Bourdais Claims Champ Car Win in Portland

Bourdais makes history in Portland with first ever standing start and 100th win for NHLR.

Sebastien Bourdais makes history in Portland with first ever standing start and 100th win for NHLR.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Story by: Tom McGovern

Courtesy: Champ Car World Series

From the start of the Mazda Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland Presented by Joe's Sports and Outdoor everyone knew it would be a historic day, but as the checkered flag flew the race gained more notoriety as Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing earned its 100th Champ Car victory.

For the first time in Champ Car history, the race started from a standstill rather than the traditional rolling start.

Every driver was able to get going cleanly which set the tone for the caution free day that saw Sebastien Bourdais cruise to his third straight win.

At the start, polesitter Justin Wilson stormed out to an early lead and then continued to pull away gaining a 15 second lead before the first round of pitstops.

On the start, Australian Will Power jumped from his seventh starting position to third after the Festival Curves with Sebastien Bourdais and Alex Tagliani close on his heels.

Further back on the grid Paul Tracy launched up four positions on the first lap but spun in Turn 6 on the third lap and spent the rest of the race on an alternate strategy trying to work his way back up through the field and eventually finishing tenth.

Tracy was the first driver to duck into pit lane for service on lap 17 while Bourdais stretched his fuel economy to the max, not pitting until the 29th circuit, short filling the car and coming out in the second position.

During the first round of pit stops Power's Team Australia crew best the Minardi Team USA mechanics, gaining the third spot from Robert Doornbos.

The two would continue to battle throughout the 103-lap event with Doornbos eventually earning his third podium finish in four career Champ Car starts with a third place finish and Power finishing fourth.

While those two were battling, the three-time defending champion began to close the gap Wilson had built up.

Bourdais ran slightly faster lap times throughout the second stint and just after the second round of pit stops, Bourdais got the better of Wilson through Turn 1 and then steadily pulled away to the nearly 14 second victory.

Wilson did his best to stay with Bourdais but had to settle for his second consecutive runner-up finish at Portland International Raceway.

RSPORTS driver Alex Tagliani continued his consistency in 2007, earning his third top-five finish of the season with his fifth place finish.

Dan Clarke started ninth and moved up to sixth by the end of the race, marking his best finish of the season.

Rookie Tristan Gommendy continued to show promise after earning a fifth place finish in his Champ Car debut in Las Vegas and leading laps at both Long Beach and Houston, the young Frenchman ran a steady race to finish seventh.

Another pair of rookies Simon Pagenaud and Graham Rahal both earned top-ten positions, finishing eighth and ninth respectively.

As the drivers prepare for the summer stretch of races, the championship battle has Sebastien Bourdais leading the way with 105 points, Will Power second with 94 markers and Rookie Robert Doornbos third with 87 points.

RSPORTS teammates Alex Tagliani and Justin Wilson are currently fourth and fifth in the standings.

Round five of the Champ Car World Series will take place at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland, Ohio beginning on Friday, June 22 and culminating with the Grand Prix of Cleveland on Sunday, June 24.

The event can be seen live on CBS Sports and fans can also follow all of the action via the official website of the Champ Car World Series, www.champcar.ws.

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