The season-long chase for the Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series powered by Ford championship has come down to three drivers, two races and one chassis after Saturday nights race on the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway oval.
Points leader Sebastien Bourdais won a thrilling race in his Newman Haas Lola by 0.066 seconds over his Newman/Haas Racing teammate Bruno Junqueira. Patrick Carpentier came home third in his Forsythe Lola to keep his title hopes alive. Only this trio have any hope of taking home Champ Car’s Vanderbilt Cup after the final two races of the 14-event 2004 campaign are run.
Bourdais battled to the finish with Junqueira, overcoming the team’s need to make two engine swaps on race morning and a pit stop refuelling problem to lead 100 of 166 laps on a warm desert night, taking his sixth win of the season. “I was flat out all around and all credit to the team who gave me a perfect set-up for the race,” Bourdais reflected. “I could run anywhere on the track with my Lola.”
Junqueira was forced to take second to the Frenchman again but said, “I’m very frustrated with the outcome because my Lola was perfect tonight. This was a clean race with Sebastien and Patrick and, anytime you bring it home in one piece with a race like this, it’s a good race.” Polesitter Carpentier overcame gearbox woes to take third and considered this second oval contest of the year “a fun race. I enjoyed it. We made a few changes and overall the Lola was good.”
Rodolfo Lavin scored an excellent 2nd place in the third of the Forsythe cars, just holding off veteran Jimmy Vasser’s PKV Lola and rookie AJ Allmendinger in the RuSPORTS’s Lola.
Reigning champion Paul Tracy had a race to forget when pulled in to the pits with a broken half-shaft before the race had even begun.
Bourdais continues to lead Junqueira by 307 points to 280, while Carpentier takes sole possession of third place with 241 points. The next contest for the Champ Car World Series takes place at Surfers Paradise, Australia on the 24th of October; the season finale is set for Mexico City on November 7th.
