Bourdais scores fifth season win

The Newman/Haas Racing driver led 69 of the 97 laps and set the fastest lap of the race by almost 0.8 seconds, and eventually led the RuSPORT duo of Cristiano da Matta and Justin Wilson home by 6.7 seconds.

Paul Tracy of Forsythe Championship Racing ran second initially until brushing a tyre wall, allowing CTE Racing-HVM's Dan Clarke and da Matta into second and third respectively.

Tracy later made another error that put him down an escape road, and when he rejoined, he wiped out himself and Alex Tagliani of Team Australia. The incident ended in a brief fight in the pitlane between the Canadian pair.

Their teammates had contrasting fortunes. Allmendinger was put to the back of the field after a mix-up between Champ Car Race Control and the Forsythe team, who called the Californian to pit when apparently the pits were still closed during a yellow-flag period. He had come from the back of the field already, after losing his front wing on the rear tyre of Bourdais' car at Turn 1.

Will Power, on the other hand, took his second top six finish on the trot to finish as top rookie for Team Australia.

Clarke was impressively swift in his pursuit of Bourdais once into second, but his car expired at half-distance.

Teammate Nelson Philippe upheld team honour as he drove through to take fourth, having started 11th. Mario Dominguez scored a well deserved fifth for Dale Coyne Racing.

Oriol Servia and Katherine Legge of PKV Racing were fast but finished eighth and 12th respectively. Servia was on a three-stop strategy which allowed him to lead 20 laps, but ultimately flattered to deceive.

Legge, meanwhile, twice had collisions that ended with punctures and also drove into a tyre-wall by herself. However, on the 89th lap she set second fastest lap of the race, after saving up her power to pass.

Pos  Driver              Team                    Time
 1.  Sebastien Bourdais  Newman Haas             1h38:00.168
 2.  Cristiano da Matta  RuSPORT                 +     6.686
 3.  Justin Wilson       RuSPORT                 +     8.100
 4.  Nelson Philippe     CTE HVM                 +    11.059
 5.  Mario Dominguez     Dale Coyne              +    12.147
 6.  Will Power          Team Australia          +    12.957
 7.  A.J. Allmendinger   Forsythe Championship   +    13.288
 8.  Oriol Servia        PKV                     +    15.920
 9.  Charles Zwolsman    Mi-Jack Conquest        +    16.458
10.  Nicky Pastorelli    Rocketsports            +    21.580
11.  Jan Heylen          Dale Coyne              +    25.360
12.  Katherine Legge     PKV                     +    7 Laps
13.  Andrew Ranger       Mi-Jack Conquest        +   17 Laps
14.  Alex Tagliani       Team Australia          +   45 Laps
15.  Paul Tracy          Forsythe Championship   +   46 Laps
16.  Dan Clarke          CTE HVM                 +   48 Laps
17.  Bruno Junqueira     Newman Haas             +   95 Laps

Fastest lap: Bourdais, 49.678 on lap 94