OCTOBER 24, 2005

Bourdais wraps up Champ Car title number two

France's Sebastien Bourdais makes no secret of his desire to be in Formula 1 and has proved to be the class of the field in Champ Car racing for the last two seasons. On Sunday in Surfers Paradise, Australia, he wrapped up his second consecutive title with a dominant victory. The 26-year-old outfoxed Paul Tracy to win, ending up nearly 10secs clear of AJ Allmendinger and Jimmy Vasser.

Given Renault's recent F1 successes and the company's desire for publicity it is odd that Bourdais was never given a proper run in a Renault F1 car. He did have one 68-lap test for the team at Jerez in December 2002 but despite going well was never seen in one of the cars again. At the time he also turned down the opportunity to be managed by Renault F1 boss Flavio Briatore, preferring to run his own career. He did test for the now-defunct Arrows team at Valencia but the team could not find the money to run him in 2003 and so he headed to the United States where he was soon winning races. In 2004 with backing from the McDonald's fast food company Bourdais dominated winning seven races and he has added another six wins this year.