NOVEMBER 8, 2004

Bourdais is Champ Car champ

Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais clinched the Champ Car World Series with a dominant performance in Mexico City on Sunday. The F1 aspirant led from the start and stayed ahead all the way (despite one spin) to the finish to make sure that there was no chance for his Newman Haas Racing team mate Bruno Junqueira.

Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais clinched the Champ Car World Series with a dominant performance in Mexico City on Sunday. The F1 aspirant led from the start and stayed ahead all the way (despite one spin) to the finish to make sure that there was no chance for his Newman Haas Racing team mate Bruno Junqueira to steal the title from him. It was his seventh win of the year and gave the team its fifth title. Junqueira finished second, to score his 10th podium of the year but it was not enough. He finishes second in the series for the third consecutive year.

Third place in Mexico City went to rookie of the year AJ Allmendinger in his Western Union Lola-Ford-Cosworth who was able to outrace Justin Wilson who ended the day in fourth place ahead of Jimmy Vasser while Patrick Carpentier, who leaves Champ Car to go to the Indy Racing League next year, ended up sixth. The Mexicans had a poor day with Mario Dominguez finishing eighth and Michel Jourdain Jr ninth. Amazingly, all the starters finished the race. There was a huge crowd for the event with the organizers announcing a three-day figure of 345,400.

"I really just scared myself and probably the rest of us when I spun the car," said Bourdais. "The sun was going down and the shade was gaining on the racetrack. I was trying to pass Mario Dominguez. I thought he was going to let me by, and he didn't. Then I hit a bump and spun I was so afraid to kill the engine at that time that I kept my foot down, spun the wheel as hard as I could. When it came back under control, I was facing the tyres. I used reverse and went back out again. It was a scary moment for a minute or two, then it came back to normal. I'm so glad it's over."