR FRENCHMAN IN "DOWN UNDER" CHAMP CAR
Team Australia driver Simon Pagenaud left Zolder with a touch of disappointment after qualifying eighth fastest today.
The French Champ Car rookie and 2006 Champ Car Atlantic champion was third fastest on the opening day, but couldn't repeat that performance on day two.
Pagenaud was hoping to put on a good performance for his students who attend SPID - Simon Pagendaud Innovation Development - a race school he started at Circuit Du Val de Vienne in 2003.
Starting with 25 students in its debut year, SPID now has more than 300 - most of whom have actually made the trip to Zolder this weekend to see their teacher compete in the Champ Car Grand Prix of Belgium.
“We had a great Aussie Vineyards car and it had a pretty good balance. I don’t really know why we couldn’t make the lap time today," Pagenaud said.
"I was held up by Katherine (Legge) in the last lap, so that didn’t help, because that was my fastest lap.
"I think that would have put us on the first two rows, which is quite a shame, but that’s how it is and we’ll try to have good record during the race tomorrow.”am will pull together to have a great session tomorrow.”
