SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS CLINCHES 2005 BRIDGESTONE PRESENTS THE CHAMP CAR WORLD
SERIES POWERED BY FORD TITLE IN CHAMPIONSHIP STYLE WITH VICTORY IN
SURFERS PARADISE
SURFERS PARADISE, Australia (October 23, 2005) -- Putting an
exclamation point on another championship season, Newman/Haas
Racing's Sebastien Bourdais (#1 McDonald's
Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) claimed the 2005 Bridgestone Presents The
Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford championship in grand fashion
Sunday, storming to a win at the Lexmark Indy 300 in Surfers Paradise,
Australia.
Bourdais wrapped up the title with his sixth victory of the season,
making him the third driver in the last four years to win the race in
which he clinched the Champ Car crown. He led 38 of the day's 57
laps and set a new race-lap record, breaking the seven-year-old mark held
by fellow two-time Champ Car title winner Alex Zanardi. The victory makes
Bourdais the first back-to-back Champ Car king since Gil de Ferran in
2000-01 and also makes him the 15th driver in the 96 years of Champ Car
racing to win consecutive championships. He took the win by more than
nine seconds ahead of A.J. Allmendinger (#10 Intel
Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone), who matched a career-high finish,
followed by veteran Jimmy Vasser (#12 Gulfstream
Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone), who scored the 33rd podium of his
career.
But the road to victory was anything but easy for Bourdais as 105,297
rabid race fans piled into the 2.795-mile Surfers Paradise street course
for the 15th running of the Australian event. Bourdais narrowly escaped
calamity in the first corner as polesitter and NHR teammate Oriol Servia
(#2 PacifiCare Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) was the victim of contact
from fourth-place starter Cristiano da Matta (#21 Bell Micro
Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone). Servia and da Matta spun off to the
right of the chicane after contact, collecting former Australia winner
Mario Dominguez (#7 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) in the process
and bringing out the caution flag.
Bourdais escaped damage but found himself behind nemesis Paul Tracy (#3
Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) on the restart as the veteran had
been able to sneak past the Frenchman during the melee. Tracy roared away
on the Lap 4 restart and paced the first 19 laps of the day, in the
process becoming the first driver of the day to break the aforementioned
race-lap record. Bourdais kept the pressure on, never falling more than
two seconds behind, while RuSPORT teammates Allmendinger and Justin
Wilson (#9 SanDisk Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) held down the third
and fourth spots respectively.
Tracy held the point until pitting on Lap 19, one lap before Bourdais,
but gave up the lead during that cycle of stops as Bourdais' crew
short-filled the champion's car, getting him out with a 2.8-second
lead over the 2003 titlewinner. Tracy's chase ended soon after the
cycle of stops however, as he suffered a terminal gearbox problem on Lap
24 that doomed him to a 17th-place finish.
The retirement of Tracy moved Allmendinger to second behind Bourdais, but
it was a Team Australia altercation that brought the young American to
the leader's rear wing. Caution fell over the circuit for the
second and final time on Lap 29 when Alex Tagliani (#15 Aussie Vineyards
Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) had contact with new teammate Will Power
(#25 Aussie Vineyards Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) in Turn Three.
Allmendinger had to deal with the lapped car of Marcus Marshall (#5
Aussie Vineyards Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) on the restart, but he
slipped around the rookie and took the chase back to Bourdais.
Allmendinger's teammate was not as lucky however, suffering a
punctured tire when trying to pass Marshall, forcing him to the pits and
out of the battle. The two leaders commenced to running their fastest
laps of the day, putting two seconds per lap on the field, but Bourdais
proved equal to every thrust by Allmendinger as the two ran away from the
field.
The final round of stops yielded no changes among the two leaders, but it
did end Servia's podium charge as a problem with his right-rear
tire cost him precious seconds during the stop. Servia showed his
strength after the first-lap contact, charging from 17th to finish fifth
despite having to make an extra pit stop.
Bourdais rolled away after his second stop and cemented his win while
Allmendinger contented himself with the runner-up spot. Vasser turned his
fastest laps of the day in the final stage of the event, holding off
Tagliani for the final podium spot. The Team Australia driver came home
in fourth while Servia rounded out the top five.
Rocketsports Racing's Timo Glock (#8 DHL Global Mail
Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) clinched the 2005 Roshfrans
Rookie-of-the-Year title with a sixth-place finish, becoming the first
German-born driver to win the Champ Car rookie award. Wilson ended his
day in the seventh spot, but still moved into third in the final
standings and enters the Mexico City finale with a 10-point lead over
Tracy for the third position.
Ronnie Bremer (#19 American Medical Response
Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) led a spate of five straight rookie
finishers from the eighth-spot, while Ricardo Sperafico (#11 Sonny Real
Pit BBQ Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) and Andrew Ranger (#27
Tide/Mi-Jack Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) rounded out the top 10.
Sperafico earned the extra championship point for gaining the most
positions on the day, finishing ninth after starting 18th.
The series will put a bow on the 2005 season in two weeks' time
with the season-ending Telmex/Tecate Gran Premio de Mexico City Presented
by Banamex, November 4-6 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
QUOTES FROM THE TOP THREE FINISHERS
Jimmy Vasser: "All credit to my PKV Racing team. They've been
working really hard since Montreal. Been on the shaker rig three times, a
on the track for a test. These cars are an awful lot of mathematics.
We've been working real hard crunching the numbers trying to make the
team better. I think it's starting to show. Street circuits have been
our weakness all season long. But we made it a little better for the
race. However, we ended up with a podium finish. I think it's starting
to show that the hard work on the team is starting to pay off."
A.J. Allmendinger: "RuSPORT gave me a great car today. I can't say
enough about my team. They just keep fighting to improve the car. It
looks like from the lap times we had everybody else covered, but I was
just trying to hang on to Sebastien. After the second pit stop, he had
about 10 seconds on me. At the end, pushed a little bit to see what car
still had. But I'm pleased to be on the podium here. Everybody in the
series talks about what a feeling it is to be on the podium in Surfers
Paradise. Glad I get to enjoy it."
Sebastien Bourdais: "It was a nice win, very straight forward once
everything sorted out in the pit strategy. I was just very happy to see
how quick we were again. You know, such a great reward for this team
that's working so hard. Obviously you're going to say I won the
back-to-back championship, but without the organization around me, I
would be nothing. I can't be grateful enough for all this hard work.
It's just unbelievable. One and two for the second time in a row in the
championship. I guess Newman/Haas Racing is going to have a tough time
to top it up again next year. It's tough to keep up with that."
NOTEWORTHY
* Sebastien Bourdais is the third driver in the last four years to
clinch the series title with a victory, and is the first driver to
clinch the championship with a victory at Surfers Paradise. He has a
streak of nine consecutive top-five finishers that he will carry to
Mexico City.
* Today's event attendance of 105,297 brings the final Lexmark Indy 300
attendance to 316,459 -- a new record for the Surfers Paradise event.
* Paul Tracy led 19 laps to day, bringing his season total to a
series-leading 512. This marks the fourth season that Tracy has led as
many as 500 laps in a season.
* Bourdais again finished every lap of the event and has failed to
complete just one of the year's 1,240 laps.
* France takes a commanding lead in the Nation's Cup standings with
today's performance, carrying a 32-point lead over Canada to the season
finale. France will be looking to seal its first victory in the 10 years
of Nation's Cup competition.
Bourdais became the 15th driver to win consecutive Champ Car titles
with today's win. Ted Horn (1946-48) is the only driver to win three
consecutive Champ Car crowns.
-ccws-
