Bourdais dominates Road America

The Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing driver held off a strong challenge from Minardi Team USA's Robert Doornbos in the opening stint, and when the Dutchman had a slower second stint, the reigning champion never looked threatened again.
 
Bourdais also moved into a comfortable lead in the championship standings thanks to disastrous days for his principal title rivals.

Doornbos ran into the back of teammate Dan Clarke as he attempted to repass the Briton, whose squad played the strategy game perfectly following an early full-course caution.
 
Some hot laps on a clear track as others pitted allowed Clarke to vault up the leaderboard from eighth and he was soon immersed in a battle with Doornbos and Graham Rahal for second.

Although the American Newman/Haas/Lanigan driver was the first to pass Doornbos, Clarke emerged from his second stop right behind Rahal, but ahead after his third. He held on to score his best finish of the year.
 
Will Power's Team Australia car handled badly on the red (soft) Bridgestones on which every driver started the race, and faded as a result, but on the harder compound he had the pace to finish fourth had his car not got stuck in fourth gear.
 
Oriol Servia climbed up to fourth and looked a serious threat to Rahal and Clarke until fading in the final stint. His Forsythe Championship Racing teammate Paul Tracy suffered a desultory day, after being an innocent victim in a collision between Simon Pagenaud (Team Australia) and Ryan Dalziel (Pacific Coast Motorsports) down at Turn 5 on the opening lap. Tracy eventually claimed 12th.
 
Alex Tagliani was a strong fifth for RSPORTS, despite making an extra pitstop compared  to the other drivers on a 'regular' strategy, while Jan Heylen will head to his home race in Belgium in two weeks on the back of a superb sixth for Conquest Racing.
 
Heylen spent the first half of the race enjoying a highly entertaining dice with Tristan Gommendy of PKV Racing, but would eventually draw clear. The one man who might have stopped him from finishing sixth was Gommendy's team-mate Neel Jani, but a late pitstop for the Swiss scuppered his efforts.
 
Tagliani's RSPORTS teammate Justin Wilson wound up eighth after losing a late battle with Gommendy, while Bruno Junqueira wrecked his own chances with a blatant jump start from fifth on the grid that earned him a hugely costly drivethrough penalty.
 
Doornbos, despite a bent wishbone from his collision with Clarke trailed home 14th.

Pos  Driver              Team                            Time
 1.  Sebastien Bourdais  Newman/Haas/Lanigan     1h 40:58.596
 2.  Dan Clarke          Minardi Team USA          +    9.752
 3.  Graham Rahal        Newman/Haas/Lanigan       +   12.207
 4.  Oriol Servia        Forsythe                  +   20.861
 5.  Alex Tagliani       RSPORTS                   +   50.704
 6.  Jan Heylen          Conquest Racing           + 1:00.053
 7.  Tristan Gommendy    PKV Racing                + 1:02.342
 8.  Justin Wilson       RSPORTS                   + 1:02.961
 9.  Bruno Junqueira     Dale Coyne Racing         + 1:04.525
10.  Neel Jani           PKV Racing                + 1:12.967
11.  Simon Pagenaud      Team Australia            + 1:28.941
12.  Paul Tracy          Forsythe                  + 1:35.051
13.  Alex Figge          Pacific Coast             +    1 lap
14.  Robert Doornbos     Minardi Team USA          +   4 laps
15.  Katherine Legge     Dale Coyne Racing         +  20 laps
16.  Will Power          Team Australia            +  28 laps
17.  Ryan Dalziel        Pacific Coast             +  38 laps