In the return to Europe by the Champ Car World Series, Sebastien Bourdais (#1 McDonald’s Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) proved once again why he is the driver to beat in the series with a dominant win today at Zolder in Belgium.
Bourdais extended his championship lead to 53 points over Dutch driver Robert Doornbos (#14 Minardi Team USA Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone). He earned nearly every point on offer this weekend by grabbing the pole position on Saturday, setting the fastest race lap and winning by more than 13 seconds.
Finishing second was Dale Coyne Racing driver Bruno Junqueira (#19 Sonny’s Bar-B-Q Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone), who scored the best ever finish in Dale Coyne’s 24 years as a team owner. Though the Brazilian started fourth, he lost a position off the start and a further ten spots after a problem during his first pit stop.
Mired in the back of the field, Junqueira and the Coyne Racing crew came back onto pit lane under the next yellow just ten laps later. The alternate strategy saw him move up to second in the order as the other drivers had to dive onto pit lane for service under green flag conditions.
Junqueira made his final stop on lap 48 also under green flag conditions and dropped back to tenth. When a full-course caution slowed the race again, the majority of the field used the opportunity to come to pit road for a final splash of fuel to reach the end of the race.
While they came to pit lane, Junqueira stayed out and moved back up to the fourth position, sitting behind Simon Pagenaud (#15 Aussie Vineyards Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone), Belgian Jan Heylen (#34 Grafiprint Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) and Tristan Gommendy (#22 Pay By Touch-MegaSpirea Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone).
The three drivers in front all had to pit for fuel while Junqueira was worked hard to conserve fuel and make it to checkered flag. In the end, the three-time championship runner-up battled valiantly with Bourdais and his Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing teammate Graham Rahal (#2 Medi|Zone Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) letting the French champion slip by but holding off the American rookie.
By holding onto second, Junqueira forced the 18-year-old Rahal to settle for his fourth podium finish of the year.
Dutch star Robert Doornbos also lost some ground in the title chase with his seventh place finish today.
With the double podium, Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing took the early lead in the Phanos Champ Car European Cup team competition earning 70 points over the course of the weekend. Team Australia, winners of the Champ Car Canadian Triple Crown, are second with 60.5 points.
QUOTES FROM THE TOP THREE FINISHERS
Sebastien Bourdais: "It was a great weekend once again. It wasn't exactly the target to go after the win but we would obviously go for it if we could. The McDonald’s team did a fantastic job”
Bruno Junqueira: “I am very happy for get a podium for Dale Coyne Racing. I just kept my head down and concentrated on saving fuel after that. I drove as hard as I could at the finish"
Graham Rahal : “The end of the race was very exciting for me. The Medi|Zone team had to work awfully hard because I got a horrible start and lost another spot, so I was trying to make up time the rest of the race. It was a bit of hard dicing but I managed to pull a little gap on them and I managed to cruise to the finish which was nice."
ResultsPos - Driver - Country - Time1 Sebastien Bourdais France 71 laps2 Bruno Junqueira Brazil - 13.655 sec3 Graham Rahal USA - 14.457 sec4 Will Power Australia - 15.147 sec5 Justin Wilson England - 15.972 sec6 Oriol Servia Spain - 17.150 sec7 Robert Doornbos Netherlands - 18.368 sec8 Neel Jani Switzerland - 19.073 sec9 Alex Tagliani Canada - 23.833 sec10 Paul Tracy Canada - 24.500 sec11 Katherine Legge England - 28.843 sec12 Simon Pagenaud France - 33.187 sec13 Jan Heylen Belgium - 72.098 sec14 Alex Figge USA - 1 lap15 Ryan Dalziel Scotland - 4 laps16 Tristan Gommendy France DNF17 Mario Dominguez England DNF
Next up is the back-end of the European double header as the Champ Car World Series heads to Assen, Holland for the Bavaria Beer Champ Car Grand Prix of Holland presented by Audi, Hertz, Gant, Pioneer and Jumbo. The event in Holland runs from August 31 – September 2, with live coverage on Eurosport 2 in Europe at 1 p.m. local time, and in the United States on ESPN Classic at 7 a.m. ET.
